[we4elves]

So I'm concerned about Matty 8 months....She is barking at people like she wants to tear their heads off...I have done a lot of socializing and have people give her treats when she meets them...but these are three examples of what she is doing..

Yesterday picking daughter up from school in the car...she is fine until she see kids running across the street...she went nutty in the car..barking and jumping...I put her in a down position...but it was not easy..

People walking buy when walking are fine..but coming up to me...again she acts nutty...I make her sit..again not easy when she is acting like that...

One lady I was standing there talking to for an hour...she walks away for a minute..comes back..she goes nuts again...what is up with this?

Is this a phase? Making her sit or down...is that right?...I know she is scaring people with her behavior..

She barks a couple of times at obedience class, just looks at people when we are going on walks...I don't get it

 

[Stosh]

Geez, Stosh is doing the exact same thing and he's 8 mos old too. I took him on a walking path with our trainer and her dog and Stosh was heeling fine and happy, but every once in a while he would bark at someone, sometimes bikes would go by and nothing, then another one would pass and he'd bark and scare the heck out the person. I couldn't figure out why he barked at some people and not others, it wasn't like a snarling mean bark, just big loud barking.

 

[Lilie]

Hondo barked a lot more at 8 months, I think he was finding and enjoying his 'adult voice'. I corrected him every time by using "Quiet!" and then giving him another command to redirect him. Sometimes I'd even about face to bring his attention back to me.

The great thing is now I can be at the barn (with out Hondo) and if Hondo starts barking at an imaginary squirrel monster in the tree in the back yard, I can tell him "Quiet!" from the barn and he'll stop barking.

 

[GSDAlphaMom]

I know some dogs think the car is their 'territory' and if they see strangers, especially approaching the car they will go nuts with the barking. Unfortunately, I don't know what you do about it.

 

[JustMeLeslie]

My male shepherd does all of those behaviors. It is something that is part of his protective nature. I have to put on his prong collar and leash when people come inside the fence. He has to be put in a kennel when we have service people come or visitors. I use the ENOUGH command when visitors are on the outside at the fence and that usually works. He also goes crazy in the truck when he sees people come near us. I think that you should teach a Quiet command or Enough command but there will be times that you will just have to restrain them yourself. They are protective by nature and aloof to strangers so that is why all the barking and craziness when they see people they don't know. She has hit the 6-8 month old mark which I have read is when their protectiveness kicks in so just teach her a command of your choice so she knows when you want her to calm it down. A firm Quiet or Enough should help.

 

[Khromadin]

Try using a training colar , I know alot of people do not care for that technique , but they do associate that particular behavior with the barking and they will stop within the hour.

 

[Ty the shepherd guy]

So I'm concerned about Matty 8 months....She is barking at people like she wants to tear their heads off...I have done a lot of socializing and have people give her treats when she meets them...but these are three examples of what she is doing..

Yesterday picking daughter up from school in the car...she is fine until she see kids running across the street...she went nutty in the car..barking and jumping...I put her in a down position...but it was not easy..

People walking buy when walking are fine..but coming up to me...again she acts nutty...I make her sit..again not easy when she is acting like that...

One lady I was standing there talking to for an hour...she walks away for a minute..comes back..she goes nuts again...what is up with this?

Is this a phase? Making her sit or down...is that right?...I know she is scaring people with her behavior..

She barks a couple of times at obedience class, just looks at people when we are going on walks...I don't get it

One thing I could recommend is to look for signs if something is triggering the behavior. Also see if you see signs of when your dog is about to bark. For instance if you are in the car and parked waiting your daughter , just look at your dog , look for changes in breathing patterns or a curled lip or very light growling and make the correction there before it escalates.

What I mean by the breathing is just to watch for some changes in her breathing pattern. If she is panting in the car and all of a sudden picks up her jaw and starts to fixate , snap her out of it. If she gets real quiet , snap her out of it.
One more suggestion would be to give her something to chew on in the car maybe. Keep her busy. Let me know how its going.

 

[we4elves]

She is doing a little better, it just depends on the situation....yesterday, she scared the fire out of a little boy...he came up asked if he could pet her...i said yes...just let her smell your hand first....he pets her and talks to her for a few minutes...he turns and walks away...and she start barking...poor kid...i asked him to come pet her again.....(but he gave me the...are you kidding look)..he did...and she didnt bark when he walked away


I swear she just likes to see people jump!!!

 

[Miss Molly May]

She is doing a little better, it just depends on the situation....yesterday, she scared the fire out of a little boy...he came up asked if he could pet her...i said yes...just let her smell your hand first....he pets her and talks to her for a few minutes...he turns and walks away...and she start barking...poor kid...i asked him to come pet her again.....(but he gave me the...are you kidding look)..he did...and she didnt bark when he walked away


I swear she just likes to see people jump!!!

What a brat!!!!!

 

[LeftyGinger]

I swear she just likes to see people jump!!!

HAHAHA! I think my Bayla is the same way. When someone comes to the front door, I make both my GSD's go to their crates and wait although I don't shut the door. Bruno won't bark no matter what because he's just like that, but Bayla will wait until my neighbor, or whoever, comes all the way in and shuts the door before she lets out this super loud mean growl-bark. She won't move or leave her crate but it sure sounds like she's gonna kill my visitor. No matter how many times this has taken place over the last several weeks, it never fails, my neighbor jumps out of her skin.
We're working on this though because I don't want it to scare everyone when they come in the house. I'm asking everyone on my street to come to my house to meet the lil troublemakers with all kinds of yummy treats that I intentionally leave out on my front porch for training purposes.

 

[PaddyD]

Looks alot like both protection and prey reaction. Took a while for my dog to get used to kids because they move so quickly. Our solution to all those problems is TONS of exposure to situations that used to set her off but since have become boring and non-threatening. Have taken her to the park which has a lot of dogs, people and activity every day since we got her a year ago and she is going great.
You have a beautiful dog, maybe she's a little spoiled because she is so beautiful ??

 

[we4elves]

She does have a high prey drive...she even "watches" the birds in the trees...and I don't know how exactly, but has caught a couple....Maybe the walking/running away is a part of the prey drive...hadn't thought of that...I will read more on that.

Thanks for saying she is beautiful...for a "shelter dog" she turned out to be a real looker and yes a tad bit spoiled, but not in a bad way...the last thing I want is an obnoxious large dog...