[werevamper]

My grandma's dog has almost the same problem. Whenever she hears someone (or even something) pass by like a walking dog or a helicopter, she start barking like she's going to attack it.

Part of the problem is that my grandma doesn't walk her enough and she has way too much pent up energy. Do you walk your dog everyday for at least a half hour? She might have too much of that same energy. Even if she does get walked enough, I would still walk her before you try any of this training with her so she'll be a little easier to work with.

I'm now living with my grandma and am walking the dog for her. I'm currently training to be a dog behaviorist so of course I got the the new role of "fixing" the dog. Anyway, we are using a method I came up with called blocking. What you do is work on your dogs obedience a little by asking her to sit and stay for a while, say 1 minute, while you walk away or turn around. Make sure she stays there but don't get frustrated if she doesn't stay, just have her sit and try it again.

Once you can get her to do that, you can move to the next step. Have her sit about 5 feet or more away from the door while you open it. If she tries to follow you, tell her 'back' until she's back where she originally was sitting. Then tell her to sit again. Keep doing this until she stays. If your dog likes food rewards, you can use those. Just throw her a treat if she stays for you. Don't use treats if they distract her from sitting though.

The next step is to have a volunteer that she usually lunges or whatever at walk across the street or do something that sets her off. Practice the blocking method by walking in front of her and 'blocking' her way by walking towards her until she's at the sit spot. If she stays and ignores the person, give her a reward. If she doesn't, just 'block' her again until she does.

Once you get that down, move on to having the person walk to the door, then have them open the door, etc.

If this method works for you, modify it so it fits the phone problem and so on.

For the mom with kids thing, there a a few "Me or the Dog" episodes where the same thing happens. Victoria uses a few different methods for those but I can't remember what.

Let me know how it goes if you use this method. It may take a couple months. I just thought I'd warn you so you're not expecting instant results.