barking dog

[marpay49]

when my 3 y.o. dog is in her yard and other dogs approach she barks viciously but her tail is wagging. What does this mean??How do i get her to get along with other dogs??

[doggydays]

People associate wagging tails with friendly dogs, thats not always the case. A dog can still be wagging its tail while biting your arm off. If the tail is held high and wagging stiffly, this is usually a sign of aggression. If its friendly wagging whilest barking i would think she's just warning them off her property but maybe still wants to be friends. Without seeing it its difficult to say. My dog is highly socialised and interacts with dogs all day every day but she'll still bark when dogs go past the gate, its her territory. Have you got any friends with dogs you could walk with for a start? If she's not showing signs of aggression, get her off lead and playing. Being on the lead can also make some dogs aggressive to others :-)

[happy_face]

My dog who was a year old last summer would do this too. It was every time someone passed the house or garden gate. It was driving us mad. I spoke to a bahviourist who told me it was firstly because she was young and this was her first summer in our house so it was all new to her.
Secondly she told me to train her. So when she barked I would go and have a look at what it would be, then turn around and say a cue word for to stop. I chose "Enough". The give her a treat when she stopped barking. This way my girl knows she can alert me to dangers by barking as I will check it out and when I see there is no danger I tell her by saying Enough. It took a few months (noisy months) and a lot of walking back and forth but it has worked and now a days she hardly ever barks.
remeber you CAN teach an old dogs new tricks and the more you put into your dog the more you get out of it. Good luck and take care