Territorial Barking

Hey Jody,

Territorial behavious is pretty common with dogs, it must be one of the biggest complaints I've heard of

The first thing to do is limit your dogs access to the area he's "defending" when he's alone - don't leave him unattended in the front yard. Do you have a back yard or a crate you can put him in instead? By leaving him there alone for whatever time period, you're leaving him with the "responsibility" of looking after the yard, so he barks at everyone passing by.

When you're in the yard with him, work on training to come to you at a simple command, if he doesn't already know it. Listen out for people approaching, and ask him to come to you before they reach your fenceline, keeping him distracted with his attention on you while they go by. Keep giving commands (sit, down, roll over, whatever) until the person is gone, and praise him heaps when he doesn't pay any attention to the passerby/animal. When he comes to you but starts to turn to an approaching animal/person, be quick to get him by the collar so he can't run away, tell him "no", and give him more commands to pay attention to. You need to be quick to get his attention off the fenceline.

As it progresses you can try leaving him in the front yard again, but what I found useful with my own dog, who used to bark at people going past our gate, was immediate removal from the area as soon as one bark gets out. Jackson (my dog) would bark and go to the gate, and as soon as I heard it gave a loud "oi!", was out in the yard, got him by the collar, and led him to his kennel in the backyard, where I tied him up for at least 10 minutes. I did this every time he barked, even if it was just once, even quietly. It didnt take him long to get that barking at the gate meant he got tied up, and that wasn't fun

These tricks seem to have worked in my experience, so try working with your pup on these suggestions. I do hope they work out, remember, you need to try and not leave him alone in the front yard for a while, as you work on training him and so on. Good luck, let us know you go!