Bark when meeting new people

[psardo]

Cooper barks when he hears noises which I can deal with since he is being protective but this is getting out of control when someone new comes to the house. He is not only being protective but is timid. I tell the people coming to ignore him when they come in but he is afraid to get near them and barks. He has been timid from the start and we have made progress but not sure he is going to be a good therapy dog candidate. He is 6 mos old but I am not as hopeful as I was with my last who would not even bark.
I also started taking him to the dog park when there was only one or two small dogs there,
The other strange thing he does is bark insistently when my teenagers leave for school. He rushes to the front door and barks terribly.
Bad habit.

 

[labgirl]

Merlin did this at 6 months. I found the best solution was socialise, socialise, socialise.

I work like this. A stranger (to Merlin) comes in. Merlin barks. I ignore Merlin and tell the person to ignore him too and talk and smile to the stranger, even touch their arm. The whole point being I am making it clear that this person is 'safe' and I like them. Depending on how much trust you have been able to develop with the pup, then hopefully they will go quiet and come forward to sniff. I would then let the stranger offer a biscuit but without making eye contact or trying to stroke (some people do insist on patting a dog's head which my dogs do not like). Very soon I find Merlin is all over the person expecting a biscuit.

I do similar things on walks, but the main thing is not to force your dog to come forward, let them take their time and also not to make a fuss of them because they are nervous.

We have overcome this problem now quite nicely and while Merlin is cautious of strangers (a natural trait of the breed) he no longer barks and will approach people in his own time. Hope that helps.