Hello! We adopted our dog in late 2024, and have had quite the journey with her. We went to a balanced dog trainer, which we quit because I was uncomfortable with the results, and did some one-on-one consultation work with a force free behaviorist, which we have felt better about.
Our dog can be polite on leash, ie not pulling on a 10 ft lead, and responds to trigger management outside the house (ie we are reaaaallly good at doing U turns and crossing the street) but I was hoping for some outside insight.
When someone opens their door, or appears from behind a corner, or opens their garage, our dog is immediately alert, and if the trigger is too close, she will immediately bark and lunge. Ie a neighbor coming outside 30 ft away is too much, but she can remain within threshold watching someone in their active garage 50 ft away.
We're also working on her reactivity to people outside, if she hears the neighbors door, sees someone walking past, a car stops in front of the house/in the street, etc. she will bark at them, sometimes a low warning bark but other times full explosive barks where she expresses her anal glands. We've gotten to a point where she can see/hear something, let out a small bark, and run to her crate and wait for a reward. Better than washing the couch every week, but I want her to not be scared of doors, garages, people etc. She should feel secure in our house, and that a door opening/closing is not a threat. To build confidence we've been engaging in ACE free work, and encouraging freedom in our home, and consistentcy with our rewards and actions. We have done target/box training and a lot of 123 counting > reward.
Sorry for the long ramble, it comes down to: 1) should I invest in better trigger management inside the home to reduce exposure to triggering noises/sounds? We already block the window, have a purifier going (and occasionally white noise) and give her daily anxiety meds, a new addition after consulting our vet. Should I better soundproof the house so she can fully relax?
2) Am I understanding my dog's behavior correctly? I am ascirbing her being startled/scared when she hears the neighbors door close, but is her barking and lunging at the same triggers when there's no physical barrier the same thing? Is this her being hyper vigilant?
She got startled and bit our dogsitters hand when we were away this past November, it didn't break skin but it was enough for us to cancel our January plans out of fear of that happening again. I want to ultimately feel confident in her reaction to scary things, and that she won't bum-rush people she thinks are issues.
Thank you so much!
submitted by /u/OminousRice
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