Good or bad?

[slleipnir]

I live in sort of a busy area. People are always walking past with their dogs. My dogs have a fenced area with a clear view of the streets. They will bark at the dogs. (Josie barks at anything that moves, actually...) I think Zeke is picking up Josies bad behavior and acts worse when she is around. So I don't let them out at the same time. Will this make a difference?? Also, today Zeke was out and started barking at a dog. I called him once, and he came running inside. So now, he was very good for coming when he was called, but bad for barking...so which do I tell him? I said he was good boy since he came and that was the command I gave him...but will he think I'll telling him good for barking??

Also, if I'm walking him, he now barks at dogs while on leash. He never did that before, and people ALWAYS assume he is aggressive...he isn't. He isn't showing any other sign of aggression. His tail is wagging. He just REALLY loves playing with dogs. However, it's troublesome that he barks. It is embarrassing too. The other day I was out, we saw a dog so I told him to sit/stay. The lady said "Ohh, what a good dog!" just then he barked at her dog. Then she goes "You don't want any of THAT" and kept going. I was like wow...that was sorta mean...especially since he's not aggressive. I felt like saying wait here, I'll get my other dog who IS aggressive and show you the difference??

I'm very concerned that Zeke will become aggressive...He has such a sweet, playful personality though. Zeke listens 100% to me, unless he sees a dog and is offleash (or if Josie is around) then he needs to go play with the dog.

So anyway, how can I break him of barking?

[Pembroke_Corgi]

It's really tough to stop a dog from barking. Vallis is a barker. Adele usually only barks when another dog is barking, so before we got Vallis she was pretty quiet. Vallis barks at anything, so often now they both start barking outdoors.

My "solution" is to just bring them inside when they are loud. They can't have fun outside if they can't be mostly quiet. If they come when I call, I reward them- they aren't going to connect the barking with the good dog unless I actually say "good dog" while they are barking.

Vallis has gotten slightly better about barking since we got him. He used to bark for EVERYTHING, but we ignored his indoor barks when it was for attention and they have stopped. He is still obnoxious outside though. I just bring them in if they can't be quiet because it's not fun to listen to and I try to be a considerate neighbor.

[slleipnir]

Josie will not come in if she has something to bark at (most of the time). She will bark and bark until whatever it was is gone...