Ok thanks!

Before we start please note:

We are testing a new rating system. If you have any problem with it please let me know.

This is meant to be a continuous chat, and for this reason it is very IMPORTANT that you reply using the REPLY TO EXPERT button, BEFORE rating, if more information is needed at any time.

Behavioral problems in dogs can be complex and frustrating to treat or manage and tend to require a lot of patience and persistence and often a lot of investigation into the contributing factors. Please bear with my long descriptive answer.

Treatment will involve a lot of work in helping your dog and needs to be done VERY slowly.

The barking that you are seeing in both these circumstances is for the same reason and that is, for whatever reason, some dogs can be fearful of strangers. This can be seen as barking and/or aggression as your dog is trying to increase the personal space around them.

The cause for this fear aggression could be a bad experience with a stranger in the past or it could be other reasons. One of those is your dog is going through social maturity about 12 months of age and this is when their true adult temperament starts to show through.

The first thing to do, until training is going well, is to try and avoid situations that make them aggressive or bark. This means to put them in a separate area BEFORE visitors arrive or the front door bell rings. Place them in a separate area with something like a raw meaty bone or chewy treat. This also means walking them at a time or in an area when there is less likely to be strangers. This also means no off leash walks as they are unpredictable in the situations. This also means you need to stop them barking at strangers walking past the window or fence of your house. This is VERY important as this significantly makes this behavior worse because it is self-rewarding i.e. the strangers always go away!

You need to get a head halter for your dog so you have better control when they pull on the lead. The common brands are Gentle Leader, Halti and Black Dog.

Commence training them with food rewards to sit and focus on you when no strangers are present (e.g. in the house) then the backyard and then the front yard and then eventually on the street.

Only to reward the dog when they are genuinely sitting and not when they are pawing at you, jumping up etc. When they are sitting, bring the food reward up to your eye level, wait for them to look you in the eye and then give a ‘good dog’ praise followed by a treat. For 3 weeks initially reward them for every ‘sit and look’. Then commence rewarding them intermittently (i.e. every 2nd sit then every 5th sit then every 3rd sit etc). Once they respond to you 100% of the time without a food reward, move the training into the back yard then the front yard then the street where more distraction will be present. At all times during these training exercises you are aiming to have your dog continue to focus on you regardless of the other distractions. If they orientates towards the distraction, tell them to sit and look back towards you to earn the praise and reward. If the distraction causes too great a phobic reaction from them, do not reward, but rather try to encourage them to come back and sit in front of you and focus again. Next time, decrease the distraction. It is about gradients of distraction and gradually increasing the phobic stimuli (strangers) in the environment. Keep these training sessions to 5-10 minutes 3 times daily. Try to end the training on a good note rather than your dog getting bored and walking away or having too large a distraction that they no longer respond to you. By performing these exercises, you are gaining control of your interactions with your dogs on a day-to-day basis. The idea of the sit and look exercises is that you will be able to get their attention when they are fearful of a situation (e.g. stranger walking nearby). When they are fearful, they will learn to look to you for guidance rather than worrying that they needs to deal with the fearful situation herself. Be patient this behavior modification will take many months and they should not be rushed. If they are fearful/anxious and start barking then remove then from the situation. The idea is for you to be able to distract them to focus on you when they see strangers.

Eventually you should be able to see people in the distance (e.g. at the end of the hallway of the house) and get your dog to focus on you for food rewards and pats. Over time and taking it slowly you will be able to get closer to people/strangers while distracting him and eventually he will start to associate the sight of people/strangers with getting a food reward from you.

When you have this going well, place your dog on a lead and commence training with a stranger, that she does NOT like or has previous barked at, present. The person needs to ignore your dog initially when they enter the room. They should squat down low or even sit down side on and not look at the dog. When your dog approaches nearby they should give or throw them food rewards. He could flick these treats so your dog starts to associate good things happening when a stranger is present. The person should not try to approach them at any time but rather allow them to approach as they feel comfortable. If they do get close enough to pat them then it should be holding their hand low and try to pat them under the chin or on their side. NEVER on their head or over the top of them - they may bite! Over time this will desensitize them to strangers patting them. You will need to do this with lots of different strangers too.

There are also some medications and pheromones that can assist some dogs with barking/aggression towards strangers. One that you can purchase is a DAP (or ADAPTIL) collar. This produces a pheromone that helps to calm these barking dogs. It lasts 4 weeks before needing to be replaced. Other medications are only available from your vet and really help dogs with fear aggression.

Please excuse my mix up of gender (he/she) during my answer but I get carried away sometimes!lol

I hope this helps and let me know if you need further assistance.

This is meant to be a running dialog, and for this reason it is very IMPORTANT that you reply using the REPLY TO EXPERT button if more information is needed at any time BEFORE rating.

Positive RATING (EXCITED FACE or 5 STARS) is appreciated as this is the only way I know you have received the information and I receive credit for my time.

Please remember to ONLY rate my answer when you are 100% satisfied. IF you feel the need to rate "Poor Service" or "Bad Service", please STOP and reply to me via the REPLY TO EXPERT button with the issue you have. I will be happy to continue further and do everything I can to provide you with the service you seek.