satchel loves squirrels and barking

[satchel]

hi, new member here. my wife & i have a 2 year old doodle. he is sweet and loving and we adore him entirely. overall, he is a great dog. but he has developed a severe hatred of squirrels! he tries to attack them when he is in the backyard or when we take him on walks. that's isn't too bad, since they are slightly quicker than he is (but only slightly!) and he never catches them. but he loves to stand next to trees and bark endlessly, which is annoying for us and i'm sure even moreso for our neighbors.

also, he has developed a terribly bad habit or sitting in the front window, peering out. when he sees a squirrel (there are many in our neighborhood), he freaks out, barking loudly and banging against the window. he will do this at any hour of the day, which is inconvenient to say the least. we no longer crate him at night, but this new habit of his makes me want to reconsider so i guess my question is, are there any tricks to get him to not only stop hating those poor squirrels? or at least barking and going crazy every time he sees one? i would hate to take his window privileges away, as looking outside if one of his favorite pastimes. but it has become an issue, which is perplexing because he has come such a long way from his awful young puppy stage.

thanks a lot, and i'm happy to be a new member her!

[Daisy'sMom]

That's a tough one It sounds like just instinct in him that I don't know if you can ever actually take away. My first thought is to close the curtains or blinds, but like you said he really enjoys looking out, so does my Daisy and I'd feel terrible! Maybe obstruct his view at certain times during the day? Hmmm, not sure what else. Have you Googled or done any research on this topic? Maybe some training would help? Again, I think it sounds like instinct. The squirrels and chipmunks drive Daisy crazy but she doesn't react the way you are describing.

[lindamarie]

First of all, don't feel like the Lone Ranger. I have a trained Service/Therapy dog who does the same thing, in the house, more so than outside.
It's MY FAULT, however. I allowed him to do this!

We do have our training techniques to stop him, but we don't always use them.
Bogart is so gentle, that I wanted him to appear ferocious to anyone approaching the house, day and night, that he doesn't know. He has a different bark for people/dogs he knows.

But, this doesn't answer YOUR question. Do you have a trainer? If not, my suggestion would be to take this problem to the trainer.
There are specific training tools and commands, but there's no way for me to teach them in a forum.

Also, I know we might be tempted to do things like draw the blinds or try to remove the problem from the dog. However, that's not the long term answer as it doesn't train the dog to stop and YOU are depriving yourself of a normal life. We shouldn't have to do that. The dog must learn to live under our terms or he/ she is out of control.
Believe me, I'm typing this for myself too. Bogart had over a month off working while I was in the hospital and he's gotten a little rusty as I'm exhausted and so is my husband from helping me.
I have physical therapy coming to my home today. This guy hates dogs! He says that he likes them but he is always moving away from Bogart.
Bogart has a command to PLACE (stay put on his mat) until we say he can move around. That was working very well until he had a little vacation.
So, we're back in "boot camp" as of last week! Nothing like a refresher course!