Barking At People

[WinGus]

My baby has been barking a lot whenever she meets people. I think it is excitement as she then does play bows and does this funny little dance where she runs around in circles with her body curved, tail wagging profusely. Her idea of play is nipping at fingers, which we have been trying to stop. I have been asking people to ignore her until she stops barking/nipping. She does stop after a second or two, and she will then lick the person's fingers until they look at her, and then she will starting barking at them again, and running around, inciting them to play once more (?).

I'm pretty sure this is because we haven't really socialised her that well with people. She's met a lot of people, as I take her everywhere, but haven't really spent time with anyone. Even with relatives it's only about two hours once a week, and then not even paying her attention for that long. I think my relos are getting annoyed that she barks so much. She also hates being picked up and cuddled, and of course everyone wants to cuddle a puppy!

Can someone tell me if this is normal pup behaviour and if it may turn into people aggression later on?!?!

Oh, she does bark at the neighbours too when they talk to her over the fence. Again she does her funny little run, almost looking like she's inciting the person to play with her.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

ETA: She is 7 and a half mo, desexed.

Edited November 18, 2007 by WinGus

[Reddii]

My baby has been barking a lot whenever she meets people. I think it is excitement as she then does play bows and does this funny little dance where she runs around in circles with her body curved, tail wagging profusely. Her idea of play is nipping at fingers, which we have been trying to stop. I have been asking people to ignore her until she stops barking/nipping. She does stop after a second or two, and she will then lick the person's fingers until they look at her, and then she will starting barking at them again, and running around, inciting them to play once more (?).

I'm pretty sure this is because we haven't really socialised her that well with people. She's met a lot of people, as I take her everywhere, but haven't really spent time with anyone. Even with relatives it's only about two hours once a week, and then not even paying her attention for that long. I think my relos are getting annoyed that she barks so much. She also hates being picked up and cuddled, and of course everyone wants to cuddle a puppy!

Can someone tell me if this is normal pup behaviour and if it may turn into people aggression later on?!?!

Oh, she does bark at the neighbours too when they talk to her over the fence. Again she does her funny little run, almost looking like she's inciting the person to play with her.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

ETA: She is 7 and a half mo, desexed.

Sounds a bit like my BC girl. She is so exciteable and when she meets someone she knows she starts to squeal and jumps up at them wanting to kiss them on the nose - no aggression, but certainly not acceptable beahviour. (Caveat - not an expert and haven't seen your puppy so I might be wrong.)

We've had to be really strong and make her sit before he gets any attention - it is finally working at 17 months. Also - with the no cuddle thing - Xena didn't really like cuddles either, but now sits beside me for as long as I'm happy to pat her - quite funny having a BC lap dog!

Don't know that I've helped that much, but I'd say keep at it and make sure you stay consistent.

[Erny]

Wingus - until you're quite certain as to the cause of your dog's behaviour (ie whether it's excitement, fear or something else) it is really difficult and not such a good idea to give advice on what to do. If the "cause" is mis-diagnosed, any tips given might end up exacerbating the problem, rather than helping with it.

One thing I would think about though (as a preliminary/adjunct to working on the cause and modifying the resultant behaviour) is your relationship status from your dog's point of view. Your dog is 7 months old and is entering/has entered the adolecent phase of development. This is where dogs more seriously view their relationships and establish heirarchy status. You really want to make sure that you (and other members of family) are respected as the higher ranking animal. Without that, your dog isn't likely to recognise your right to govern. And the nipping behaviour you describe could become more incessant and serious over time.

Maybe your thinking that your dog's behaviour is based in excitement is correct, but I could also guess that might be escalating to your dog's expression of "her being the boss".

Mind you - in the absence of seeing your dog and observing her relationship with you, this is just a guess, but is a definate possibility.

So, my initial suggestion is to do a stock-take on your leadership/relationship with your dog.

Edited November 19, 2007 by Erny

[WinGus]

Thanks Reddii. I think I will try getting her to sit before any attention is given. I'm hoping she'll grow out of not wanting to be cuddled, as I love to give cuddles!!

Erny, thanks for your advice. It probably is a leadership thing. Although I'm not quite sure how to assess exacty where I am at in terms of being her leader, I do have a feeling that I may not be as strong a leader as I could be. But if she is challenging leadership, why would she be doing this to everyone she meets, not just her pack members (me and DH)?

Your first sentence has me thinking - could she be doing this as a fear reaction? She's always been a bit of a nervous dog around people, even though she's never had a bad experience with anyone yet. She tends to run away whenever someone tries to touch her and then it becomes like a game to her - "haha, touch if me you can!!"

Either way, I do think it could all boil down to 1) her being in her rebellious/challenging stage and 2) us cementing our leadership roles?

[pie]

Kyzer does that dance you talk about, he is quite nervous when meeting people. I tell people not to bend over him to pat him as it can scare him a bit. Crouch down instead.

I'm interested to hear responses to this thread.

[Kavik]

Kaos barked at people for a while. Mostly if I didn't let him go and visit them. I was pretty sure he was just being cheeky but it did worry me. When I went to see K9 Force it was one of the issues I brought up. He obliged me by barking at K9 Force while we were talking so he got to see what I meant .

The barking, along with most of his other problem behaviours, stopped soon after my consult with K9 Force, so I think in the end it was attention seeking and challenging me, and my improved leadership thanks to K9 Force curbed this. Now he just gets wiggly and wants a pat . A lot of it was that I was much more relaxed and felt more in control after the consult, Kaos had been picking up on my uncertainty and tension at the situation.

