Territorial barking - how to stop it

[SirChenjins]

ChenDog is very vocal and will bark at people walking past the house or coming up to the door. I keep the front room door shut to stop him sitting on the sofa and keeping watch (occasionally someone will leave the door open and he’ll get in though - I immediately tell him ‘down’ and direct him out of the room) and if someone comes to the door and he starts barking he knows he has to go into a different room before I’ll open the door. If we get out of the car and a neighbour walks past our driveway/house he’ll bark at them. Luckily everyone is very understanding but I’m getting really annoyed by it. He’s told no firmly and is moved inside straightaway.

Does anyone have any ideas how to reduce/stop this barking? It’s like he sees the area in front of our house as his.

My jack Russell is just the same. I just do what you are doing but he's 8 now and no better

Oh no - 8?! Mine is 2.5 and I was really hoping it would be something he’d grow out of.

Is there a problem with barking if someone comes to the door? Ddog does it, but stops as soon as i open the door. Tbh i have been happy with it as i am a single parent and like the security element.

She is a complete wuss and is not at all dominating or aggressive in other situations.

If it was just a couple of barks at strangers and then he was quiet then I wouldn’t have an issue.

What breed do you have and what sort of outlets does he get? What is his general obedience like?

IME if dogs are bored and frustrated they get antsy (one of mine is horrible if not given a proper outlet for 3 or 4 weeks, despite plenty of daily exercise). If you can find an activity that plays to his strengths and also work on his general obedience and focus on you, you might find he either barks less, or is alert enough to you that when you tell him to can it, he does.

He’s a cockapoo. We do scent work and play games with him - find the treat, hide and seek, touch the ball/stick toy etc, practise his commands and tricks daily. He gets three walks a day or one long one and one shorter one at weekends. Goes to a dog walker he adores once a week, ditto to a daycare with lots of natural play , loads of space and indoor/outdoor play. Also has down time. Recall, leave it, drop it etc is good. I think he gets enough stimulation - he just likes to bark. I’m really looking for practical tips if anyone has any suggestions?

That being the case, I'd suggest going to a decent trainer who can advise you. I'd aim to get a really high focus on me while making it clear that random barking isn't acceptable.

What would you say/do beyond what I’m already doing to make it clear it’s not acceptable?

I don't know your dog, or you and how you like to train, so all I can offer is what I would do.

If one of mine did that out of doors, I'd have a slip lead high and tight, and if she barked I'd give it a quick gentle flick, say 'enough' and change direction, and reward very promptly with praise or a treat for for stopping barking. That way he is shown what you don't want AND what you do want. I'd use 'enough' indoors and perhaps have a line on the dog as well (though not a slip lead).

I've taught my two 'enough' for barking at the front door, just by using the word quite sharply, and then praising them stopping barking to look at me, and repeating 'Enough!' with a bit of spatial pressure if they went back to barking. They're allowed a few barks - I don't always hear the doorbell, so it's useful, but they know that barking on and on and on isn't wanted.

That sounds very much what I do - change direction, say quiet, then ‘yes’ (his marker word) and reward when quiet. I also reward just for being quiet, so when he’s quiet I’ll say ‘quiet - yes’ then treat so he should know what behaviour I want.

In the house it’s similar.

Unfortunately he does not seem to be getting the message.

It sounds like maybe you need to do some desensitisation/positive association around people walking past the house, rather than going straight for the "quiet" command.

If a dog is really hyped up and stressed or excited, they can't learn or focus, so any attempts at saying "stop" or "quiet" are pretty pointless, really.

I’m working on ‘look at that’, disengage, then yes/reward which works which people /dogs at a bit of a distance that we can both see. I just don’t know when someone is going to come to the door, so it’s difficult.

Is there another way I should do the desensitisation/positive association?

Have you done any work to desensitise him to the sound of knocking or the sound of the doorbell? I would want to get him ignoring the door before I even tried to get him to ignore people, I think.

Yes, I’ve tried recording the doorbell and the letterbox knocking, and playing it at increasing volume. Also tried getting the family to practise knocking/ringing the bell. Neither worked as he quickly sussed put the difference in sounds and just stopped reacting.

Have you tried getting an entirely new doorbell sound? I've seen that on an episode of It's Me or the Dog and it seemed to work lol. I guess because they don't have any negative/exciting associations with the new sound.

Ooh - that’s a good idea! We have a Ring doorbell but I think it’s possible to change the tone - I’ll look into that.