When someone says, "will bark at strangers" as a good thing...? - Page 2

Destiny, I think the op isn't talking about a trained ppd, but a pup. Yeah, trained dog barking at jogger, not cool.LOL

I think Joanro gave two good examples of a puppy with barking behavior when they are put in situation with stranger, the first one I would much rather see than the last. I also agree with poster that says context must be taken into consideration. Case in point, my 11 weep pup I got at 10 weeks, lit up on my wife the first time she walked into the house at night while the two of us were watching TV. He approached exactly like Joanro described no hackles, ears forward, throaty deep bark, never backing up. Soon as she called his voice the tail started waggin....he was fine. Since then he has never fired up on her when she walks in without knocking. I was ecstatic with his response....definitely not fear or spook.

Gustav, Soooo good :)

I was referencing puppies who exhibit the behavior naturally.
 
Minro, then I misunderstood your original post. I would much rather have a dog that is social/aloof with everyone until I say otherwise.   Thi

I thought that you were refering to young dogs, not puppies. 

I think a good pup should be confident and not bark at strangers whether it's social or aloof. Now young pups may get barky as they develop and go thru little fear periods. But with socialization during these periods, a good pup should mellow out. 
 
You need to look at the person posting the ad, their background, their line of dogs, and their training style. There are a lot of PP people out there who do strange stuff. They sell their dogs and their training to people who don't know any better. People pay alot of money for what I call fearful nervy behavior. Post a link of one of these ads for us. 

All of our GSD`s would not dream of barking at anyone visiting our property if we are at home, unless given the command to do so.
Thats the way we like it.  
When we are not at home, its reported by relatives if they call, that they left quickly, as the dogs went "balistic".
Thats the way we like it.
We prefer our GSD`s to stand with us when we answer the gate, or greet a visitor.  Our feeling on this is that a dog standing observing, with its owner is much more of a threat if the visitor has no business here - intruders can be very dog wise, and personally, most on this forum would be able to suss out a dogs bark, be it a fearful, hysterical, or threat. They would know if they could get past that dog.
Not many of us would care to take advantage of a person with a quiet, controlled, observing dog by our sides.
Do I like a puppy or young adult running barking when some-one comes, YES - but then we would allow the youngster to know whats necessary and what is not, allowing the puppy confidence and encouraging engagement the person - confident, friendly dogs are the ones that will be there for you, not pups that run sideways screeching the odds.
Just our opinion.  Mo

I think the key to the value of a barking puppy is whether the puppy is confident or unsure. A confident puppy can be molded to give the type of response you as an owner are comfortable with. A nervy reactive puppy having insecurity as the catalyst for the barking is much harder to mold or shape because the nature of the dog will overcome attempts to shape or mold. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that are breeding less than secure dogs. Many over friendly Puppies are unsure as exhibited by the submissive peeing when they meet others as late as 3 or 4 months old, or the raised hackles when they encounter something new. I have a 13 week old puppy right now that has never submissively peed, and I have never seen the hackles raised on him either home or abroad. He will bark at strangers coming on the property, but settles down quickly when he sees nothing threatening. He is very confident of himself and surroundings, that what I like to see in a pup.

Gustav, good things to think about. I completely agree; a confident dog really lets you decide how you want them to react in certain situations.

My pup, now 10 months, has been aloof with strangers since the first day I got him. Not at all scared, but also not a total love bug like you see with a lot of pups. That's something I really liked about him. If someone walked in, he would go check them out, then go back to whatever he was doing.
Something he DID always do and still does, is bark when he hears a knock on the door, or someone walking around outside. It gets annoying, but it's also come in handy haha.

I guess it's all in context, and depends on how exactly the pup is acting when they are barking at a stranger. Thanks everyone for the input.

Asomich, I will post a link to a classified when I come across one. I'm sure it won't be too long.

Barking at a stranger violating territory,  while advancing or standing ground during such barking  of a GSD pup is desirable. Thats all:)
 Hans

I definitely agree Hans!

I agree with all of y'all. You have to look at the context. A happy confident puppy will bark (and settle down) or not bark. Then how you shape him as he gets older will depend upon how you want him to handle your environment.
 
But if I try to understand minro, he is refering to ads that market puppies who bark at strangers as a good thing. these pups may not have good temperaments, but the people selling them think that their barking means that they will be good pp dogs.

I think we all agree that you have to look at the pup's temperament and the context and how the pup recovers. A fearful pup which reacts to everything is no good in my opinion. I would prefer a young confident pup who notices a stranger, or strange activity, to display a touch of fear of the unknown or unsure with forward agression. As that pup develops and matues and is exposed to more situations and learns to process new information and gains more confidence, becomes an excellent dog. And as he matures, then you can train him to actively or passively alert.