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

……did it stop barking 🫣

I'd rather live next door to an XL Bukky than a fucking constantly yapping chiwhawwhawwhae. Spray? Hose pipe eould be better!

train it or see if one of the shelters will take it rehome it to someone who CAN train it.

Lead. Every time. Bring her back in the first time she barks. Simples.

Dogs are pack animals, as we know. A dominant dog will bark to alert the rest of its 'pack' to a perceived danger.

I suggest you make the fence out of bounds so she can't run on it (bit confused as to how even a tiny dog can run on a fence). As soon as she barks, go out, give dog your acknowledgement, say thank you dog, all okay, be calm and bring it in.

Ignore bad behaviour, reward good. But make sure you're encouraging good.

Chihuahuas are rottweilers in their minds. They were bred to be shouty and aggressive so you've already got that against you.

I say this as an experienced dog owner but I rescued a new friend two weeks ago. She barks when the door goes, if a leaf blows past or just someone she doesn't like the look of. She's a staff. I have engaged the services of a dog trainer/behaviourist so we can settle her as she's an old lady. Dog, not trainer!

I don’t know if you’re just having a bad day or are tired but you shouldn’t speak to anyone like that. There are circumstances that I spoke about in one of my replies that make it more difficult for me to train her and you don’t know what I’ve tried. If I didn’t care I wouldn’t be posting

I am 19 soon. I have had her since I was about 12 or 13, I didn’t have the capacity to understand what I was getting into or make the decision, I wasn’t responsible for her or paying for her until about a year ago, I don’t know how much a behaviourist or trainer would cost but it sounds really expensive and I am on benefits, I would have to see what I can do. I can’t get rid of her now can I so that isn’t an option, she can’t be rehomed because of her severe behavioural issues so I’m kind of stuck, she does understand commands and recall but only listens if it’s just us, I am thinking about the methods suggested here

These replies are awful! Op posted looking for help and most posters have been absolutely vile!
Barking dogs are annoying but you don’t go around spraying them in the face.

@Shyfrog speak to your vet, they may be able to recommend medication AND a behaviourist.

yeah medication was suggested I am thinking about phoning the vet to ask as her anxiety is severe

Me too

No it was not OK for the lady to spray your dog with water, no matter how annoying she was being. What she should have done was put on her big girl pants and come and spoken to you about it, not cowardly taken her frustration out on a dog.

A biter as well as a barker it would seem. Cute? .... I don't think so.

How could she speak to the OP without walking into the garden and risking a "hard bite"? Forget it.

The dog was on the OP’s land.

Should we allow people to spray irritating children in their own gardens too?

@Shyfrog - I've just read your last but one post- what I would if I were you is first, a vet check for some help with the anxiety.
Then see if you can find some way to block the gaps in the fence so the dog can't see through it. Don't let the dog out on its own/- there had been some good advice on how to get dog's attention on you rather than the fence.
Finally: look round for a dog training group or club. This will be much more affordable than a one to one with a trainer.

Good luck!

Definitely worth a try. Our dog had quite extreme anxiety after an incident and behaved awfully because of it. I can’t remember what medication the vet prescribed but it calmed her enough to be able to work with the behaviourist. Good luck.

If my kids start barking incessantly, my neighbours can feel free to turn the hose on them.

Chihuahuas can live for about 25 years you know. You probably ought to do something along the lines of behavioural intervention (even though it's not usually something I'd be on board with as there are too many people preying/cashing in on dogtanians who love to waste £££ on their bloody dogs) but given how old the dog is, how it's been allowed to behave, and how it's negatively impacting your life you do need to try something new.

