First Obedience Class - Wouldn't Stop Barking!

[Puppynovice]

Well my little Mini Foxie went to his first obedience class yesterday and it was a disaster! It was so embarrassing. While all of the other dogs were well behaved (mostly), my boy decided it was a good idea to bark at every single dog pretty much for the entire hour lesson. He was the smallest pup there but the loudest and naughtiest!! Is this normal? As he was the only puppy there that did this I would assume not. Is it just a stage he is going through? How do I stop him barking at every dog he sees? Just today on our afternoon walk another little dog walks past with it's owner and mine starts barking excitedly and pulling on the leash at it.

At the training yesterday I really had no idea what was going on most of the time as I couldn't hear the instructor and spent most of the time trying to stop my boy barking and pulling on the leash at all the other dogs.

Am I the only person here with a naughty and excitable pup? This is really worrying me as apart from the fact my boy is not focusing on his training, I am worried he is annoying all the other owners in the group.

[julesluvscavs]

Hi puppy novice:)

Im fortunate I don't have a very noisy puppy (well shes almost a year young now!) except when shes at the beach lol but she is very excitable!

We have started a training course (a basic training one) with her and 4 other dogs of varying sizes and breeds. A couple of them are quite vocal. We always start our classes off with our dogs resting on these carpet mats the trainer supplies. The idea is to focus on calming our dogs down before we begin, well as much as they can be at the start of a class lol Its very much a reward based school, so lots of treats are handed out if the dog is acting appropriately.. We usually end the class with our dogs back on the mat being calm before we go.

I think its working with the more vocal dogs, but its not happening overnight of course.. but the last couple of lessons the more vocal dogs have been slightly less vocal i have noticed :)

Others with more experience will hopefully come in and give you some suggestions. Im not a novice to owning dogs, but I am with owning a puppy . Goodluck and happy training ! We had also done puppy kindy when she was much younger but apart from making excitement noises when she first met the other puppies, she was fairly quiet after :)

Edited October 14, 2013 by Jules❤3Cavs

[minimax]

Were there trainers to give you some help on how to handle him, or did they Just let him bark and carry on without giving you any ideas on how to settle him?

[Puppynovice]

Were there trainers to give you some help on how to handle him, or did they Just let him bark and carry on without giving you any ideas on how to settle him?

The second option....just let him bark and carry on without giving me any ideas on how to settle him. She just said do the exercises. Which was fine when I was getting him to sit and stuffing his mouth with treats. He already knew how to sit as I'd taught him myself. But he kept getting distracted during the exercises and of course in between the exercises when the instructor was telling everyone what we were doing next etc, he just barked and carried on. Most of the other dogs ignored him. One who was much bigger in size was actually backing off. He was probably bemused by the strange little dog!

Oh and the instructor apparently said to everyone, 'we ignore naughty dogs'. My husband told me this as I couldn't hear her from the barking.

Edited October 14, 2013 by Puppynovice

[fuzzy82]

I would find a different class. Instructors are supposed to be there to help and give advice, and if they are just ignoring you and expecting you to sort it out yourself, they are not doing their job and you may as well be on your own.

Yes, it's normal behaviour, there's always one dog in each class who gets too excited in a class environment. Usually the instructor helps this person by giving advice on what to do, and 2-3 weeks in, the dog is as well behaved as the rest of them.

But you don't get this by ignoring the behaviour, and this class sounds pretty crap to me.

[Guest hankodie]

Hi puppynovice, I agree with fuzzy82. Your puppy is probably pretty excited but the trainer should've given you some tips on how to handle this. I think the main goal in that scenario is to work towards teaching puppy how to ignore and settle around other dogs and keep his focus on you.

What kind of socialisation have you been doing with your pup before starting the puppy class?

[minimax]

Yeh I'd be finding a class with a trainer that offered helpful advice! Were they a trainer, or just someone teaching obedience?

[persephone]

Was this your pup's first time around a group of other dogs ?

How has he been during socialisation with friends' dogs, etc ?

How old is he again?

..a also think another class/club may be a better 'fit' for you & your pup :)

[fluff1234]

I agree the trainer should of stepped in to help. My pup got pulled out of class the other week due to me not being able to get him to do anything or listen to me, they were great and gave him a little one on one he needed. (it was a very hot day)

They are there to help you train and should of given you advice and shown you what to do when he was barking.

[Diva]

Don't be embarrassed, it is just behaviour to work on. Nothing to be embarrassed about.

I assume it was CDC in Symonston, or Tuggeranong? Both are good clubs, don't give up on them because of one bad session.

