Advice on barking at people walking past

[cheeseisthebest]

My 2 year old male shih tzu will go mental barking if he sees someone walking past, it's very loud. Any advice please on how I can stop this.

Our pup has started this, I acknowledge if there is somebody there and tell him its OK and to come away and he will. Your dog is just alerting you try and get him to stop before he gets worked up because he won't hear you.

Thanks, he will see someone before I do though! Its definitely guarding and him thinking he's protecting us.

You can use nets or film to stop him seeing them.
‘I always say thank you and make him come away

Yeah its trying to catch them, or last dog was a nightmare at the window some I'm trying to catch the new dog before he starts.

Yes this.

He's just done it again so I've said thsnk you and its OK, he's so hyper alert though, on constant guard.

There was a programme last night on c4 or 5 with similar issue. Think it’s called the dog house, may be worth a watch.

We are on holiday which has made it worse! He does do it at home as well though.

Thank you will watch that.

Obscure his view as suggested above. In other words, remove the stimulus.

If you leave him to go out, shut the curtains because otherwise his yapping will drive neighbours mad.

We had a loud WOOF WOOF WOOF big dog next door. My partner was really poorly post operative & needed rest. Neighbours worked shifts and sometimes left at 0500/0600 in the morning or came home really late at night.
In the end we had to ask (nice) neighbours to shut curtains when they went to work. That worked really well. Silence was golden.

@Stratocumulus has the best advice but it would be worth speaking to a decent trainer/behaviourist.

He just pokes his head through the curtains.

Watch last night's Dog Academy. They had a small dog with similar problems.

Put film over the windows so he can't see out.

I really don't want film over my windows that would look awful

Be careful if you’re going to spend money on covering the windows - my dog isn’t fooled and will scrabble at blinds/ curtains etc in frustration.

Could you peg the curtains closed so he can't get through them?

I could but they are blackout curtains and would make the room really dark all day. Also he likes looking out, just barks when someone walks past. We are very rural so people don't walk past that often.

It honestly looks fine.

But if you're not happy with prevention then you need to do some training, which means being with him constantly while he has access to the windows so he can't just continue barking while you're out or busy.

Have treats ready and mark and reward the moment your dog sees a person, eventually the dog will look at you when seeing a person, anticipating a treat, rather than barking.

Thank you