[WinGus]

Amypie, when people want to pat Pepper, I tell them to give her a tickle under the chin instead and she seems fine with that. She still doesn't like when kids try and pat her on the back though.

Kavik, I have been considering taking Pepper to K9Force, but am going overseas in two days time, so I wanted to wait until perhaps the end of the year, or maybe even a bit into next year. We've been to obedience training, but due to various reasons, we haven't really been consistently, so hopefully if we can get at least three weeks consistently next year, I'm hoping that might help before we see K9Force. I'm sure Pepper will bark her little head off at him too!

[4leggedvariety]

Wingus,

If Pepper is a nervous dog by nature, all the barking she is doing is not a challenge to all other people. A nervous dog will do that if it feels unsafe in that situiation, so makes lots of noise as a way of self-defense.

I totally agree with Erny's advise, step-up your leadership skills so Pepper can look to you for protection instead of giving her the responsibility of protecting herself. This means she must trust you that she won't be hurt and she can see that you are confident enough to handle the situation. You also need to decide what type pf people can approach her, some people always want to force themselves onto dogs, despite the dog telling them it does not want to be touched.

[WinGus]

Hi 4leggedvariety. Thanks for your advice. How do I go about introducing Pepper to people in a way that will make her trust me and them? At the moment I have been handing over treats for the person to give, and making sure that Pepper sees me do this. I'm not sure if this would be effective.

I have been trying K9Force's TOT and also doing NILIF. The latter is SOOOOO hard to do!!!!

[Erny]

Hi 4leggedvariety. Thanks for your advice. How do I go about introducing Pepper to people in a way that will make her trust me and them? At the moment I have been handing over treats for the person to give, and making sure that Pepper sees me do this. I'm not sure if this would be effective.

WinGus .... this is where you NEED to know the cause behind the behaviour. If the cause is excitement, having visitors feed treats can increase that excitement - after all, she'll be beside herself waiting for people to arrive because great things occur when they do.

If it's fear .... well, it depends on your dog and when that fear really first begins to exhibit 'signs'. Sometimes people miss the very early signs. And of course, we can't tell you "when" because we aren't there to observe. Be careful that your visitors are not reinforcing fear behaviour by treating your dog at the wrong time.

If you're not sure about the cause for behaviour and are unable to work it out, perhaps having a behaviourist visit will help, so you know what you're dealing with and can be set on the right path to how to deal with it.

There is little that can be advised over the internet and trying to 'pick things up' from it (from this thread or others) and applying them to your dog carries the potential of making things worse. Of course, it is your call in that respect. The safest thing that can be advised though is to have your visitors completely ignore your dog. You need to work on preventing the fear or excitement (or whatever else it might be) behaviour and this will mean using means by which you have the control to do so. But then, if it's fear, you also need to know/understand your dog's "threshold" so you can work at copeable distances to begin with.

I'm sorry - I know you'll be hoping you can work something out from what I've written and I know that what I've written might appear somewhat cryptic. But it is only because I don't know your dog that I simply can't responsibly give you a step by step count-down of what to do and when.

What you read here are merely 'tips' .... by no means is it intended as a full program with which to work.

[4leggedvariety]

Wingus,

I do not believe the issue of leadership & trust is confined to specific situations. I think it is a general perception from the dog's point of view as how we humans project ourselves. Therefore it is really achieved through all interactions we have with our dogs as we live with them day by day, based on TOT & NILIF and all other leadership things I am sure you know about. As we EARN trust & respect, you will find that your dogs behaviour will change in those situations, or you will be able to influence their behaviour without having to follow specific steps.

As Erny rightly pointed out, is not possible to do this over the net as your dog's behaviour is not being observed. Again, totally agreed with Erny that if food is given at the wrong time for the wrong purpose, it will make matters worse. IMO there is a tendency these days to use food to try to cure all problems.

I have seen over the years that a lot of nervous dogs are hyper & overexcited, so you need to project the opposite CALM AND IN CONTROL. If you walk past somebody and Pepper barks at them, just keep walking straight ahead and do not give any feedback to Pepper (either positive or negative) until you can see the dog is calm. I do not believe in the school of offering food to a dog that is in a state of excitement or nervousness. The dog has to be in a calm state of mind before positive reinforcements can be given. IMO this is when observation of the dog is paramount. Good timing makes all the difference. I think indiscriminate offering of food irrespective of the dog's emotion state is dangerous.

[WinGus]

Thanks Erny and 4leggedvariety for the excellent replies.

I do understand that it is difficult to get proper advice over the internet and I guess it's more for me to be better informed rather than apply everything that I read. I will assess her behaviour when I get back from os. She is at my in-laws place for two weeks, so that will either make or break her!! Taking her to a behaviouralist (or having one come to my place) is at the front of my mind.

I can understand about treating her at the wrong time, so I get my relatives to ask her to sit and not reward her until she sits. She normally obliges. Stays still for a second and then off she goes again!!

Funnily enough she doesn't bark at people when we are on our walks. And it is only some people she barks at when they give her attention. It's really strange. Normally when people hold out their hand for her to sniff, she will either ignore them or sniff and then run before they can pat her. When we stop to talk to people, she doesn't bark at them either unless she feels as if they want to play with her. Maybe she can pick up on these vibes?!?

Anyway, thanks again for all the great "tips"!! Dog behaviour is DEFINITELY COMPLEX!!!