My dog is a lab, very bouncy, very active and (in my opinion) not at all aggressive. Perhaps the problem is that she's just too aggressively keen when she meets people. She's an excellent guard dog in the sense that she will bark when there's even a hint of a person around the compound but is otherwise completely silent whether I'm bugging her, she meets other dogs on walks or it's mealtime. The problem is, we've had the same neighbours for a while now and she continues to bark at them. Her fur also stands on end although I don't believe she snarls. Because we have two neighburs, the entrance to the back neighbour's house is closest to our fence and thus in close proximity to her. This neighbour has visitors and a baby and just today came to speak to us about the dog issue. I'll admit I could see it coming but don't believe it is right to teach her that barking is wrong. I have been looking on the net and one proposal that seemed reasonable to me was to explain to the neighbour that my dog is a guard dog (and as we were informed bred for it) but NOT an attack dog, and perhaps too excitable (she has no ill intentions). I thought perhaps if they were willing we might try and introduce them to her as in, have them stay behind the fence and allow her to sniff and quiet her when she barks. However, I have run into a problem, they are apparently muslim (dog averse) and furthermore a woman with a baby is not likely to want to expose her family to what to all appearances looks like an aggressive dog. Any suggestions?
