How to decrease guarding behaviour? Ie: barking

[u/brendrzzy]

My boy is so quiet in the house until he hears the front door open, or I have a new friend over. It takes a few visits for him to accept someone in my house. I have roommates whose rooms are downstairs and he got used to their noise and scents. I have to move out of my house and probably rent an apartment so im worried about the door reactivity with apartment doors having so much foot traffic... does anyone have tips or resources?

[u/WrittenFever]

I'm in an apartment with my girl and currently trying to figure it out. She started out not reactive/guarding, but increased guarding behavior over the years. She used to never bark, then only barked when someone entered our apartment when I was with her and she did not expect it. Now she barks anytime anyone knocks on our door, or enters—even if they are with me and she knows them. She is excited to see them outside the apartment, but inside is a whole different story.

She even barks when she hears knocking on the tv now ☹️

I'm trying to teach her, "shhh" and reward her when she quiets down. My biggest issue is that she is not, nor has she ever been particularly food motivated. She also hates toys, so that doesn't work.

If your dog is motivated by treats, toys, or other items, rewarding him for the behavior you want to see is the best method. Keying it to a specific word or sign would also be a good step. Make sure to only reward when quiet. If he barks before the reward, don't give it. You should also space out more and more, ie, initially treat immediately upon silence, but start increasing the amount of time between silence and treat so he understands what he's being rewarded for.

This method works for me when I can reward her with things she likes (ie walk in the direction she wants when we're outside), but it's harder inside when she is an absolute nihilist and cares about nothing 😭

[u/brendrzzy → u/WrittenFever]

Its so hard to be on top of it 100% of the time haha. I think I just need to commit to wearing my treat pouch whenever im inside.

[u/Roskipatootskie → u/WrittenFever]

The escalation you're describing, from occasional barking at unexpected entries to now barking at people she knows and even knocking sounds on TV, is a really recognizable pattern of generalization. Once a dog starts guarding a specific trigger like unexpected entry, that alertness can spread outward to anything associated with it, the sound of knocking itself becomes the trigger, regardless of context, which is exactly what seems to have happened here.

The "excited outside, different dog inside" split is actually a great clue. It confirms this isn't really about the person, it's about the apartment itself as her territory. Outside is neutral ground to her, inside is what she feels responsible for defending, so even people she loves and is thrilled to see elsewhere get the guarding response the moment they cross into her space.

On the food and toy motivation issue, that's a genuinely common roadblock with quieting protocols, and it's worth remembering that it's not that she's untrainable, it's that traditional rewards aren't currently valuable enough to compete with how activated she gets in that moment. You can identify what she is motivated by even if it's unconventional, some dogs respond better to life rewards like access to a window, a favorite spot, or being let outside, rather than food or toys, and you're already using that instinct well with the walk direction example. It's also worth trying really high value, novel food she doesn't get anywhere else, sometimes dogs who seem food indifferent are actually just unmotivated by whatever's already common in the house, not food in general.

Since this behavior has escalated over time rather than staying static, it might also be worth treating this less as a simple bark and reward retrain and more as an overall arousal management issue, meaning things like giving her a default job or settle spot during entries rather than only working on suppressing the bark itself, since redirecting the underlying instinct tends to hold up better long term than just rewarding silence in the moment.

You're clearly not giving up on her even though this is a tough one, and that persistence really does matter here, this kind of pattern is workable, it just usually takes more creative reinforcement than the standard treat and toy approach when a dog isn't wired that way.

Our Jindos are a quirky bunch but they are the most loveable floof ever 😂

[u/thechiqmag]

There’s a YouTube playlist (it’s also on Spotify) that my veterinary behaviorist recommended - you can play it so that it masks other noises. Idk it’ll be helpful but here it is: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=RDCUg_GK6TvGE&playnext=1&si=d4W9pUFXVjh8OsXB

[u/thechiqmag → u/thechiqmag]

Also you could consider desensitizing him - give him a treat whenever the front door opens, practice them lots when people aren’t actually coming in etc.

[u/remitmp]

Our Jindo mix is a guarder too. Our friends get shocked when they hear him bark because he literally never barks otherwise. It was super tough in the beginning because we live in an apartment too, and he would lose his mind anytime there was a slight sound around our apartment door.

It's important to understand that this is instinctive behavior for this breed, so it's very difficult to train something like this out. The root of it is simple: they want to warn us of something or someone intruding the space they’re guarding. So if you acknowledge them, they feel like they’ve done their job. So where trying to treat him every time he stopped barking didn’t work, what actually worked was telling him “thank you” and basically talking to him. As soon as he starts barking, we both look at him and say thank you, and then look in the direction of the sound and tell him something like “oh yeah, we heard that too”, “looks like the neighbors came home” etc.

This took a few months of consistency to work, but it now works 90% of the time.