There are techniques to teach your pup some self control, the instructor may have thought he was over excited and just needed some time, or maybe they didn't have anyone at hand to give you some one on one. The first week of a new term can be very hectic.

I would give it another go and if your pup isn't more settled hang back after class and raise your concerns with the instructor. If you still aren't happy, go a bit early next time and ask to see the session manager. Instructors are volunteers but they do have to undergo a training course and teach to a cirriculum, some are very experienced indeed. But the biggest problem is that there isn't usually enough of them.

Edited October 14, 2013 by Diva

[Staffyluv]

Here is my suggestion on stopping this type of behaviour in class.

Chose a 'key' word - one that when you say it, gets the dogs attention on you (and not on what else is going on).

Mine is 'ready'. I use cheese or homebrand devon in a roll (it is foul but the dogs love it) - find a soft treat food (not dried) that is easy to eat and cut it into tiny, tiny pieces, you are going to be using lots of them.

Start at home where it is quiet and there are no distractions.

Hold the treat in front of puppy and say the word and shove the treat in pups mouth.

Say the word, treat, say the word, treat - over and over again (remember to take some food from dinner or breaky to counter the amount of treats).

So mine goes, 'ready' treat..

The dog soon learns that word means a treat and will focus on you.

Then you can start the look at me game. Hold the treat in front, so the pup can see it and put it up near your nose and say 'look at me' - when pup looks up at you and makes a split second of eye contact, treat.. Pup will soon learn that look at me and eye contact gets a treat..

These things help puppy focus on you and not other dogs.

With my older boy, I used to walk him out of the group - when he calmed, we would walk back towards the group and train (about a metre or two away, sometimes more). As soon as he started barking or playing up, we would walk further away - he soon associated his barking with leaving the group (and he wanted to be in the group)..

Good luck, there are loads of training tips and tricks, just ask and most will give you ideas on how they fixed issues.

Edited to add, we train at the Queanbeyan Dog Training club and love it over here..

Edited October 14, 2013 by Staffyluv

[Puppynovice]

Was this your pup's first time around a group of other dogs ?

How has he been during socialisation with friends' dogs, etc ?

How old is he again?

..a also think another class/club may be a better 'fit' for you & your pup :)

He is 5 months old and no he hasn't had much socialisation with other dogs - people but not dogs. This is the whole reason we're putting him in training school. The vet said we should keep him away from other puppies / dogs until he was 16 weeks old. I walk him most days and he gets very excitable around other dogs and kids and always barks at them. And yes this was our first lesson.

Edited October 14, 2013 by Puppynovice

[Puppynovice]

Here is my suggestion on stopping this type of behaviour in class.

Chose a 'key' word - one that when you say it, gets the dogs attention on you (and not on what else is going on).

Mine is 'ready'. I use cheese or homebrand devon in a roll (it is foul but the dogs love it) - find a soft treat food (not dried) that is easy to eat and cut it into tiny, tiny pieces, you are going to be using lots of them.

Start at home where it is quiet and there are no distractions.

Hold the treat in front of puppy and say the word and shove the treat in pups mouth.

Say the word, treat, say the word, treat - over and over again (remember to take some food from dinner or breaky to counter the amount of treats).

So mine goes, 'ready' treat..

The dog soon learns that word means a treat and will focus on you.

Then you can start the look at me game. Hold the treat in front, so the pup can see it and put it up near your nose and say 'look at me' - when pup looks up at you and makes a split second of eye contact, treat.. Pup will soon learn that look at me and eye contact gets a treat..

These things help puppy focus on you and not other dogs.

With my older boy, I used to walk him out of the group - when he calmed, we would walk back towards the group and train (about a metre or two away, sometimes more). As soon as he started barking or playing up, we would walk further away - he soon associated his barking with leaving the group (and he wanted to be in the group)..

Good luck, there are loads of training tips and tricks, just ask and most will give you ideas on how they fixed issues.

Edited to add, we train at the Queanbeyan Dog Training club and love it over here..

Thanks heaps for that. I guess I just felt useless and bad that he was upsetting all the other member's enjoyment of the session. He really is a very sweet and gentle dog. He just loves meeting people and gets very excited and he obviously wanted to play with the other dogs as he hasn't had much contact with other dogs to date. As it was our first session I will not give up on the club just yet.

Do you have any tips on how to stop him barking at other dogs and people when out on walks? He just gets so excited and will not listen to me. He is a very intelligent dog but when he's distracted that all goes out the window.

[Staffyluv]

Same thing, he will learn that your target word, means that he focuses on you..

I use it all the time in loads of situations, where I want Ziggy's focus on me and not others or other things.

