How to stop dog's barking?
My husband and I have a one-year old Newfoundlander cross puppy named Moose. He is a very sweet boy, and is mostly well behaved. However, just before the summer he developed this habit of barking anyone that walked past our fence (our house is neighboured by two houses with walkways, and a back alley for parking). Every time our puppy is outside and someone walks by, he runs up at them barking, and he has quite a loud bark. He stops when we come outside, and he looks at us like he knows it's wrong, but continues barking at them until they've left or walked all the way past. On walks he's fine until he lunges and starts barking at people, other dogs and kids walking past. He is stronger than me and can definitely pull me over. When we're at the off-leash park he is fine as well for the most part. If he's not running and playing with another dog, he'll run up to a stranger's dog barking. Once he settles, he carries on playing until he meets another random dog. My parents have two dogs and he plays well with both of them, no barking.
We've tried both the spray bark collar as well as puppy training classes and nothing seems to be helping... our trainer pointed out that he's a very sensitive puppy. But because of his size and the amplitude of his barking, people stop to pet him and then he barks and gets scared. It's extremely embarrassing, not to mention terrifying for the person on the other end. We know that he's a big softie but strangers don't know that. I am at my wits end and am looking for another solution. When we eventually have kids we don't want to have to get rid of Moose because he is barking at our playing children. Any help is appreciated, we really want to get him to stop barking!
