Puppy barks non-stop at other dogs! Help!!!

J

julie.c

Forums Novice
I have a 6 month old female sheltie and she barks non-stop whenever she sees another dog! My apartment is just above the dog park so that doesn't help either. She will bark when she sees a dog strolling past or playing in the dog park even when she's at home!

When I bring her close to any dog, she will turn away and not want to sniff at the other dog but will continue barking from a distance. Is this because of fear? I tried to socialize her with other dogs but she did not want to play with them!

Any suggestions on how to stop her barking behavior?
 
Wow, that's not good. I feel for you as we adopted a male Sheltie last year who is about 5 or 6 years old. He's a chubby, happy little guy, but he barks when he's playing with our other two Shelties, barks at other dogs too (unless they are Shelties). We've even considered debarking him, but he's got a slight cough (had him at the vet's several times for this) so we can't put him under unless absolutely necessary).

My experience with Shelties is they are all very reactive - barking at sights and sounds. I have to keep our three away from the side lights along our front door because they go nuts if they see other dogs or kids playing.

I think it's time to try a qualified trainer to see if you Sheltie can be desensitized to the other dogs. We did try one for Murphy, but little progress has been made.
 
lovemyshelties said:
Wow, that's not good. I feel for you as we adopted a male Sheltie last year who is about 5 or 6 years old. He's a chubby, happy little guy, but he barks when he's playing with our other two Shelties, barks at other dogs too (unless they are Shelties). We've even considered debarking him, but he's got a slight cough (had him at the vet's several times for this) so we can't put him under unless absolutely necessary).

My experience with Shelties is they are all very reactive - barking at sights and sounds. I have to keep our three away from the side lights along our front door because they go nuts if they see other dogs or kids playing.

I think it's time to try a qualified trainer to see if you Sheltie can be desensitized to the other dogs. We did try one for Murphy, but little progress has been made.
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I agree. I've noticed my sheltie and sheltie mixes bark at people, especially kids, because they're moving all around, usually running/playing/laughing, and it gets them excited and they kind of go into herding mode.

I work from home providing closed captioning (recently started this position) and will be getting all three of mine bark-softened at the end of this month(or de-barked but that's not really a good name for it b/c that's not what it does) It's an easy surgery -- much less invasive than spaying a pet -- and really affordable. You could, of course, try a behaviorist but if you live in a situation where you can't have a dog barking and you have a sheltie -- bark softening might be the best option! Good luck!
 
My dog is the same but for human strangers. She's so afraid of them and wants nothing to do with them. That is fine, she does not need to be friendly with everyone but I cannot accept all this barking nor any aggressive behavior (lunging but she never nipped or tried to bite anyone) so I started training and training. Today, she will still bark at strangers if they are at our front door or are coming fast towards me but all-in-all she is a totally different dog. Progress is achievable.

First off, understand that she may not want to be friends with other dogs, that is okay. I do not talk to everyone I see on the streets or out shopping and that is okay. What you need to teach her though is that not because a dog is far out over there, does she need to bark to keep it away. Dog over there does not translate to a threat.

One concept that helped me a lot is BAT training (see description here http://functionalrewards.com/BAT-basics.pdf), it made me understand what my dog was trying to tell me with all that barking. She simply wanted to tell the strangers she is afraid and they should stay away. The look at that game is a great one to play also (I did a quick search to find a link explaining it and found this http://clickerleash.wordpress.com/2...itive-approach-to-dealing-with-reactive-dogs/).

You need to use high-value rewards like cheese and such when you train to make it much more interesting to her then what she is looking at. Cut them in little pieces (to a dog the size of the treat is not important as how many treat they get). Reward at a crazy high rate (she looks at a dog : click-treat when she is not reacting) when she is doing something good when you train.

Last piece of advice, I had a lot of success using a wooden spoon full of peanut butter when I was taking Kyara outside to do her business. That was when Kyara was so reactive that every time I opened the front door to bring her outside too pee, she started barking like crazy even though no one was there. The peanut butter spoon was easy to lower down quickly for her to lick right before she reacted and then it gummed up her mouth to prevent her from barking ahah.

I hope this info can help you somehow! Best of luck, it's not easy to desensitize a dog but it is achievable.

P.s : some play time in a quiet place with only one other dog that you know (if you have a friend with a calm dog that is good with other dogs) could probably help also.
 
Just wanted to add a few book suggestions that have helped me a lot:

- Scaredy dog! from Ali Brown

- Control Unleashed from Leslie McDevitt (I'm currently reading this one and love it, it's mostly dedicated for dogs that will do agility but I find the exercises applicable in all of real life and just love how she explains them. It's honestly changed my perspective of how to train my dog. )

- Calming Signals from Turid Rugaas (This one could be very interesting for you as it details signals dogs give to one another to communicate. I think your dog is having trouble understanding these signals. You could also simply research info on Calming signals on the net but the book is a fun easy read.)
 
