Barking Advice

[frankiejoo]

My girl is 7.5 months now and up until a little while ago was a very good girl. :D

She was spayed 5 weeks ago and her behavior in the last 2 weeks has changed for the worse. Not sure what started it but she now barks at random things which previously wouldn't budge her. She runs to the door or window and barks at people, cars or nothing.. We sternly say No or Enough and when she keeps doing it (80% of the time she does) she then goes into time out (her den). Although the last few nights, she keeps barking in her den so we have been putting her into another room for 5 minutes. :D

She also has become very funny towards other dogs. Before she was fine, going over to sniff and wag her tails at them. Sometimes a little nervous but ok when she saw that they were friendly. BUT NOW she barks at dogs across the road, she barks at dogs walking past and when they go to sniff her, she bolts. She even snarled at a big Lab x Goldren Retriever tonight and snapped at him!! I was absolutely horrified. He was a lovely, friendly dog and definitely showed no aggression at all.

We want to take her to a behaviorist but won't be able to for a few weeks and I really want to start towards a solution straight away. I was thinking of upping her walking and more consistent regular training every night to combat the barking but I don't know if I'm doing the right thing in terms of discipline?

Help please? I just need some guidance until we can get professional help and I don't want it to get worse then it already is.

THANK YOU!!

[quickbrownfox]

Sounds like your girl is experiencing her second fear period.

If you are not already familiar with this guide, this thread is a good read LINK

It's a general guide to your puppy's development.

As for advice, unfortunately I can't help sorry, as I have not experienced this yet (in 2 months time I will, though.) But good luck to you and your pup

[sas]

Go here...

http://www.k9pro.com.au/pages.php?pageid=89

[Nahla + Teddy's Mum]

My 2 pups are going through they same thing They are 8 and 6.5 months old and got de-sexed 10 days ago and almost instantly they have become more fearful of everything!! barking all the time at nothing and in the middle of the night and early morning. We are hoping when they get their stitches out this afternoon and we can start taking them for big walks again that it will stop. We have been doing more training with them at night time to keep them more focused but the lack of exercise is realy showing! Fingers crossed they get through otherwise we will have to seek some help as the neighbours may start to complain ( I even had a dream about a council man turning up at the house!)

[poodlefan]

she barks at dogs walking past and when they go to sniff her, she bolts. She even snarled at a big Lab x Goldren Retriever tonight and snapped at him!! I was absolutely horrified. He was a lovely, friendly dog and definitely showed no aggression at all.

She told him to leave her alone and most of her behaviour is saying the same thing. No need to be horrified - it was a perfectly appropriate response.

Many bitches do not appreciate strange dogs sniffing them and as her owner I suggest you stop it from happening.

Lots of adult dogs show little interest in meeting new dogs.

Keep other dogs away from her. She's clearly not interested in being sniffed by dogs that are probably a hell of a lot bigger than she is.

Many "friendly" dogs are actually quite rude in dog terms. The fact that some dog wants to greet yours doesn' mean you have to let it happen.

I would recommend you read the article "he just wants to say hi". here

Edited November 22, 2010 by poodlefan

[frankiejoo]

she barks at dogs walking past and when they go to sniff her, she bolts. She even snarled at a big Lab x Goldren Retriever tonight and snapped at him!! I was absolutely horrified. He was a lovely, friendly dog and definitely showed no aggression at all.

She told him to leave her alone and most of her behaviour is saying the same thing. No need to be horrified - it was a perfectly appropriate response.

Many bitches do not appreciate strange dogs sniffing them and as her owner I suggest you stop it from happening.

Lots of adult dogs show little interest in meeting new dogs.

Keep other dogs away from her. She's clearly not interested in being sniffed by dogs that are probably a hell of a lot bigger than she is.

Many "friendly" dogs are actually quite rude in dog terms. The fact that some dog wants to greet yours doesn' mean you have to let it happen.

I would recommend you read the article "he just wants to say hi". here

He did waltz straight up to her and put his paw on my leg. ;) She's always been a very 'precious' dog as my vet said. Hopefully it is just her correcting another dog's rudeness and not fear aggression.

My last Maltese had fear aggression after being attacked and hospitalised by a stray. I would hate for her to have that ingrained fear of other dogs. I don't mind if she doesn't want to meet every dog we see but I don't want her barking at dogs even if they are across the road and down the street a bit!

[corvus]

If you don't want her barking at other dogs on the street, why don't you think of what you WOULD like her to do and reward that instead. For all you know, she is barking at the other dogs to make them go away and when they inevitably do, the barking is reinforced. Or she's barking out of frustration and the dogs going away heighten her frustration.

My little guy went through a phase like this at around the same age. We practised the Look At That Game and started reinforcing him heavily when he responded to his name by coming over to us when there were no dogs around to distract him. He picked it up really fast and started seeing other dogs as a cue to heel for treats.

[aussielover]

she barks at dogs walking past and when they go to sniff her, she bolts. She even snarled at a big Lab x Goldren Retriever tonight and snapped at him!! I was absolutely horrified. He was a lovely, friendly dog and definitely showed no aggression at all.

She told him to leave her alone and most of her behaviour is saying the same thing. No need to be horrified - it was a perfectly appropriate response.

Many bitches do not appreciate strange dogs sniffing them and as her owner I suggest you stop it from happening.

Lots of adult dogs show little interest in meeting new dogs.

Keep other dogs away from her. She's clearly not interested in being sniffed by dogs that are probably a hell of a lot bigger than she is.

Many "friendly" dogs are actually quite rude in dog terms. The fact that some dog wants to greet yours doesn' mean you have to let it happen.

I would recommend you read the article "he just wants to say hi". here

Do you think barking and snarling is normal?

In my experience, most dogs don't need to resort to barking or growling to tell another dog to back off. In fact most times body language- stiff body, raised tail, the "look" etc are enough to warn other dogs off.

Many little dogs do this to my big dog and she knows to give them their space- even though they are about 1/5 of her size lol

Its quite funny, she will be excited at the prospect of seeing another dog, start walking towards them, take one look at them, see they are definitely NOT interested and then slink back to me LOL

[poodlefan]

Do you think barking and snarling is normal?

In my experience, most dogs don't need to resort to barking or growling to tell another dog to back off. In fact most times body language- stiff body, raised tail, the "look" etc are enough to warn other dogs off.

Many little dogs do this to my big dog and she knows to give them their space- even though they are about 1/5 of her size lol

Its quite funny, she will be excited at the prospect of seeing another dog, start walking towards them, take one look at them, see they are definitely NOT interested and then slink back to me LOL

I think its perfectly normal for a dog restrained by a lead to resort to barking and snarling if the owner isn't reading the "I'm uncomforable" signals and keeping other dogs away from it. Its normal defensive behaviour.

The body language you describe is the language of dominance and this is not the body language that fear aggressive dogs or those that lack social confidence display. Their body language is usually that of avoidance - no eye contact, lowered posture etc. A dominant dog won't be deterred by it at all. If the dog using avoidance cannot avoid the encounter, its likely to warn the other dog off using normal dog language - growling and barking.

I'd expect to see the barking escalate and commence at greater and greater distances if 'greetings' continue to be forced on the dog by the owner.

Sadly, not all dogs read body language as well as yours.

Edited November 22, 2010 by poodlefan

[misscoco13]

We have had territorial barking at the front door and windows from our 18 month old Shih Tzu girl. She knows the command "sit for a treat" really well and immediately comes and sits in front of me. So when she barks I call her and say "sit for a treat" and she gets her treat and forgets about barking! She never goes back to the door after that. As for other dogs, she's never had issues meeting any other dogs, either before or after desexing.