Help with my increasingly barky snappy terrier

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Help! I have an 18 month parson russell terrier who is gorgeous but a bit nervous.

I have always tried very hard to saunter past things when we are out and have not (I don't think) added to her fears. She will see a log that is not normally there and growl at it or run away frightened etc, she jumps at noises or if she thinks something is behind her. This is not too bad though and generally we can walk for an hour/hour and a half with her running about like a loon and having a great time! The problem is coming with people....she is fine if they have a dog and is fine if they are children BUT if there are people out on their own she really doesn't like it. I usually call her to me now and put her on the lead and if people are friendly enough and we stop and chat then I ask them to give her some treats and she will take the treats nervously. However I sometimes find myself in a situation where I don't get to her quick enough or we are out and someone will just come and say hello and this is where she is becoming a problem, she will go right up to them but sort of cowering and the hair on her back goes up and she starts barking and yapping at them, if they walk off she will bark and yap at their hands and I am really worried she is going to nip someone on the hand....she was sitting quietly beside me at the pub the other week and this man came up behind us and said hello to her as he loves her type. She really didn't like it and I was really concerned she was going to nip him. Also in a pub recently the bar lady came over to our table and she started barking at her etc. I had hold of her and told her No and to sit and she left that alone.

What can I do? My husband says maybe I am exacerbating the situation by calling her and putting her on her lead much more than I ever used to and my dog walker says she really doesn't have it in her to bite someone but I am getting concerned. We are going on holiday next week and last year I would happily let her off the lead on the beach but this year I am starting to think maybe not...

Any advice extremely welcome. We also have the problem when people come to the door - she will really bark at people. What we have done with this is to keep her in another room when the door goes and wait for her to calm down before she is let out. When she is let out we tell all visitors to completely ignore her and she is fine, she goes up and has a sniff and then ignores them back, generally after an hour or so she starts playing with the visitors and is allways fine.

I think you need to find some local training classes as this will help with training in public. Your husband is right to a degree, because your anxiety will transmit to the dog, she will feel threatened and feel she needs to protect you both, but, what can you do, you can NOT risk a bite, if someone wanted to, they could force you to have your dog put to sleep if he bites someone. Im not sure what you should do here, but im sure there will be plenty of advice following. Maybe a muzzle, so you can be more confident about people, also people will be less likely to approach if she is muzzled. Saying that, we had to muzzle our rescue dog when we first got him and he hated it :( Still, coudlnt take any chances (rotweiller). He soon settled and the muzzle was removed.

As for at home - i heard a great peice of advice from dogs trust - train your dog that when the door goes, the "special" treat tin will be opened, train her to go into the kitchen, sit, then get the treat, preferably while people are let in, try not to lock her away as this could be making her anxious. You could enlist the help of friend here, so lots of door knocking ( yeah i know, sounds mad) lots of treats, then the behaviour will happen sooner. Lots of positive praise etc. Then when people come in, dog ignored, she will soon learn that the door = kitchen = treat. Dogs need to learn by positive association. So again, when out on a walk - if you see a person, call her to you and have a treat ready, so all about the recall (says she who's JRT has NO recall whatsoever ). She shouldnt be approaching people at all, even if she is not going to bark at them as some people miserable fuckers don't like it.

Is there anything that could be making her anxious? Is she healthy? has she been speyed? Maybe have a chat with your vet.

Hi Lucy, thanks for your help :) I don't really let her walk up to strangers I always recall and her recall is excellent. It's only when something unexpected happens i.e. the man who just walked straight up to her and the barmaid - I didn't think for one minute she would bark at the barmaid but she did....

Anyway I have just spent an hour on the phone with a dog behaviourist who sounds exactly like the sort of person I would want to work with - has some very similar advice as minimins so I am happy :) He is coming out in a few weeks and in the meantime has suggested a few techniques to help us. It is very expensive but I hope will be worth it!