[MercyMom]

My Mercy barks at strangers that are far off. She has been doing this since she was 10 weeks old. My personal dog trainer calls it reactionary behavior. Mercy is not doing it to the extent that Abbey is. It's hard to train her to not bark since she does it without warning. I was told to give her treats when stimuli that might result in barking occurs. It's hard for us humans to know what that something is since dogs sometimes hear things that we don't. Mercy is barking like a watch dog in our backyard during potty breaks. I pray that her barking doesn't get as serious as Abbey's, especially since I am training her to be a therapy dog. I am almost wondering if some female goldens have a recessive gene that causes them to bark at strangers more. :scratchch My breeder sold us a pup that she chose for us. She chose the pup with the least amount of energy so she wouldn't be too wild for our 3 year old. The problem with low key pups, is that they might be more sensitive and become more fearful than their more active counterparts. She's still wild with my son though!:yuck: Good luck. Hopefully, we will both find the answers we are looking for.