Anxious/barking Patterdale

[PasgonA]

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Hi. Our 3 yr old Patterdale, Hector, barks off the lead at anyone that doesn’t have a dog! It’s starting to be not as enjoyable walking him and we park concerned he may bark at the wrong person and be reported. Any ideas or advice is greatly welcomed

 

[JoanneF]

Hello and welcome.

There are certainly things you can do, I'm sure we can offer some suggestions but a couple of things you said may be relevant - does he only do this when he is off the lead? How does he behave on lead? Do you think it might be because he feels braver when he is attached to someone, knowing they won't let him get into trouble?

You also said he does it to people without dogs. How does he behave to people with dogs? And is his barking directed at all people (male, female, tall, short etc)?

What sort of environment would this happen in - on the street, park, beach, country tracks?

Sorry for all the questions but the more detail we have, the better we can help. Because it isn't just about stopping the barking, it's about finding the reason why he barks, and addressing that.

 

[PasgonA]

Many thanks for your speedy response.
Hector only does this off lead and is absolutely fine when on. It will happen in all environments I.e. beach, woods any open space when he spots people walking alone without a dog, regardless of how they look.
We think he’s afraid of strangers and only feels safe when he sees another dog with them. We walk most evenings with a group of others and he has a number of friends all ranging in size. When he’s off lead running around the fields he’s absolutely fine but as soon as he spots a stranger in the distance approaching he’s off barking at them.

 

[JoanneF]

Okay, I think a good first step would be management, so that might mean more on-lead walking if you are likely to come across a stranger, because you are absolutely right, he might do it to the wrong person. And the law says a dog doesn't actually have to make contact to fall foul of the Dangerous Dogs Act, they just need to put someone in fear. Have you tried a flexible lead or long line (only ever attached to a harness, rather than a collar, because of injury risk).

The second thing would be a long, slow process of desensitisation and counter conditioning, to make strangers more normalised, less intimidating and actually seen as a good thing.

The way we would normally approach that is by having your dog at a distance. You might have heard of the fight or flight response. That sits alongside something called flight distance - an invisible radius of space around him. Things inside that space triggers the fight or flight response, things outside that space are 'safe' for him. So the distance you work at is with strangers just at the edge, where he is aware but not reacting, and you reward, reward, reward to make strangers a good thing rather than a scary thing. Over time, you can reduce the distance until eventually he accepts that strangers are great because they mean sausages happen.

But - this is where I'm hoping someone else will chip in. Your dog is unusual, as most dogs will react when they are on lead, not off it (so they haven't got the option to increase their distance from the scary thing). So one of your challenges will be controlling the distance at the same time as controlling the dog, and rewarding, because even your proximity might make him braver; and what we are trying to do is make him braver by himself. So I'm hoping some of our other members might have ideas on the practicalities of the exercise. I'd also suggest engage disengage games but that has the same challenges so hopefully others will have ideas.

In general, we can help build confidence using things called pattern games - the pattern makes them predictable, and the predictability builds the dog's confidence because he knows what to expect. Look up pattern games by Leslie McDevitt, there's loads online.

 

[PasgonA]

Okay, I think a good first step would be management, so that might mean more on-lead walking if you are likely to come across a stranger, because you are absolutely right, he might do it to the wrong person. And the law says a dog doesn't actually have to make contact to fall foul of the Dangerous Dogs Act, they just need to put someone in fear. Have you tried a flexible lead or long line (only ever attached to a harness, rather than a collar, because of injury risk).

The second thing would be a long, slow process of desensitisation and counter conditioning, to make strangers more normalised, less intimidating and actually seen as a good thing.

The way we would normally approach that is by having your dog at a distance. You might have heard of the fight or flight response. That sits alongside something called flight distance - an invisible radius of space around him. Things inside that space triggers the fight or flight response, things outside that space are 'safe' for him. So the distance you work at is with strangers just at the edge, where he is aware but not reacting, and you reward, reward, reward to make strangers a good thing rather than a scary thing. Over time, you can reduce the distance until eventually he accepts that strangers are great because they mean sausages happen.

