Need a little advice. I walk Sam all the time and we often encounter people. Sam loves to greet everyone and loves to engage with people. Starting yesterday Sam started barking at people coming up to us. He still wants to be pet by them and approach them but he is very excited and is expressing it via barking at them. How do stop him from barking at strangers? He’s only 17 weeks.
I would sprinkle some treats on the floor at your feet for him to sniff and find - an entire handful of little treats - every time you see someone approaching. Keep adding treats and pointing them out to him, until the person passes. Before long, the approach of a person will signal treats appearing at your feet and more focus on you, rather than the person. Meanwhile, get an 'in training' vest or similar and ask people not to pet him - dogs tend to get like this because everyone wants to say hi, so they anticipate being able to say hi to everyone and get frustrated when the leash is on and they can't reach them. Ideally, you want people to ignore him...