I imagine she is a neighbour who has had enough. I have spent my life rescuing various damaged traumatised dogs. I currently have three. One is reactive so guess what I work with her to prevent her from driving neighbours up the walls- she has had behaviourist intervention and long term meds plus regular training.
My neighbour ( whose back garden backs into road in front of my house) has a dog they have had since puppyhood. It barks everytime they let it out and literally wakens me every single night. It also wakens my dogs who get a ‘quiet’ and they lie back down.
They make no attempts to sort it and all of my neighbours complain.
Not doing anything is not acceptable. Look into solutions, put a gate to stop him running from back garden to front, fence off a smaller area leading from back door to keep dog away from main fence, use slats to cover the fence gaps, use a long lead, get vet and behaviourist support… DO something

We had a neighbour with sane bread. They let it out every morning in the garden and it just barked the whole time it was out ... owner said it was barking to get back in the house. Same in the afternoon/evening.
All the neighbours were fed up of it.
I went to see her and she basically didn't care. Next my husband went round, it stopped for a while.
Dog owners should be considerate and stop their dogs barking, end of.

Would it be worth only taking your dog out in the garden, maybe on an extendable lead or a long line, that way if she starts barking you can bring her straight back in.
Does she like toys? My dog has a particular ball which is for the garden only. Our next door neighbours dogs bark all the time in their garden and the only way to stop my dog barking back is to give him this particular ball, which he bites instead of barking back.

I can see you are a bit overwhelmed OP. Given she's so little I echo the suggestion that you let her out in a harness and a long line and pull her back to you when the behaviour is over the top. Reward her with high value treats when she's near you and calm. I'd look at dog training advice and support on Facebook but it does expect you to read the guides and try yourself. Also look for local groups- I take my dog on (free) pack walks run by a local trainer and he's very helpful and runs lots of reasonably priced training. Sounds like you do need some help but you are doing your best for you and your dog x

@Mischance

I am guessing that it was a neighbour or someone who walks past the dog regularly. So she could have just waited until she saw OP outside without the dog. Going to the car or walking to the corner shop or whatever. Or gone and knocked on the door at a time that the dog wasn't in the garden.

Either way, spraying the dog with water wasn't going to help in any way shape or form. And taking your frustrations out on an animal, any animal not just dogs, is just plain cowardly.

Can you put something up to cover the gaps in the fence?

Aversives can stop the behaviour through fear but more often than not the behaviour becomes displaced. Dogs aren’t happier after aversives. It’s far better to modify the behaviour through positive reinforcement.

Blocking the see through gaps only works to a certain degree because the dog can hear & smell, in fact it could make it worse if it's anxiety based because they can't see what they can hear & smell and that can make it more intimidating.

As many have already said, long lead and interaction with the dog, make calling her away from anything rewarding, use the same word and 'pay' for the right action with food. Start with calling away from nothing. Call her when she's just sat or laid down, reward. Then move on to calling her away from increasingly interesting things.

Make everything a trade off, nothing is for free in this house. Want your toy? You sit first. Want your dinner? You sit and wait patiently while I put it down. Want a treat? You give me your paw first.
It creates the situation where the dog checks with you instead of just rushing to get what they want, to see what you want in 'return' for whatever it is they're wanting.

Once that is established then you move on to things that are self rewarding like barking at people going past. You ask them to ignore that urge by providing something better when they 'check in' first. Over time the person walking past is associated with a positive experience with you.

I had a dog that was similar, not aggressive though, but she liked the sound of her own voice and was a renowned stubborn breed. I never did stop the barking completely, as in she did bark on occasion, but if she did she'd then turn herself around and bring herself in without a word from me because I'd done that every single time she barked for months, and for the rest of her life. It's an ongoing process.

And yes at first I did have to be tough and 'drag' her away and wait until she'd calmed down and then reward. The time between it starting and her being calm shortened, and then she would see something bark, look at me and come without being dragged. Then she'd see something and look at me first - and you have to get that bit right with timing and reward the check in before you lose the focus, then she would see something, check in with me and wait until I rewarded - without barking.

I wouldn't say it's hard work, more repetitive and that you need to be consistent, even when it appears you've gone backwards or you've not made any progress. But she needs to trust you before you will get anywhere, to know that what you say to do is going to end up being the best thing for her to do, each and every time.

Good luck!