[Mahan1996]

Hi,
I’ve adopted a 1 year old german shaped husky mix yesterday. Super gentle dog, leaves himself vulnerable around me, is sociable with visitors (he barks at them until they approach him). he’s making progress with basic commands and leash walking.
what worries me though is his guard dog instincts. He starts barking when a noise comes from another floor (someone walking, object falling) and wants to go there to see it my himself.

my question is:
should I let him go see, so he understands there’s no threat and get used to strange noises.

or

Distract him instead, i tried calling him, bring him to my room and make him sit.

keep in mind, I don’t want him to become a guard dog, I just want him to get used to his new environment.

 

[3GSD4IPO]

I have dogs that alert bark at many things. It starts with a deep, low growl that could stand the hair up on the back of anyone's neck. When I hear it, I go look to see what the "threat is." If it is NOTHING TO BE WORRIED ABOUT I become very matter or fact in my mannerisms and tone and say, "Yup, I see it. No problem here." Then I go back to what I was doing and have the dog lie down (give him a job).

Now, when you say you want a "guard dog" that is very specific training and is more than alert barking when they hear or see something. Be sure you know what you are training before you train it. A trained guard dog is usually NOT a mutt and is not working out of defense drive (most alert barking is just that.. defense). It is a very different program.

 

[RonE]

Actually, he said, " I don’t want him to become a guard dog."

 

[Lillith]

When my dog alert barks, I go see what it is, then say something like "Okay, thank you," and walk away. If it's a delivery person I usually have him go lay on his bed so he doesn't stand there at the window and bark.

I found that the dumb alert barking got better as he got older. They get used to daily occurrences, and they learn what you're worried about and that most things are non-threatening. They'll take more cues from you. He'll get used to the noises from other apartments and learn they are normal.