Barking!

[daisyandme]

Hi,

 

I am having some trouble with Daisy (my 4 1/2 month old female puppy, adopted at 3 months old) barking at other dogs. I am at the point where I don't have any ideas left to resolve this issue. Her puppy class starts in January and I don't want her barking at every single dog or being told she should not attend The vet thought it would be a good idea to enroll her in obedience because it would help her shyness and lack of confidence.

 

A little background:

About a month ago, I began taking Daisy out for walks and introducing her to friends and their dogs that go to the park to play. I did not want her to play, but I just wanted her to see the other dogs as part of socializing (I knew shortly after I adopted her that she had not been socialized much). We were about a block away and she freaked out as soon as spotting them. She urinated, went between my legs and then tried climbing up into my lap while crying. I decided that every day we would continue to go to the dogs, but only get as close as she felt comfortable with. After about a week of doing this, she finally walked up to them.

 

Now, during this entire process of introducing Daisy to my friends dogs, we had two events that I think have started this barking issue. On two different walks around the neighborhood, two very large dogs got off leash and charged toward her, she again urinated, went between my legs and then tried to climb into my lap while crying.

 

After these two events, Daisy was still ok with the dogs at the park, in fact she gets very excited when she recognizes them, she does not bark. However, every time she sees a dog she does not know she barks (it could be on a walk or at the pet store) and sometimes her hackles raise. The only other place that she will not bark at other dogs is at the vets office. She did go to the vet before the events where the two dogs charged her.

 

I thought she is doing this out of fear but at this point I am really not sure? Any thoughts or suggestions? I would so appreciate it.

[IPSY]

Looks like you need more time to get her used to new places and new dogs. If there are any puppy classes going on now , and the trainer lets you , maybe you can do "drop ins" to accustom her to the class environment .(hopefully she wont be too distracting to the class) but at least everybody there will have some understanding of your problem and want to help. By then you will know if classes are a good idea yet.

 

If she will work for food , you might have this problem "licked" in no time..Just treat her when she's quiet, praise her verbally , pet her , be happy .. I think you will have all her attention on you and she will forget about the others. It may take time , but you can do it... patience , and dont rush her.

Im sure your trainer will want to help and offer more suggestions . Everybody on this board will give you great advice as well. You couldnt be in better hands ..

 

Sounds like she needs to gain some confidence in herself and probably a little trust in you too.

IMO , I think time will tell if this is a confidence issue or something more deep rooted. Hopefull the peeing ill subside once she gains her confidence back and she trusts you fully to "be there" for her.

 

We can never tell what horror stories these pups may have before they got to us . It took me weeks just to get my first BC up the stairs and into the agility training facility . The noise factor was a whole other issue . But we did it and she is well on her way to her 1st mach.

 

Good luck with her and have fun

[IPSY]

Oh yeah , dont pick her up everytime she tries to climb onto your lap. This is just telling its ok to be scared and escape the problem by getting into your arms . This will not help her gain confidence and will only make the situation worse.

I just had to add that. That's our nature , to comfort, but by not picking he up , will help her more in the long run.

Of course pick her up if there is danger though...

[daisyandme]

Thanks! Yes, she does respond to treats. With using treats so far I have taught her sit, lie down, stay, come, speak, roll over, shake hands, high five, turn left, turn right and speak. As far as the treat idea goes, should I give her treats as soon as she spots the dog and does not bark right away or if she does bark and I say quiet and she stops briefly do I give her the treat? It just seems to happen so fast and the bark becomes constant.

 

Looks like you need more time to get her used to new places and new dogs. If there are any puppy classes going on now , and the trainer lets you , maybe you can do "drop ins" to accustom her to the class environment .(hopefully she wont be too distracting to the class) but at least everybody there will have some understanding of your problem and want to help. By then you will know if classes are a good idea yet.

 

If she will work for food , you might have this problem "licked" in no time..Just treat her when she's quiet, praise her verbally , pet her , be happy .. I think you will have all her attention on you and she will forget about the others. It may take time , but you can do it... patience , and dont rush her.

Im sure your trainer will want to help and offer more suggestions . Everybody on this board will give you great advice as well. You couldnt be in better hands ..

 

Sounds like she needs to gain some confidence in herself and probably a little trust in you too.

IMO , I think time will tell if this is a confidence issue or something more deep rooted. Hopefull the peeing ill subside once she gains her confidence back and she trusts you fully to "be there" for her.

 

We can never tell what horror stories these pups may have before they got to us . It took me weeks just to get my first BC up the stairs and into the agility training facility . The noise factor was a whole other issue . But we did it and she is well on her way to her 1st mach.

 

Good luck with her and have fun

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

Here are a couple of books you might find interesting, "Cautious Canine" by Patricia McConnell and "Bark!" by Turid Rugaas. There are many others, but these two will help you first I think.

 

She starts barking when she is past her threshold, so find out what that is. What distance can she be from a strange dog before she starts barking? Keep her under threshold as much as you can. If her tolerance level is 15 ft, stay within 16-20 ft and feed her high value food every time she sees a strange dog and does not react. Calm behaviour = reward. Once she is comfortable with this, you can decrease the distance you are from strange dogs slowly...one step at a time, keeping her under threshold as much as you can. You might always have to have a huge bad of food with you, but it works! Also, limit the places that you take her, like pet stores etc. where you can not control the environment. If you take her for walks during times when other dogs are out, just turn around and go the other way. You have no idea how many times I've done this! Sometimes you end up further a way from home than you want to be, but if it keeps your dog from reacting, that's a good thing. Plus extra exercise never hurt anyone!

A puppy class will be a good thing for her as long as the trainer understands she is timid and needs some extra time interacting with the dogs. If the trainer can't help you take it slow, then find another trainer!

Hope this helps some.

Good luck!

[Carlasl]

Maya (now 8.5 months old) was afraid of other dogs and would react by growling and barking when we saw any other dog.

 

I talked to a local doggie daycare that I knew had very good people working there (the owner used to work with the Veterinary behaviorist in town) and we decided to put her in the puppy little dog room for socialization. They were there to be sure she didn't get picked on and it worked really well for us.

 

Also once she was old enough we did start going to dog parks so other dogs could sniff her and she could see that she didn't need to be scared.

 

The above books are great also, I read both of those, and use a lot of the suggestions for my timid girl (who seems to get better all the time).

 

You also might want to look into a book called "control Unleashed" it has great games and teaching exercises for dogs who are worried and reactive to things.

[daisyandme]

Thanks for all of the advise everyone! I really appreciate it. I will try it all.

 

I am struggling with deciding on a trainer/facility I am not completely sure what to look for at the moment. The place that I initially wanted to go to had obedience, agility and herding all at the same place but because of the winter weather it is just not a good idea (Severe Fog with no to low visibility fairly often so I would miss many classes). If anyone in the S.F. Bay Area has a good recommendation let me know!