4 month Springer puppy barking at people and dogs on walks

[santalupin]

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Hello, I was hoping to get some advice about my 4 month old springer spaniel puppy. He's been going on walks since he was 11 weeks old with no issues, and has spent a lot of time in pubs and being carried around quite busy places. All of a sudden, as of last week, he's started frantically barking at dogs and people on walks, with his hackles up. My husband says it may have started last week when he came across a huge dog on a walk, the dog was placid but Merlin was apparently beside himself and howling with fear, so bad that my husband had to pick him up, which we've never done before when he was a bit nervous of dogs. I try to ignore the barking, keep walking and reassure him, and I also give him treats when he passes someone without barking (he would never pass a dog without barking), but I just wanted to check on here to see if there's something else I should be doing with him. This behaviour started when we were staying at my parents for three weeks, he loves my parents house more than our house as he loves their three red setters, but I'm slightly worried that moving him to a different house for such a long time has made him feel insecure.

 

[JoanneF]

Hi. Please would you read through this thread first? Please do come back with any questions though.

Dog Reactivity

 

[JudyN]

He does sound like he's going through a nervous phase, which is common. Have a read of this thread on reactivity, and come back with any questions you have: Dog Reactivity The bottom line, though, is to aim to keep him far enough away from other dogs or 'scary' people that he doesn't feel the need to react.

Also, rather than giving him a treat whenever he passes a person/dog without barking... give him a treat whenever he sees a person/dog regardless of how he reacts (ideally you'd be far enough away that he wouldn't react anyway). Rewarding 'good' behaviour doesn't change his emotional response - being 'good' means he's suppressing how he feels. What you want to do is change 'dog = scary' to 'dog = whoopee, treat time!'