Very nice info...Sally was in a barking frenzy a few minutes ago b/c our neighbors were out working in their yard and Sally was lookin out the front door watching it all. This barking was to let us know someone's doing something,the typical sheltie conversation. We don't mind a notification but she can get really worked up if we don't calm her down. She knows when we mean business and will lower her barks and just kinda talk about it with low woofs and growls and this is ok with us. We have found that Sally doesn't bark if she is home alone, but only barks if someone is home when someone comes to our house or there is stuff going on outside. Fortunately, as soon as I closed the front door she stoped barking and came and layed down beside me with a big sigh...being a watch dog is exhausting !
 
It does sound like a fear response. Tully did the exact same thing as a pup and has always been timid.

A few things I found very helpful.

When she barks at another dog do a u-turn and walk briskly in the other direction without saying anything. This serves two purposes - one is to let her know it's not appropriate, and most importantly it tells her you are the leader and will look after her when she is scared. She needs to develop trust in you taking charge of the situation so she doesn't feel she needs to. Don't try to speak to her until she is settled down - if she's in her 'red zone' your talking will just be background noise - walk her away until she calms down and then you can talk to her and get her to focus on you, try a 'look at me' or sit.

If she is indoors lead her away from the window. In fact I'd block any window she can see dogs from until you get this under control.

Work out what her critical distance is - this will be how far away until she feels comfortable with another dog around. Keep her at this distance as much as possible and decrease the distance incrementally with treats and lots of positive reinforcement.

Don't push her to interact with other dogs. Some dogs just don't. She will probably be better with older, placid dogs. If you know anyone with a dog try just letting her be around that other dog, and if you have someone you can walk with even better. Timid dogs do much better when they are not forced to meet head on but walk in the same direction. Victoria Stilwell has done some great work on this if you watch any of her episodes.

Something else to try is doing some activities with dogs in the background. So try practising obedience commands or teaching tricks, keeping at her critical distance from where other dogs are. This will help her learn to focus on you

Good luck. A timid dog will probably always be timid, but your pup is at a good age you can teach her better coping skills and learn at least to ignore other dogs.
 
Meldor said:
My dog is the same but for human strangers. She's so afraid of them and wants nothing to do with them. That is fine, she does not need to be friendly with everyone but I cannot accept all this barking nor any aggressive behavior (lunging but she never nipped or tried to bite anyone) so I started training and training. Today, she will still bark at strangers if they are at our front door or are coming fast towards me but all-in-all she is a totally different dog. Progress is achievable.

First off, understand that she may not want to be friends with other dogs, that is okay. I do not talk to everyone I see on the streets or out shopping and that is okay. What you need to teach her though is that not because a dog is far out over there, does she need to bark to keep it away. Dog over there does not translate to a threat.

One concept that helped me a lot is BAT training (see description here http://functionalrewards.com/BAT-basics.pdf), it made me understand what my dog was trying to tell me with all that barking. She simply wanted to tell the strangers she is afraid and they should stay away. The look at that game is a great one to play also (I did a quick search to find a link explaining it and found this http://clickerleash.wordpress.com/2...itive-approach-to-dealing-with-reactive-dogs/).

You need to use high-value rewards like cheese and such when you train to make it much more interesting to her then what she is looking at. Cut them in little pieces (to a dog the size of the treat is not important as how many treat they get). Reward at a crazy high rate (she looks at a dog : click-treat when she is not reacting) when she is doing something good when you train.

Last piece of advice, I had a lot of success using a wooden spoon full of peanut butter when I was taking Kyara outside to do her business. That was when Kyara was so reactive that every time I opened the front door to bring her outside too pee, she started barking like crazy even though no one was there. The peanut butter spoon was easy to lower down quickly for her to lick right before she reacted and then it gummed up her mouth to prevent her from barking ahah.

I hope this info can help you somehow! Best of luck, it's not easy to desensitize a dog but it is achievable.

P.s : some play time in a quiet place with only one other dog that you know (if you have a friend with a calm dog that is good with other dogs) could probably help also.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! I will do more research and start training her! She loves interacting with strangers though. Not sure where her fear of dogs came from!

Yup she is only motivated by cheese when I teach her new tricks. I'm using string cheese for her. Are there any healthier cheese options for dogs?
 
I feel for you. thank goodness my baby only barks when someone is in the hallway of my apt building. The minute I open the door he stops because he's satisfied that no one is coming in.

The only other time he really reacts badly is when big dogs walks past us on the street. I think this is because of owners who allow their off leash dogs to come up and then they pounce on him.(Even though I tell them not to do this.)

I carry treats and positive reinforcements. So, when we walk past and he doesn't react I give him a treat. It seems to work.

Right now he is sleeping at my side. Too cute.
 
I forgot to add, that I only let him approach when he shows interest and I receive permission from the other dog owner. And then I make it a short intro. Maybe a minute or two at most and then keep going.

Otherwise, I'm in agreement with everyone else. I don't necessarily want to interact with every human, so why should I expect or want my baby err dog to interact with every canine.
 
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