But - this is where I'm hoping someone else will chip in. Your dog is unusual, as most dogs will react when they are on lead, not off it (so they haven't got the option to increase their distance from the scary thing). So one of your challenges will be controlling the distance at the same time as controlling the dog, and rewarding, because even your proximity might make him braver; and what we are trying to do is make him braver by himself. So I'm hoping some of our other members might have ideas on the practicalities of the exercise. I'd also suggest engage disengage games but that has the same challenges so hopefully others will have ideas.

In general, we can help build confidence using things called pattern games - the pattern makes them predictable, and the predictability builds the dog's confidence because he knows what to expect. Look up pattern games by Leslie McDevitt, there's loads online.

 

[Hemlock]

I know Patterdales...... and I can see his motivation. Walking without a dog is just plain wrong, isn't it? "Where's your dog....come on, you must have a dog.....where is it?".

You are taller and can see further. When you see people walking without a dog, call him back before he kicks off, and offer a small very yummy treat, or several, to keep him beside you as you walk by. Have him the far side of you not the side the other person is on, by having the treat in the hand on that side. Pretty soon, being a smart little terrier, he'll substitute "see dogless person and ask them why" to "see dogless person and get some treats". Patts are smart little dogs and he'll soon figure it out. And you are a smart owner for wanting to take this in hand.

 

[PasgonA]

Thank you

I know Patterdales...... and I can see his motivation. Walking without a dog is just plain wrong, isn't it? "Where's your dog....come on, you must have a dog.....where is it?".

You are taller and can see further. When you see people walking without a dog, call him back before he kicks off, and offer a small very yummy treat, or several, to keep him beside you as you walk by. Have him the far side of you not the side the other person is on, by having the treat in the hand on that side. Pretty soon, being a smart little terrier, he'll substitute "see dogless person and ask them why" to "see dogless person and get some treats". Patts are smart little dogs and he'll soon figure it out. And you are a smart owner for wanting to take this in hand.

 

[PasgonA]

Thank you

 

[Feverfew]

What an interesting 'problem' to have, and also some very good suggestions of how to manage it.

A couple of things to mull over might be how you view someone walking without a dog. I know a few people who feel a little frisson of fear if a solitary person is walking in a beauty spot or park without any obvious purpose, such as walking with a dog, or birdwatching. So my first question is how you might be feeling - dogs can detect even a tiny rise in our cortisol levels or a change in our breathing, so it could be he is super sensitive to how you are feeling - wouldn't surprise me at all with a Patterdale, as they are very intuitive dogs, I find.

I wonder if it is just solitary people without dogs he barks at, or two or more people walking without a dog? Something else to ponder on.

Some dogs really do not like what I call 'unconventional behaviour' in people, so this might have started for him with an unaccompanied person doing something that looked odd - for example, limping or waving their arms around. I had a Welsh collie years ago who was very intolerant of anyone who dared to behave other than completely normally! In her case, I don't think it was fear so much as a desire for orderliness and predictability. It may be that your dog is not so much fearful as trying to put the world to rights! That collie taught me that assuming fearfulness is not always helpful in addressing a problem. One way to look at it is to have some friends who could act as stooges and try a few things out at a distance (eg, wearing a hat, carrying a walking stick) to see if you can narrow it down to a trigger. Keep it low key though - no Oscar-winning performances from the stooges.

Finally, you say that on walks he is mixing off lead with a range of other dogs, and while that's nice to see and can be a good thing, it can also produce over excitement. It's important, I think, that you and he are engaged and communicating throughout your walks, rather than you talking to your friends and him being 'egged on' to chase and rough house with his friends. He's possibly hoping the other dogs will follow him in approaching the solitary walker to 'see what happens', which would probably feel to him as quite fun and empowering. I think this because of the slightly unusual feature of him not doing it when on lead. He's a smart dog, and has worked out that there can't be any of that sort of 'fun' on lead.

So try and have a bit of both play and sniffing, and make sure walks start calmly (on a long line if necessary) and end calmly with some mooching and sniffing. I'd say three quarters of the walk needs to be low key, with just a bit of good-natured chase and play in the middle. One watchword I have is that when the lead comes off, things should not really look all that different, at least to start with before someone initiates play. If he pings off as soon as he hears the lead clip snap, that's probably the wrong time to take the lead off.

If he's the excitable type, he will really benefit from this, in all sorts of ways. And don't worry - he won't lose that terrier 'edge'!

Good luck, and let us know how you get on!

 

[PasgonA]

Thanks you all. There are things
I can try from all of your suggestions