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Dog barking at other dogs

7 replies

DogsMightFly · 14/06/2016 11:02

My dog has a habit of barking at other dogs. This happens with dogs on TV, when she hears a dog barking outside the house, when a dog walks past the house, and when we are walking on lead and she sees another dog on the other side of the road.

When she is off lead in parks, woodlands etc and she meets other dogs, she doesn't bark.

It doesn't look like aggressive barking. Her tail is up and wagging, she doesn't 'lunge', shake or seem frightened. She's had no bad experiences with other dogs and when she meets dogs off lead, she's friendly and wants to say hello. The barking to me looks like her way of saying hello and wanting to play/meet them.

I suspect my husband has encouraged this barking without meaning to, as whenever she barks at a dog on TV for example, he gives her attention (petting her to try to calm down and saying things like, 'It's ok, it's just the TV'). I wonder if she sees that attention as validation for her behaviour?

Does anyone have any ideas for training we can do with her please?

Thanks in advance.

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georgedawes · 14/06/2016 11:52

Could you try teaching speak and quiet on cue? Therefore you can cuse her quiet and then reward her when other by letting her greet other dogs when quiet. But you'll both need to stop giving what she wants when she barks or it'll definitely continue! My dog can be a little like this occasionally when we leave the house, I take her straight home every time and wait for her to calm down before starting the walk again. Can take a few goes but when she understands she won't get what she wants it does work well.

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DogsMightFly · 14/06/2016 13:09

Thanks that's a good idea. I just found an article on Victoria Stilwell's site on bark/quiet training, so I'll try that.

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georgedawes · 14/06/2016 14:52

There's lots of videos on YouTube that are good, if you use a clicker they are helpful too.

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DogsMightFly · 14/06/2016 15:06

Thanks George, I think you're right - she breeds the Quiet training. It's definitely excited barking, rather than fear or aggression, so from reading the Quiet training, it should be fairly easy to address - I hope!

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georgedawes · 14/06/2016 16:17

It'll probably get worse initially as she'll try harder when it doesn't work, but then should hopefully get better when she realises quiet gets her what she wants!

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Greyhorses · 14/06/2016 18:20

Mine barks at other dogs (aggressively) but I found that teaching a sit and watch me really helped which might work outside?

If another dog is approaching I ask her to sit and look at me and not the dog until the dog has passed...she gets a piece of something really nice if she manages to not have a fit Smile it keeps her quiet!
If she dosent manage to behave I ignore her completley and wait for her to calm down and then move on so she dosent think she achieved anything!

Something similar could work at home too, perhaps distraction and reward for positive behaviour?

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DogsMightFly · 14/06/2016 19:06

Ohh that's a good idea. I do 'sit and watch me' when she's off lead and kids are running around or horses or cyclists going past. So at least she's already knows the command.

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