Barking and Lunging at People

take4roll10 said:
This is what happened with Bailey. The lunging was there before we moved, but it didn't seem as bad because we lived in a quieter neighborhood.

Clicker training, "look at that" game and high value treats are really helping Bailey.
Click to expand...

Interesting....how are things going with Bailey?

Sadie's motivation seems different than Toby's, maybe that's where Sadie and Bailey are similar.

Toby is reactive purely from fear and has done really well with learning new ways to cope, other than barking, lunging and generally throwing a fit. His behavior was bad, but he wasn't BEING bad because he didn't actively choose to act that way.

While I think there might be some fear element with Sadie (or maybe she's being protective, now that I think about it), I'm fairly certain that she also gets some enjoyment out of barking and lunging, something Toby never got when he was REALLY scared. I'm fairly certain that she knows her behavior is inappropriate, but she gets enough enjoyment out of it that she CHOOSES to try to do it anyway, even after she's gotten a treat. If Sadie IS anxious, its pretty mild compared to Toby.

Maybe thats what is making Sadie and Bailey more difficult to bring back under control...

Just a thought...
 
Last edited:
Hmmm that's a good point. Bailey will also lunge and bark after she receives a treat, which made things difficult. I could feed her treats until the person or dog was out of sight and we would still turn around and lunge once the treats were done.

I think Bailey's lunging is a mixture of things: fear, protection & frustration.

Bailey is doing okay. I do see some improvement. We have some good days and we have bad days. This morning she was fantastic. We walked by 3 little dogs on the same side of the street and had no issues. I was so proud of her. But last week, she was a mess. Barking and lunging at every dog she saw. The barking in the apartment has not improved at all. It's getting worse.
 
take4roll10 said:
The second she looks at a person, click (she'll look directly at you) and then treat her. You're immediately associating the person with a treat and snapping her out of staring at the person.
Click to expand...

I have the same problem with Mickey, while walking on the street he stares and then barks and lunges at strangers if they look back at him, sometimes he does it with children and other dogs as well.
He is clicker trainned and I really liked the ideia to use it to make him look at me instead of barking and lunging at strangers. Very nice tip, I´m gonna try it. Thanks :biggrin2:
 
I took the pups on a walk last night and it didn't go well with Sadie. We didn't pass anyone so she didn't lunge, but she was really unimpressed with the gl.

Its not that she's digging at it or trying to remove it, its more like she shuts down a little more with every walk and gets more difficult each time I try to put it on her.

I've made her experience as positive as possible, giving her her highest value treats when putting the gl on and while walking her but it doesn't seem to be helping. She runs and hides now when she sees the leashes come out and has some times been refusing to walk.

Do you think a different head halter would work better? Maybe something with lighter, thinner material would be less noticeable.

Poor Sadie girl. :(
 
I also had problems with Mickey and the GL. He gets very stressed when wearing it and tries to pull it out all the time. I gave up and moved to Easy walk harness. Its working fine and stopped him from pulling the leash but it doesn´t correct behavior problems. I heard that "GL traumas" and dogs that run away when see the collar are not uncommon, it also happened to a friend´s sheltie.
 
Betania said:
I also had problems with Mickey and the GL. He gets very stressed when wearing it and tries to pull it out all the time. I gave up and moved to Easy walk harness. Its working fine and stopped him from pulling the leash but it doesn´t correct behavior problems. I heard that "GL traumas" and dogs that run away when see the collar are not uncommon, it also happened to a friend´s sheltie.
Click to expand...

I've thought about the easy walk harness, but I don't like the idea of using it on her because of her disability. She already has slightly limited use of her back legs so I don't like the idea of the harness limiting the use of her front legs, even if it is when she's trying to lunge.

I def. wouldn't go so far as to say that the GL 'tramatizes' dogs. If introduced in the correct way it can be a great training tool. I use one on my other dog Toby and have had huge success with it. I'll admit, he'd rather not wear it, but he also tollerates it VERY well and it calms his anxiety issues in a BIG way. Toby however is a very nervous dog and will likely always need it. When the GL is used the right way, many dogs can be weaned off of it.

That being said, the GL is not for every dog. Sadie is also a sensitive dog but in a different way than Toby. Perhaps the GL just isn't for her.
 
Success!

I worked with Sadie and the GL on the weekend, slipping it on and off, giving her praise and treats and jack potting her for putting her nose through the loop. I also walked around with her and praised her for coming, since she often refuses to move with it on.

I think I saw a light bulb moment with her when I put it on her before a walk, gave her a ton of praise and treats and coaxed her to the door. It suddenly seemed to dawn on her that she wasn't being punished, she completely stopped shutting down and slamming on the breaks (so to speak), forgot all about it being on her and happily walked with it on instead of acting like I was torturing her in a cruel and unusual way. :lol:

We walked in a busy area past many people and she completely ignored them all. The GL seems to be calming her anxiety toward people in exactly the way I need it to.

My hope is that after a few weeks of good behavior (assuming it continues), that I can wean her off of it.

So proud of my Sadie girl. :smile2:

My trainer does have a snoot loop I can try, so I'm going to see if she's more comfortable with it than with the GL. The snoot loop has smaller straps so is a bit lighter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top