Dog Barking at Strangers (In Certain Cicumstances)

mosi

The mastiff x that I took in has proven to be a real pet in most ways. He is very well mannered at home, gets on well with other dogs and is great meeting people when out walking. However, in some circumstances he barks at strangers.

He barks at strangers when they visit, and it takes a while to get him to stop. Once he is satisfied that they are friends, he is fine with them any time they visit. I have spoken to a behaviourist and would also love to hear inputs from people on here.

If anyone is walking past the house when I'm taking him for a walk, he barks at them. Same with the car, he barks at anyone who is around when he gets out of the car

He starts barking at people in their own houses when we visit. He also barks at guests they may have arrive

He barks at people in the vets. Usually he is fine until people start coming in the door.

All that said, he doesn't react to people when out walking and was great when I took him to Maxi Zoo yesterday. He has also been fine any time I have stood outside a shop with him, while the OH is in getting something.
The behaviourist told me that when visitors arrive, I should put his lead on and try and get him to focus on me with a sit. The visitor should then throw a treat on the floor for him. I tried this today, but at my parents' house. He started barking when my Dad came to the door to meet us. I got him to sit and look at me and got my Dad to throw him a treat. It worked...after the treat he was happy to greet my Dad.
I'm wondering what other approaches can work, especially when meeting people in other properties...I don't think I can stand at the vet's door doling out treats to people on their way in!

Other than that, he's a fantastic dog. I know that mastiffs are protective dogs, so it may be to do with that. However, he does need to learn when it is not appropriate to behave that way. Any advice would be much appreciated.

FoxyVixen

Is it possible at all that the dog may be reading your body language? Might you be anticipating the mastiffs response to people in certain situations which may trigger your dogs reaction?

Regards to the dogs natural protective instinct. I have an Akita, and when it comes to strangers she'll give a double bark more or less stating, "back off, don't intrude my personal space", but would happily sit and wait while I chatted. She generally checks whether I'm happy with this person first, I've to let her know I'm fine with the situation. Simply done by saying her name and "settle".

In saying that, she will only bark at people that invade her "personal space", she's fine in public areas the majority of the time. It's when people approach head on making eye contact that would cause her to bark. Otherwise a very quiet dog unless unknown cars/people come around our property.

Hope that helps somewhat. I'm not as good as explaining myself as others here

planetX

my dog was barking at visitors to the house out of fear, and I was told to just wait and not react. When the dog stopped or paused, count to three and treat. Timing is everything, the dog will eventually associate the treat with him quietening.
Out and about is a different matter though. I remember reading somewhere that the key to training your dog to a 'quiet' command, is to first train him to 'speak'. It probably depends on why your dog is barking though - if it's from fear you probably need to address that before the barking.

mosi

I've heard about the speak and quiet technique but haven't put it into practice yet.
He did quite well today. We were going out to the car and a guy was walking past. I got the big boy to sit and look and me, and I treated him after the guy had walked by. He was very much aware of the guy passing but was more interested in waiting for the treat. It could well be a fear based issue. The last owner had some right characters going in to the place so who knows what was going on.