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My 1-year-old German Shepherd mix barks nonstop. What's the cause?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 44 lbs

Hi. I have a german shepherd female mix dog. After she got her first period in October 2017, she changed her behavior. She is 1 year old. She is acting erradic. She wont stop barking. She barks nonstop, mostly with no reason. She had her castration 2 weeks ago, we were hoping that would help but it didnt. Any advise? What is causing this? Our other dog barks only when there is something really. She is bothering the neighbors, we dont know what to do. She also tries to escape if unsupervised.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

Published on February 24th, 2018

Hi there! I'm sorry to hear that you're having this problem with Nala. Many dogs develop issues with fear aggression or reactivity around 12-18 months of age, so this is a fairly typical time to see a problem like this pop up. It's unlikely that it has anything to do with her coming into heat, or being spayed - more likely that it's just her age.

Advice for addressing this issue would depend on knowing more about the specific situations that cause her to bark - does she do it when she's home alone? When she hears noises outside? When she sees people or dogs she doesn't know? Etc. In general, treatment for excessive barking is based on identifying what triggers it and using reward-based training to teach the dog a different response. To give more details on how to do this, we would need more information about what she barks at.

Feel free to post another question with more details, or request a one-on-one consultation for a more in-depth conversation if you prefer. We would be happy to try and help.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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