How to get a friendly dog to not sound unfriendly

UCcc1086

So we have a 7 month old male Golden Retriever. He has been around ppl & other dogs since we brought him home at the age of 7 weeks. We live in an apartment & every time we take him outside & he sees ppl or another dog he starts barking,  growling & trying to pull towards them. Some of the neighbors that know him from a puppy know he's not harmful & they will walk up to him. All he does is gives them tons of kisses. Is there a way to get him to stop this behavior so that other ppl arent afraid of him. I yell when he does it but thats not working.

mandyjac18

It's called reactive barking (you can look it up) my Scottie Ernest (who is a year and a half) does the same thing it's like a little kid doing something he knows is bad to get attention (look at how cute I am!!) Yelling doesn't work because dogs actually believe you're joining in the barking with them. What has worked for us is I make him turn around and sit until he can relax ( he can't have what he wants until he behaves) also if it is extreme walking in the opposite direction as soon as it begins help (once again removing him from what he wants) We also use a gentle-leader (which is a head harness that restricts pulling and general bad behavior because I have more control but is NOT a muzzle and he can still open his mouth and such). When he was really awful and much younger I had to use the water bottle squirt to the face and treat for quiet technique but that was only while in puppy class so there was no real way of distracting him from the other dogs. Treats for good behavior are always a big plus at home and on walks. I hope this helps!

dexteroni

Yelling without training is never effective - yelling doesn't tell him what you want him to do.  The PP has it right - you'll get better results if you train him on what you *do* want him to do - e.g. sit and be calm - rather than what you don't want him to do. 

There's also a chance that this is partly a puppy thing, but you're right to want to do something about it rather than just assume it will go away on its own, because it doesn't always. He sounds like a sweet dog who just needs to learn what to do in this specific situation.  Good luck!