When Aspen sees this neighbor he goes CRAZY! Barking, whining, hair on his back standing up. It doesn't matter if the guy is unloading groceries from his car or backing into his driveway. If he sees the man OR his car he is going wild. We are always watching him from the sliding glass door when he goes out so it is not like this neighbor could have ever hurt him or anything. We have never spoken to this neighbor so Aspen hasn't gotten to actually meet him which makes me wonder if it's just an access thing. Maybe Aspen is upset that he can't go meet the neighbor? I suppose he kind of acts like this if he sees someone he wants to meet and sniff. I need to teach a cue or something to help calm him down. I have been looking into the "Look at that" cue and am hoping that if we teach it to him it will help him out. For now, if he is barking at the door I will sit next to him and pet him and tell him that it's ok which doesn't really mean much to him but it calms him down a bit. It is more effective for me to take him to a different area to play a fun game with me. I don't know what I should be doing to comfort him. He either dislikes this neighbor or just really wants to meet him cause he's one of the only neighbors he can see but hasn't met yet. He's a really loving boy so I think it's that he wants to meet him.
I would ask your neighbour if he would be alright with a gentle supervised meeting with Aspen , then make sure that he is on lead, possibly ask the neighbour to offer a treat , bribery often works ! x
The house next door to us is rented, so neighbours can change quite frequently. When we first had Joy as a puppy, our then neighbours, who were lovely and had a dog themselves made a great fuss of her and all was fine. When our new neighbour moved in in December Joy started barking at him.He invited us over for a few drinks with some other friends on Boxing Day and extended the invitation to Joy. We had intended to stay for an hour at most and probably keep her on lead. His first words were 'Please let Joy off, it's no problem' Turns out he works as a dog groomer! Well, we stayed for somewhat longer than an hour and all three of us had a good time, with Joy getting loads of attention and us realising that she is a bit of a party animal, just like our previous dogs. She has loved him ever since! So yes, I would agree with Kate.
We have had the same experience. Lilly loved our neighbour before. We have a shared wheelie bin area.....actually we have our 4 and their 4 all in our garden, so as to not block the common close. Anyway, they always greeted and made a fuss of Lilly and all was fine. Then they had to move to be closer to family, so rented out. The new tenants made "raids" to the bin under cover of darkness mostly, the younger one supposedly terrified of dogs. They never hung around to say hello to Lilly, and she always barked at them. When the house was sold and a new elderly lady with a black lab herself moved in, all was peace again. I think our dogs feel the need to know who is around, to protect us maybe Hope you all make friends
Cooper barks at one of our teenage neighbors. He is a skate boarder, and Cooper seems to not like skate boards. She barks at him anytime, even when he doesn't have the skate board and is getting in his car. Some time we will have to try re-introducing them.
