bradpattison.com

I have a 20 month old Rottweiler Mastiff X. He is an amazing dog, excellent temperment and attitude. The one and only problem I could say that I have is he barks at men (generally just men) when they come into my house. He doesn't bark at men he sees often (my brother, my boyfriend) anymore, but any other man he does. He is very gentle but looks quite intimidating (115lbs) so my question is this: I do want him to let me know when people are in my house, I live alone (with a female roomate) so part of the reason he is there is for protection, but does anyone have any suggestions on how to let him know that if I say its ok, that it is in fact ok and he has to stop? He will settle down eventually, but if the male that is there makes any quick movements or stands up, the barking starts again! Anyone??

I'm pretty sure Brad talks about this in his book. How to teach your dog when to warn you which is acceptable and when to be quiet, but I don't recall how he does it.

My girl is a barker at other dogs when we are in the car. I ended up literally having to haul over on the shoulder to pin her in the back seat and interupt her outbursts. Then it got so I could reach back and place my hand over the top of her muzzle and say NONE and now I can just say None or if she starts and it's safe, I reach around and give her a quick jab in the body or a loud and short HEY! and that seems to make her quit.

TODAY, we were out running and four cars in a row had one to two dogs in them and EVERY single dog went ballistic at the windows barking at Ella and previously this would have made her nuts. I'd have been dragging her down the street while she lunged and snarled and barked back at them but today...


she started to prance but didn't say a word and didn't even look back as we passed the front of each bumper. Man was I happy. I think she was too tired to care. (We were working hard today.)

Do you have the book Synergy yet? It's worth having especially with yours still being a pup.

Yeah Scout6 you are sure a awesome doggy mom! Ella is so lucky to have been rescued by you! Dino was also a barker and window attacker when we would drive down our subdivision road cause there are so many loose dogs,(thats another story) so I started tapping on my brake and a loud LEAVE IT ! Now he just watches the free roaming dogs, but that didn't happen over nite. It took lots of him falling on the floor and losing his balance in the back seat of my car!Now he wears a seat belt so no more floor spills! But he has come along way also!

My dog isn’t a big barker, but she’ll bark or howl at passersby, or when the doorbell rings, etc. I’ll praise her for alerting us (‘good girl!’), but if she keeps barking I’ll reprimand her by saying, ‘enough!!’, and she’ll normally stop.

Thanks everyone for the tips!! I do not have Brad's Synergy book yet but I will definitely be getting it!! I'll keep you posted on our progress!