Lady sprayed my dog

[Shyfrog]

My dog is a chihuahua and barks loudly and incessantly at anyone who passes by the fence. It’s not a main road. She’s hard work and I can’t seem to control her. She stops listening to commands when she’s afraid and will run away from me and she runs along the fence to stop me from grabbing her and taking her back in just so she can keep barking. Someone has come with a spray bottle and sprayed something on her face and when they saw me coming they left quickly before I could say anything. She seems ok I’m hoping it was just water. What should I do? I know she’s my problem

You should train your dog. Some people don’t want to be barked at - they probably think the dog will escape and attack them.

Train your horrid irritating little dog?

That lady was out of order. However I think you need to take your dog out on a lead going forward, she can’t self-reward like this with the barking and running away.

Have you taken your dog to a professional trainer or anything? Poor thing sounds very unhappy. You need to do something about the barking as it’s not fair on neighbours or the dog itself.

I’d put a sign on the fence to the effect of “Dog barks, sorry” and get in touch with a trainer?

Sorry that was a bit knee jerk mean. I hope your dog is ok. But honestly, the number of badly trained dogs constantly screaming and yapping near me is horrendous. So although I hope it’s water, I do dream of a wonderful spray called something like Little Shit Be Gone! - you spray it and they simply evaporate, never ever to be seen again. The last yip ends in a strangled, slightly surprised scream… Where’s Luna/Max/Flufflonz? No one will ever know and it is BLISS

Ultimately, OP, you shouldn't have your dog in your garden loose if it's not capable of being silent whenever people walk past - be that hourly or every minute. It's incredibly anti-social behaviour to allow her to run up and down the fence growling and barking at people - particularly as I am assuming it's a low fence (given the woman was able to spray your dog in the face). Chi's are well known for aggression and their bites (speaking from experience) hurt. I imagine several of your neighbours are sick of the combination of noise and worry that they/their children will be hurt by your dog.

There are two ways this ends - either your dog is hurt by someone who snaps and actually does serious damage to it, or your dog is hurt by another dog who lunges over the fence and attacks it. Either way, your dog is going to end up being severely hurt.

Get a house-line. They are 5 meters long, keep your dog on it at all times when she's outside and if you see someone approaching put your dog inside. Invest in a trainer.

Let her outside on a long training lead. That way she can still wander about but you can get her in as soon as she starts barking. Don’t shout at her (they see this as you barking back at them, like a reward!) just silently bring her in. Praise once quiet.
This works really quickly if you stick to it.

The spray was probably just water but it’s a clear sign your neighbours are a bit annoyed with it.

Sort the dog out as incessant barking is torture. We are currently being woken at an ungodly hour every day by two barking dogs accompanied by people shouting shut up all along the road at the tops of their voices.

Get your dog trained. If you can't do it yourself, get professional help.

Good on her.

Can’t stand the the constant yapping. There are so many yappy little horrors around me who only ever shut up when my dogs have finally had enough and growl at them.

She was being very unreasonable but letting your dog bark at the fence all day is VERY unreasonable.

Why are you letting your dog have freedom of the garden, if they can't behave politely? Time to only take them out on a lead to do their business then straight back inside again.

What an unpleasant person you are 🙄

Dogs bark if they perceive there is danger or if they want to alert others to their presence - no/one can expect to live beside others and never hear dogs barking. That being said, dogs form barking habits and it sounds like that’s what happened here. I would only allow her outside when she’s on a lead - as soon as she barks then bring her in. Practise the quiet and settle commands and mark and reward.

The woman was an idiot though - no dog has ever changed its behaviour for the better as a result of having water sprayed in its face. She’s now created a negative connection for herself in your dog’s brain and she’s more likely to be barked at.

I do really hope it was just water BUT you do need to do something about the dog, you can't let it behave like that

My parents lived next door to a family that owned a chihuahua and if the owners went out, she would bark constantly. It was awful. She didn’t stop all day. She was in an enclosed court yard in a lovely big garden, she wasn’t mistreated. She had a dog flap to the main house. We’ve sat through family barbecues, kids parties , cuppa in the garden, you name it, they were all dominated by a constant yap yap yap for hours on end. They were at the end of their tether with it. Maybe the person who did this was a neighbour who has been pushed to the brink by this dog who you openly admit to not being able to control.

Go spray something in her face.

The dog shouldn't have free access to the garden while this behaviour is happening. You need to hire a professional dog trainer and it'll probably be sorted within a few sessions.

In the meantime the long line is a good idea. Chasing her will make her think it's a game.

The dog was in the garden defending its territory as dogs do.

My mental and physical health is bad due to ddogs barking where I live. Yabu to think everyone loves your yappy bloody ddog.

Hi OP, your dog sounds anxious, you should speak to a behaviourist or trainer, but here are some tips in the meantime:

1. Give her mental and physical enrichment. Make sure she’s getting enough walks. Walk her in different places and different routes to keep it interesting. Encourage her to sniff whilst she’s out on walks, you could try hiding food/toys in long grass for her to find. At home practise training EVERY DAY (sit, lie down, etc.), consider starting a dog hobby (agility, hoopers, etc.). You could try giving her toys, long lasting bones, puzzle feeders to keep her entertained when you can’t give her your full attention. All of these will stop her being bored and having too much energy.
2. You really need to work on recall. EVERY time she comes to you, give her a treat. If she doesn’t respond to her name anymore, try a new word. Start by practising this just in your house with no distractions, literally just say her name (or the other word you pick) and give her a treat. Then once she associates this with food, you can practise recall in the house with no distractions. Once this is 100% successful, start training it out and about and with distractions.
3. Don’t leave her in the front garden. Once your recall is perfect even in distracting situations, you can start to practise in the front garden. Get someone to walk past whilst you’re engaging with her and give her treats and lots of positive attention if she doesn’t react to the person walking past. If she does react, you AND the person walking past need to not react to it at all. If she doesn’t react to the person whilst you’re engaging with her, then you can start having her loose and calling her over when the person starts to walk past.
4. This will take weeks of effort with time put in every day. You will need to keep the training up long term as well. If after this she is still reacting then you can’t leave her in the front garden - it’s bad for her and for whoever is walking past. If she gets sprayed it’ll probably just make the anxiety worse. Also, you will need to give her lots of treats through the training, reduce her dinner portions to account for this.

Train, or get rid of your dog. Like you should have done already.

Which isn’t good for the dog: dogs who feel they constantly need to defend and repel, particularly if they aren’t guarding breeds, are anxious and scared. OP getting a handle on it is as important for the wellbeing of her own dog, which she presumably doesn’t want to live in a constant state of anxiety, as much as the peace and quiet of her neighbours.

It's not defending it's territory at all by the sounds of it. If the dog is barking continually wether there is someone approaching or not then it's just being a nuisance and I strongly suspect this was a poor neighbour who is losing the will to live spending everyday listening to endless yapping.

The OP knows she needs to train her dog and the fact she hasn't got in professional help means this situation is likely to happen again.

Have you fully checked the dog's face? Any unusual smell or residue?

If it seems like nothing there, then it was probably just water.
But if it's so bad that people feel the need to spray your dog, you need to sort it out. Next time it could be worse 😕