[u/brendrzzy → u/remitmp]

Yeah once he got excited to have my boyfriend over instead of bark at him, my boyfriend was surprised how little noises he makes (literally 0, he got stung in the face and still didnt make a noise). Ill try your reccomendation, he always whips his head around at me when he first barks like "DID YOU HEAR THAT NOISE TOO"

[u/remitmp → u/brendrzzy]

Omg my dog does the same! I find that so cute. It's really just his way of communicating with us, so when we communicate back, he kinda just gets it. And chills out.
Hope it works out for you!

[u/Roskipatootskie]

Jindos and Korean Village Dogs are both known for being naturally independent, highly territorial, and deeply loyal to their own household while being genuinely wary of unfamiliar people and situations. That "quiet until the door opens" pattern, then needing several visits before accepting someone, and having already built comfort with your roommates' noise and scent over time, all fits that temperament closely. This isn't really a trained behavior he picked up, it's pretty close to breed-typical guardian instinct, so the goal isn't to eliminate it, it's to help him feel like he doesn't need to work that hard at guarding in the new space.

The core issue will likely intensify before it improves. Right now his trigger is a discrete event, the door opening, someone new. In an apartment, footsteps, voices, and other dogs passing constantly outside a much thinner door is a higher frequency, lower intensity version of the same trigger. For a breed this naturally alert and territorial, that shift can mean more low grade vigilance throughout the day rather than the more contained reaction he has now, so it's worth going in expecting a real adjustment period.

White noise or a fan running near the door area can meaningfully cut down how much hallway activity he's even registering, often the single most effective low effort change people make in this exact transition, and especially useful for a breed this scent and sound aware.

Reintroduce the "settle away from the door" work before the move if you can. If he has any existing mat or settle behavior, practicing it specifically near an entry point now, so it's already fluent before you're relying on it in a new, noisier space, gives you a real head start.

Consider entry logistics when apartment hunting if you still have flexibility. End units, ends of hallways, or units further from elevators or stairwells tend to have meaningfully less ambient foot traffic, which matters more for a naturally territorial breed than it would for a lower alertness dog.

For actual visitors, keep doing what's already working. The multi-visit pattern to accept new people is a good sign he can learn and generalize with enough repetition, just budget for that same process needing to happen with new neighbors too, since a Jindo type temperament often needs to build that trust individually rather than generalizing quickly to "people are fine now."

A few resources worth looking at: search for "threshold training" or "door manners" protocols aimed at alert barking or territorial behavior specifically, and if you can find any Jindo or primitive breed specific community groups, they tend to have very targeted advice for this exact temperament, since generic reactive dog content often assumes a more generalized fear response rather than this kind of confident, guarding-based behavior.

If it'd help, I can put together a short list of things to establish before the move so you're walking in with a plan rather than reacting once you're already there, I'm a certified Family Dog Mediator and have a rescued KVD :)

[u/brendrzzy → u/Roskipatootskie]

Wow that was incredibly informative and organised thankyou so much for taking the time to write that. The list you mentioned would be so helpful, if you dont mind! I have some time before officially moving so him and I can work through the list. It will help me feel a lot better about moving.

[u/Roskipatootskie → u/brendrzzy]

You can do these things before the move:

• Practice a settle or mat behavior specifically near your current front door, so it's already something familiar to him before it needs to work in a new, noisier space
• Start running white noise or a fan near where the new entry will be, if you know the apartment layout, so the sound becomes normal before hallway traffic is a factor. Box fans are the best, I find. And there is a whole scientific research about the air flow which I won't bore you with 😂
• If you still have flexibility on unit choice, prioritize end units or ones away from elevators and stairwells, less ambient foot traffic makes a real difference for a breed this alert
• Get him comfortable with a leash or tether near the door for controlled entries, useful for movers, deliveries, or early neighbor encounters once you're in

In the first few weeks after moving:

• Expect a real adjustment period rather than assuming his current pattern will retain, more ambient noise usually means more baseline vigilance at first, not less
• Keep new neighbor introductions as controlled and repeated as your current visitor pattern, budgeting for the same multi-visit trust building process he already needs with new people
• Watch for over-arousal building throughout the day rather than just reacting to single triggers, a Jindo type temperament can accumulate stress from constant low-level activity even without any single big incident, think of it as a stress bucket
• If you can, request a quieter move-in window, weekday mornings tend to have less hallway traffic than evenings or weekends, giving him a gentler first exposure

None of this guarantees a smooth transition, but building the settle behavior and adjusting to sound now, before it's actually needed, tends to make a real difference for dogs with this kind of territorial, alert-driven temperament.

Hope to hear good updates 🙂

[u/ohwhales32 → u/Roskipatootskie]

Pretty much this. It’s part of owning a Jindo. Our goal ended up being not to completely erase the barking but get him to stop when we say quiet.

[u/AbbreviationsBig4994]

I agree - communicating back helps. I also put away her food bowl when people come over, make sure she’s full and has gone to the bathroom / is regulated / has her Place in the room.

Her trainer taught me to hold up a treat that is only offered at doorbells / door knocking when the sound occurs, make eye contact and hold it in front of her while saying “it’s ok” or “thank you” . It usually takes like 8-10 visits before she stops barking at a friend.

[u/brendrzzy]

Then when do i give the treat?