Barking!

Question
We have had dogs all our lives....never a Shepherd before, but labs, retrievers, spaniels, etc.  We have a now 4-month old female who is the sweetest puppy ever....and smart as a whip!  She learns things so quickly, it amazes us daily.  We've had what we considered smart dogs before, but Lola blows them all out of the water.  Our ONLY, and I do mean ONLY, issue with her, is barking.  Never in the house...but outside, every person that walks by, every dog in the neighborhood, even cars driving by....she barks her head off!  She's getting better about it, but only when we go for walks.  I used to be embarrassed because we'd walk early in the morning, and she'd have every dog in the subdivision barking before we got back home.  Now, when she's outside in the yard, the barking just will not stop.  Any ideas what could be the matter?

Answer
I don't like to stereotype dogs by their breed, but Shepherds are more likely to be a barking problem.  It is confused about who is in charge. It is quite possible it is used to being in charge, and intends to stay in charge. Likely it is already neutered, but do so now if not. Dogs with behavior problems should never be bred. Then you need to take over as top dog. Having a good pack structure reduces such problems. The dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you learning to be top dog, not the dog learning it gets a treat if it sits. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm

The above are fundamental techniques I suggest for almost all behavior problems and should help with barking too. The truth is, Labs usually don't bark that much and I don't have methods of controlling barking that I have been successful using. It isn't even in the manual for them. The manual does have a suggested reading list. One I have read is The Other End of the Leash by Patrica McConnell.

She suggests the first step is not to yell at the dog. After all, usually if one dog starts to bark, any others around will to. So yell at your dog when it barks and it is happy to have you bark with it. Quietly tell it enough and walk over to it with a treat, doesn't need to be very big. Let her know you have it and use it to lure her away from what she is barking at if anything, and praise her as she shifts her attention to the treat and away from barking. Once away from where she was barking, give her the treat.

Unlike much of my other advice, this is not something I have tried and found works. It does come from a reliable source and I would trust it more than something I found on a website I know little about. I just hope she isn't smart enough to figure out if she barks, she gets a treat plus your attention.