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

Your dog sounds a real menace. I cant stand dogs but I don't agree with spraying them. She was wrong. Go to a dog obedience class

Deal with the issue. Your dog is a nuisance.

If your dog has no training or recall, why is it allowed free access to the garden to make a nuisance of itself?

Hopefully and most likely it was just water.

Dog usually go in back gardens anyway, don't they? As front gardens will always tend to have people passing by which sets off most dogs, trained or not.

Yappy little rats on stilts really scare me.

An untrained dog should not be in your front garden. If you are unable to train your dog on your own, take the dog to classes.

Whoever sprayed your dog is a horrible person, but I'd be amazed if it was anything but water.

You need to get your dog professionally trained. Just because it's a small breed doesn't mean bad behaviour should just be accepted and tolerated. Many people make this mistake with smaller dogs and allow them to do things they'd never allow a larger breed to do. Yapping and barking is one of these things.

Until the dog can behave appropriately loose outside I wouldn't be allowing it personally.

As the owner of a large dog who has to have exemplary training which is reinforced on every single walk and trip out can I just say thank you for recognising that so many owners of small dogs simply do not care about their behaviour because they are small. It drives me absolutely bonkers.

Yep.

Owner of a large breed, with great recall and highly trained, constantly reinforced.

Absolutely sick of owners of small yappy little shits who let their dogs do whatever they hell they want because they're "cute". Including running up to my dogs face and trying to bite him. Train your dogs, whatever their size.

Oooh is anyone working on that? I would definitely invest!

So I re-read the original post and considering you have said how difficult it is to control her, I'd be getting help from a dog trainer in your position if at all possible. Chihuahuas are a bit yappy and defensive by nature so it makes sense to get help with the issue. Good luck.

Buy an anti-bark deterrent on Amazon. They're £30 and work an absolute treat.

I bought one and it stopped my neighbour's dog barking within 5 mins (it had been barking non-stop, felt like, for many years) and they never barked again.

They're outside and inside use.

Ignore the dog haters - that must have been really frightening for you!

I gather you’ve checked her face - checked the smell, for any reaction etc?

If she is barking at a front fence, I would say - don’t let her out in the front unattended.

If you know she’s an incessant barker, why are you letting her out unattended?

Take her to a trainer. And don’t worry about strangers spraying water in her face.

Anyone want to guess if the Spray Bottle Woman is a Mumsnetter who did AIBU about “neighbourhood chihuahua won’t stop yapping?”

If she’s barking at everyone that walks past she shouldn’t be allowed out there off the lead - you should be accompanying her every time. Yapping Chi’s are the absolute worst.

FYI I have 4 ddogs. 2 large breed. Ndn jokes we haven't really got any as he doesn't ever hear them.. My ddog have zero negative impact on anyone else...
Except the white hair off of moulting husky..

I’m the owner of a fence running dog.

The reality is, he only goes in the back garden with a line on (maybe around your waist) while you are there. As soon as he grumbles you reel him in and go back inside. When he’s calm you go out and try again.

After some consistency with that, he’ll go in without a fuss and receive a treat at the door for doing so.

But you must do it all the time, every time. Each time he gets the opportunity to fence guard, he’ll reinforce the behaviour.

Also, take him out and treat him as he explores the areas away from the fence. Train him away from the fence. Play away from the fence. Teach him that the fence is the boring bit that gets him sent back indoors. He’ll get there.

What an unpleasant woman, to phrase it lightly.

I do hope that you are not just letting your dog out unaccompanied in you front garden?

I take it you either don't have a back garden or there is a path running at the side of your back garden.

Just because you have a little dog it doesn't mean you don't have to train it. Find a local dog training group, join and get your dog trained!
I've had dogs for all my adult life- training is vital, both for the owner and the dog.
Non stop yapping is a nightmare and enough to drive your neighbours to desperation point- you have to try to stop this behaviour!

Sorry you’re point is so right but “horrid irritating little dog” is so funny 😭 🤣

Put her on the long leash-every time when she starts this circus again, firmly call her by name and said no, then you need to pull her towards you and repeat the message again.

It'll take time, but you need to persist and be firm.

Love it 😂

Some strange responses here.

It's absolutely not ok for a person to wander by someone's garden containing a dog and spray a dog in the face with anything, ever. Utterly disgraceful and stupid behaviour and I am astonished anyone condones this.

That said, it's also not ok to have a dog barking like this. Can you segregate a smaller area, perhaps at the back of your house rather than the front, for your dog to go outside? I don't really understand how a random passer by can access your dog. If your dog will not come in when you need him/her to, you need to sort some system out - small area, go out on a lead, get in with treat or even spray hose pipe behind them so that they come in. But just screeching barking with zero control is not really on.

How long is your garden? I mean in terms of how long it would take someone to get past it and your barking dog. I’m guessing less than 5 minutes, so I don’t really understand why the woman couldn’t ignore it for a few minutes.

People seem to be getting very intolerant

Different story for your neighbours though. They can’t avoid it. Not that you mentioned them. I’m just pondering. But, yes, get your dog trained.

What about if she walks past 15 times a day? What about if she is unsteady on her feet and walks past once but it takes 5 minutes?

No-one should have to be barked at by someone else’s dog just for going about their business.

Maybe she felt she had to take matters in to her own hands and the OP is obviously not bothering.