What is the best way of stopping my on-lead dog from barking at off-lead dogs on walks?

[Notjustanymum]

We adopted the most docile, friendly lurcher a couple of years ago. Because she’s a sighthound, we walk her on the lead on the road and in the woods, only letting her off in open spaces with no access to roads.
The trouble is that she has developed the habit of barking at other dogs who aren’t on leads, and provoking them to bark back and to attack her unless the owner grabs their dog.
We always warn owners of off-lead dogs that ours might bark, but sometimes they don’t seem to grasp that this might provoke their dog.
Any tips on training her not to bark at other dogs when she is on the lead? Also, should we approach owners of off-lead dogs differently? Sometimes it’s difficult to avoid passing other dogs ( narrow tracks) and it’s those situations that we struggle with.
Any help will be gratefully received!

I saw something on a training show that when a new dog approached and the on lead dog started to bark then they immediately turned around and changed direction. It did eventually work.

Distract her when you see an off lead dog in the distance
Keep a favourite toy in your pocket and when you see a dog approaching, show her, wave it at her, get her focussing on you

If she ignores the off lead dog, immediately reward her with a treat

If she reacts, turn in the opposite direction and walk away

She will soon get the messages that a) off lead dogs aren’t as interesting as you are b) ignoring them gets her a treat and c) reacting means being taken away

And ideally, practice with a training stooge dog, if you’ve got a friend who can lend you some time to keep bumping into you on a walk so you can keep repeating it until she gets it

@OnlyToWin - that’s a good tip, thank you🙂

There's an exercise called threshold training, I think that's it, when you take barky dog to a place busy with dogs but just watch them from a distance and reward your dog for focussing on you. Then over days/ weeks get closer as long as you can still get your dog to look at you for treats instead of bark or lunge towards dogs. I did it with my reactive rescue many years ago and it improved things. A bit boring though, standing just outside the park!

Find the distance where she's happy to see another dog without reacting (this could easily be 20+ metres at first) and then reward her when she's that distance away and not reacting.

Slowly, you'll be able to reduce the distance she can be from other dogs without barking - it may take a good while (months) but you will get there eventually. My own dog is reactive on a lead - he used to bark at all dogs within about 20 metres, now it's more like 3-4 metres, and even then, not all the time.

Victoria Stilwell did this training with quite a few dogs on her "It's Me or the Dog" show. It's absolutely not a quick fix but it's worth it in the long-run!

We’ve used the above technique with our dog who barks and barks when he’s on a lead and can see other dogs but not be able to play with them. It is helping but not resolved yet. So in between training times, when we go somewhere dog busy needing him on a lead for the kids activities etc, we still take him and we use a citronella anti bark collar. I was worried it would make him anxious but actually it calms him down. He barks once and when citronella is released he gets distracted by it, he doesn’t bark again and quickly settles. He’s learnt that he can make a whiny noise without setting it off which is useful, as he can tell us when it’s getting too much for him without resorting to full on barking and when he whimpers we know he’s struggling and it’s time to get him somewhere he feels calmer.

It is really important that you do NOT distract your dog or make them focus on you in this situation. Distraction will not teach your dog anything and the behaviour will continue and focussing on you will actually make them more fearful. Imagine if I said to you "dont look at it just look at me" in your head it would be a way more scary thing than reality.

So what to do?

Do work at a distance that your dog is not reacting.
Do let them see the dog
When they are looking at the dog reward them with the best treat. (your dog should not be reacting but even if they are reward them but move further away). I say "look at the dog" to acknowledge the situation then reward.

The idea is that your dog will see another dog and then turn to you as good things happen when they see a dog eg the treat.

Same as teaching a sit.The word sit is the cue they get a treat

In this instance the dog is the cue they get a treat.

"Lets go is a great cue to get you out of trouble.So as said above a dog approaches you and you are too close so a cheery "lets go and a fast turn away from the dog reward on the turn.

It is very important to perform "lets go"when there are not dogs around and practise it first at home just for fun. If you only do lets go when you see dogs your dog will hang back to bark at the dogs.

Re passing by off lead dogs try as hard as you can to avoid it. Be a ninja in hiding behind cars, bushes etc.

Avoid avoid avoid those narrow paths where you never know what's coming around the corner. Open grassland or beach.

It is really important that you do NOT distract your dog or make them focus on you in this situation. Distraction will not teach your dog anything and the behaviour will continue and focussing on you will actually make them more fearful. Imagine if I said to you "dont look at it just look at me" in your head it would be a way more scary thing than reality.
Has the training advice changed? I was told maybe 5 or 6 years ago, by a force-free trainer, that I should get my dog to look at me in this situation, and reward his focus, and that way he would associate the other dog being there, and him ignoring it, with good things. She also advised me to keep the distance between him and the other dog larger to begin with, and to reduce it as he got more confident. And, to a point, it worked - enough that he gradually expanded his circle of canine pals and stopped being quite so hard to handle.

Honestly, I'm not being arsey - I'm curious.

Make sure she is listening to you and say Stop or Quiet in a firm voice. If you let here get away with it she will carry on! Dogs look to us for direction. They won't be aware that they are transgressing unless we tell them. Reward her with a kind voice and a pat when she obeys.

Grumpyosaurus what you were told to do will mean you may be able to manage a situation but you will not be "training a new emotion or behaviour of the dog being chilled when it sees a dog. By allowing the dog to see the dog and the other dog becoming a cue you will change the emotions and behaviour of the dog quicker.

Absolutely work at a distance your dog is under threshold and this will get smaller over time.

Thanks everyone- some great tips to try👍🏻😁

I have a rescue lurcher too. She doesn’t bark at other dogs but she really zones in on them and when we get close enough she wants to play with them. She is so strong it’s hard to hold her. I’ve started to train her that when she sees another dog she is to sit and look at me. I’m using bits of cheese in my pocket. It’s really working. I follow a woman called Kaelin Munkelwitz (sp?) on Facebook and her big thing is that everything comes back to the dogs focus being on you, so that’s what I aim for is to have her focus on me. I reward for when she sees a dog and then looks away. Big praise. Same if she sees a dog and looks at me. Or if she hears a dog bark and ignores it or looks but then carries on sniffing/walking. Basically I want her response to other dogs to be either ignore or “look at mum to see what I should do.”

@pollyroullson thanks.