You need to redirect him from barking to something you want him to do.. Once he gets the target word (practice every day for at least five minutes before any other training) you will find he will focus more on you and training will be easier..

Always reward as soon as he does what you want..

The word ready to Ziggy, now means he sits at heel and waits for the next command.. He will sit 'ready' until I give another command..

It takes time and loads of repetition..

[Puppynovice]

Same thing, he will learn that your target word, means that he focuses on you..

I use it all the time in loads of situations, where I want Ziggy's focus on me and not others or other things.

You need to redirect him from barking to something you want him to do.. Once he gets the target word (practice every day for at least five minutes before any other training) you will find he will focus more on you and training will be easier..

Always reward as soon as he does what you want..

The word ready to Ziggy, now means he sits at heel and waits for the next command.. He will sit 'ready' until I give another command..

It takes time and loads of repetition..

Thanks heaps for your help.

[Daisy.Tea]

I have a girl who does the a similar thing. The walking away that staffyluv mentioned has been really helpful. If you wanted to know a little more its called the 'premack principle' eg. The dog gets what it wants, in this case an environmental reward by getting to go closer to the dogs by doing what you want. That was a pretty basic explanation as I am still learning myself.

Another thing that helped me was the 'Look at that Game' from control unleashed where the dog is essentially rewarded for calmly acknowledging other dogs and focusing back on me. She is telling me 'hey mum, there is a dog there, where's my treat?' Instead of carrying on.

Your pup is so young though and I wouldn't be that worried at this stage. Don't give up on the club yet, go again and see what he is like. It could just be a whole new experience and more exposure will settle him. Also there is always more than one instructor at the club.

Best of luck.

[flame ryder]

Yes don't give up. Go back next week and try again. When the instructor said they ignore naughty dogs they probably didn't mean you personally, just when dogs are naughty bad behavior should be ignored. Even when you tell them off it's attention and some dogs thrive on any attention...good or bad.

At the end of the class you should be able to have a quiet chat with the instructor, your dog should be quiet then as the others wont be around...or put him in the car. In my experience it is really annoying when an instructor focuses on one dog and owner and their problems for a lengthy period of time...the other dogs and handlers get bored standing around. The instructor was probably just trying to avoid this.

[Salukifan]

It is extremely difficult for an instructor in a group obedience class to focus on one dog with a challenging behaviour at the expense of all the other participants.

You've got a vocal breed that can be challenging to get to focus. Have a think about what your dog was bred to do and how it was bred to work and you'll start to get an inkling of why.

Your pup has had minimal socialisation and was very excited. You need to work on making being in such situations old hat.

If you want more help, ask if you can speak to the instructor on the completion of class. But the key to this issue will be your ability to gain and hold your dog's focus.

As for embarassment. I know you probably feel that everyone was looking at you but in the scheme of things a barking pup isn't that bad. You just have to grit your teeth and persevere. Not attending won't help at all.

[espinay2]

I teach classes, and believe me, barking dogs in the first class is not uncommon at all. There is usually one or two. Some can get very excited and over stimulated in a strange place with lots of strange dogs and people. As HW mentions, it can be very hard in a group obedience class to focus on one dog, though I try to give everyone some individual attention throughout the class. The first exercise I teach in class is paying attention to the handler ('look' or 'watch'). As mentioned, you need to teach the dog to focus on you. If the owners go home and practice the exercises, generally they will see improvements over the coming week. Usually by the third class (and often the second) dogs are more relaxed and paying attention to their owners a lot more. By the end of the classes, the dogs that were barking up a storm the first week are generally VERY different. Just needs an owner who will persevere. I once had a class that I swear EVERY SINGLE DOG in the class was barking its head off. Was VERY hear to even hear myself! (I have no idea how the owners heard me!!) By the second and third week, it was totally different. Turned out to be one of the best groups I have had. Definitely speak to the instructor at the end if you need individual tips. They are generally happy to oblige.

[Tassie]

What espinay and HW and staffyluv have said. I also teach the 14 weeks - 6 mionths puppy class, and we quite often have OTT barkers the first day, especially. I usually try to encourage the owners to do some moving around - if necessary moving a little bit away from the class - but to keep the pup's attention a bit more on the handler. I ask them to mark (click or veral) and treat when the pup switches focus to them - rinse and repeat. And yes - the 'look' exercise is great - though sometimes people have to go a little bit further away from the class to practise it at first :).

Pups usually tend to settle down on second and later days - though some still have a low frustration tolerance - so again, I get the owners to try to keep them moving and/or doing stuff w.. with lots of rewards - small soft treats - cheese, devon, chicken loaf.