Problems With Behaviour Towards Dogs/people

[Monika]

Hi,

I need some help with 2 behaviours my dog is displaying. One has been evident for some time and the other has only recently appeared.

A bit of background info: Niki is a 7yo lab. We got her when she was a puppy and she attended some obedience classes to learn the basics (sit, heel, come, stay etc). She also knows a few tricks and is fairly obedient. She is walked daily, usually for about 1 - 1.5 hours at an off leash dog beach. This includes a total of 40 mins of on lead walking to/from the beach and running, swimming, sniffing and retrieving at the beach. She is friendly towards humans (loves pats).

Here are the problems that we are having:

1. She likes saying hello to dogs at the beach, however only occasionally actually chases/plays with other dogs. Usually she walks up to them, sniffs them while wagging her tail and keeps walking along the beach. However, sometimes the other dogs are more playful and keep following or jumping up on her. She will tolerate it for a while and will then become agitated, raise her hackles and growl to tell them off. If the dogs keep following us, she will usually tuck in her tail and try to escape by going into the water. Is this a problem? Should I be discouraging it? She likes meeting and sniffing other dogs, so I don't think it is aggression. I just think that she is not very tolerant of excited/exuberant dogs..

2. I'm more worried about the following behaviour. During the last two walks, she has barked at some people on the beach. She has never shown this behaviour during a walk before, although she does bark when strangers arrive at our house. In the first instance, I was walking with her along the beach (it was getting dark) and there was a girl about 200m away wearing bright orange fluoro pants. Niki started barking at her, stopped, ran up closer, stopped etc. During this, she was holding up her tail and wagging it. She wouldn't come back when I called her, however did eventually stop barking when I told her to stop. I put her on the leash and apologised to the girl. Niki didn't seem bothered by her and walked up for pats.

In the second incident, it was quite dark when we were finishing our walk along the beach. A jogger appeared on the footpath and ran along the track. Niki again started barking and slowly moving closer to the jogger. She didn't respond when I called her or told her to "leave it". When I caught up with her, I put her on the leash and walked away. I felt really bad as she does look/sound intimidating when she is barking.

Could she be frightened/protective? Would she have been suspicious of the bright clothing / person running in the dark? This has only happened during the last two walks in the 7 years that we have owned her. What could have started this? My mum has been overseas since the weekend. She has a closer bond with Niki, however I am mainly responsible for walking/feeding her. Could this be contributing to the problem? How should I solve it and behave if it happens again?

Thanks,

Monika

[Nekhbet]

do not let other dogs chase yours. She is obviously intolerant of rude dog behavior and break it up before it turns into a dog fight if the other dog doesnt back down.

as for her behavior it's low light and she probably cannot see them properly and hence goes on the defensive. I would keep her on a leash and not correct the behavior but 'its OK thanks for letting me know' with her. If she startles someone they have every right to report her behavior to the council.

As for a wagging tail ... that is not always an I am happy signal. It can also mean confrontation, confusion etc. If she is starting to NOT listen in these situations then keep her on lead

[Monika]

Thank you for your advice! :p

We usually power walk along the beach, so all she has time for is a quick hello and sniff. When we meet an excited dog and it's owner is stationary, I continue walking, otherwise I change direction so that we are walking away from that dog. However, sometimes the other dog still follows us even if I put Niki on the lead. I know that it is unavoidable, unless I stop taking her to the beach (which would break her heart ). Is it possible to make her more tolerant? Some exercises or socialization? Or is it simply her personality? She was more playful/sociable until about 5 yo.

Also, thank you for the advice on the barking. I'll start putting her on the leash when it gets dim and perhaps doing some jogging on lead to keep her occupied. She's been walked during sunset before though and never shown this behaviour do you think she is more defensive/confused because her "pack leader" is away?

[poodlefan]

When was the last time she had her eyes checked by a vet?

It's possible she doesn't have the low light vision she used to.

[persephone]

When was the last time she had her eyes checked by a vet?

It's possible she doesn't have the low light vision she used to.

beat me to it, by a whisker !