Helping a Scared Dog Stop Barking at Strangers When They Move

For this Omaha dog training session we were called in to help Coco, a 1 year-old fearful Havanese dog who is fearfully reactive towards strangers; barking at strangers when they move without her permission.

Knowing that Coco was a fearful dog around strangers, I used some dog behaviorist tricks to help ensure the greeting went well. It didn’t happen on the walk, but after about an hour of working with her, I was able to pick Coco up without the dog getting fearful or anxious.

Coco skipped puppy classes so I made arrangements for Coco to come and sit in on our Puppy Kindergarten class. My hope is that being in a room with young, small puppies and their humans will help Coco develop some confidence in social interactions.

After sharing a number of dog behavior tips with her guardians, I was ready to address Coco’s habit of barking at strangers who move around in her presence. I decided to use some counterconditioning to stop the dog from barking when peole stand up. You can learn how to stop a dog from barking when people move by watching the free positive dog training video below.

The great thing about this secret to stopping a dog from barking at strangers is the simplicity. This is an easy way to stop a fearful dog from barking at strangers who stand up or move. It just takes set up scenarios and situations to practice it. The more small parts of the movement that can be achieved wihtout the dog barking, the less likely Coco will be to bark at people in the future.

To help the guardians remember all the positive dog training tips we covered in this in home Omaha dog training session, we recorded a roadmap to success video that you can watch below.