Barking at people walking past window

[Chocolategirl79]

We were lucky enough to rehome a 2 yr old Labrador about 6 weeks ago. He was rehired because his previous family couldn't cope with him and he was getting destructive.
We've been with him and exercising him lots and he's been great and been happy to sit on the sofa with us having a cuddle all evening. So far so good.

However, during the daytime, he's started barking at anyone going past our front window. It's fairly close to the pavement on a reasonably busy road. Not an issue in the evening when curtains are shut but I don't know what to do about it and it's certainly not something I am keen to live with.
What should we do to discourage it? We've done loads to positively encourage good behaviour but not sure how to nip this in the bud. Any ideas?

This is going to be one of those situations where environmental control is going to be just as effective as training, and far easier.

I'd recommend getting some translucent frosted window film - it sticks on and can be removed in future.

When he starts barking, close the curtains/blinds, which should stop him barking. As soon as he stops barking, praise and reward with a treat.

As above, it's far easier to control the environment in this situation!

Get some film over the windows - it means the dog can't see out properly and see if that helps. Otherwise what about wooden blinds that you can angle so that he can't see out but the light can still get in?

In the long run you can train him with treats and positive association but it needs to be constant and it takes a lot of time and effort. So train him to look at you and treat it, and then go on to use that command when someone walks past or knocks and he starts barking.

I have opaque film on some windows and doors (it goes on with water so there is no stickiness and can be simply peeled off) as mine didn't like shadows and used to stand and bark at them.

In the daytime BiteyDog used to bark at people walking by. I used to 'thank him' as he was just doing his job and then ignore him. If he didn't stop barking I would distract him with something or remove him briefly from the room. Having repeatedly done this I find he only occasionally barks now as he realised it wasn't a big deal when people walked by.

Tbh you have only had him 6 weeks and he is probably just starting to settle in his home and therefore feels the need to protect it. Maybe stay with him in the day and distract or do training or just calm him when people walk past so he starts to feel comfortable with them.

Thank you for replies. It's a big bay window so I'm not overly keen on the opaque film although maybe it would mean I could get rid of the dreaded net curtains so may give it some more thought!!

I appreciate that he's maybe starting to feel a bit territorial and that he's protecting us but I don't want to reward him for it. But walking away and rewarding him for following me might help. And shutting the curtains removes the stimulation so will try that too.
Trouble is, it happened today after we'd just got back from a big walk and I just wanted to sit down for 10 minutes!!! And I didn't really want to keep jumping up - but that's just me being lazy!

Another person who ues the opaque film to prevent JRTs barking. It doesn't cut down on the light, prevents the problem and means te dog is not stressed, gives privacy and actually looks a bit smarter than the bare window.

There are no downsides!

AnotherBeautifulDayToBeRogelio I would have thought (but might be wrong) that would make the problem worse?

• Dog sees people outside and is worried
• Dog barks
• Curtians are closed - so people go away
• Dog stops being worried

= problem solved (in the dog's mind)

What's to stop him thinking it was his barking that sent the people away (aka closed the curtain)?

missbattenburg It was a dog behaviourist who suggested it to me. I haven't actually tried it yet though as I'm too lazy to get up to close the curtains

It is possible to train a dog to stop barking using a clicker. First you train them to bark on command, then tell them to bark and reward when they stop barking and add the command to be quiet. It sounds easy that way I know! But with lots of practice they will learn the trick.

I found the cheery 'thanks for telling me' and a quick pat then distract or ignore worked for my dog because as far as he was concerned there is a threat and he is letting me know. Acknowledging him but being all 'yeah whatever' about it reduced it a lot and even if he is now startled and barks he tends to look at me and sees I am calm so it's ok and just stops. It took a while but now we can sit on the sofa and people walk by and he will see them but tends not to react for most of the time.

Yup we resorted to the film (from Amazon) and it was life changing, our dog is so much calmer. We were able to get rid of our blinds so it lightened our room. We’ve only gone half way up our window, I think it looks quite attractive

@missbattenberg That will happen anyway if the passersby keep on walking. Obviously if the dog didn't bark they'd have broken in and killed the entire family, and as far as the dog is concerned barking has done the trick because they had second thoughts and kept on walking!

I would have some treats nearby and if he starts barking call him to you, get him to sit and reward him. If you repeat this each time he will get used to coming to you instead of barking, we do this with DDog when someone comes to the door, and it does distract her focus away from the person invading her territory.

Yeah, that's what made me think it avocados - because the closing the curtain once the barking has started might be the same as if the passer by just, well, passed by

I'm going to invest in some film here as well as Bella drives me crazy with barking every time there is any movement on the street. I taught Eric not to bark like XmasPostman details but Bella isn't getting it at all and Eric was a pup so it wasn't an ingrained behaviour. I suspect Bella has had nine years of barking at movement outside the window

The film is very good. Get the stuff that you just use water to create the tension to hold it onto the glass. I have it in two places. The only annoying thing is like phone screen protectors there is always one annoying bubble that you spend ages trying to flatten out