Behaviour Advice

[NickyVN]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

Hi, can anyone help. Kendall is coming 2 years old and generally loves people, he is fine in busy places and takes everything in his stride. However a few times in the last couple of weeks he has seemed really frightened of someone and runs barkwards and barks at them. I'm not sure if its the surprise element as the few times have al been times when someone has stepped out from behind something unexpectedly, yesterdaywhen someone suddenely shouted and raised his arm, and today a woman very quickly got off her bike and approached him very quickly. I have tried to settle him but he is in panic mode till we walk off - any ideas?? He is also barking more at things in front of the house but I think a lot of dogs do this so am not as bothered aout this. Any deas as to why this has happened and what I can do?

 

[Brownmare]

I would ignore him rather than fussing him. He will take his cues from you so if you seem relaxed and happy with the situation he will learn there is nothing to be scared of. However making a fuss of him is basically praising him for getting scared so you are reinforcing the wrong behaviour! Can you maybe stage a situation with a friend so you have more control over what happens?

I'm not sure how common this is but a couple of my dogs have gone through a phase like this at around 18 months to 2 years. My lurcher Oscar one day refused to walk past a full haynet propped next to a stable so I just sat on it and played with the nearest thing to hand (which happened to be a hoofpick!) throwing it and catching it and generally ignoring Oscars fear and after 2 minutes he came up, sniffed it and never bothered with it again. I used the same method to introduce him to fireworks except that I was a bit more prepared and had his absolute favourite squeaky toy to hand. Now when my dogs hear fireworks they want to go out and have fun

 

[Esty]

My Roscoe gets like this over people carrying tripods and fishing equipment. Grover gets it (and he's worse) when we see black collie/ shepherd type dogs as he was attacked by one once. It's ok when my husband is with me as we have started lead training all over again (we give the command 'walk nicely' and when he gives us attention, he gets a reward.) When there are two us, we can take a dog each and we get the attention on us, not the 'scary thing'. You have to do it periodically on the walk even when there isn't anything to worry about, as otherwise, you doing the treat thing can actually make them think there's something to be worried about.

The other think we did was to establish pack leader roles again. With Grover, he got to thinking he had to protect US from the strange dogs, not himself, because we weren't strong enough leaders. It was just silly things like we'd started letting him creep in bed with us, get on the sofa whenever he wanted, letting him jump up. We stopped those things, made him realise (nicely) that he was a dog and didn't need to be a soldier (lol) and it did make a big difference as he trusted us to cope with situations outside, he didn't feel the need to do it himself. I knew it was fear aggression and it steadily went from barking, lunging, to actually trying to nip a couple of dogs before we managed to stop it. He started again recently when I'm walking all three dogs because the practicalities of lead training with three at once is mind-boggling! Embarrassingly for me, the foster whippet we have seems to have no issues of this sort and is a dream with any other dog or person you meet.

BTW, very interested that Oscar did this at 18-24 months as R and G are 22 months now so hopefully they will get more stable and assured with age as well.

 

[LM1981]

As has been said, don't give him cuddles or comfort when he does this it will only reinforce the fear. My Whippet is only 6 months and as bold as anything however on the odd occasion we have come across something new that she is weary about, I have found that the best thing is to not talk or acknowledge a change in behaviour, just stay calm and keep walking forward as if you haven’t even noticed what the fuss is about. Basically it is telling them that you’re the leader and not worried so why are they. Barking at people is the only time I would react and instead of comfort give a light check with the lead and make a bit of a deep noise like ‘agh’ to say that the behaviour is unacceptable and to try and break the fixation on the person (and whippets appear to really fixate on something, or at least mine does), and of course lots of treats when things go well.

Each dog is different and some things work better for some than others but basically don’t pander to his fears and repeat the exercise as often as possible until he gets the idea that just because something has made him jump doesn’t mean it will hurt him.

Good luck, I’m sure it will all work out fine :thumbsup:

 

[NickyVN]

Thanks everyone thats really useful - very interesting on the age thing - Kendall is 22 months at the moment - maybe its a teenage thing!!

I will definitely practice breaking his fixation as thats what he does he stares and then won't break it even to looking over his shoulder when going away so think I definitely need to practice geting his attention on me rather than everything else. Some of it may be that as he has been on holiday with us and he was a bit spoilt while we were away so think I perhaps need to be a bit more firm with the leadership. Today he has been good so far - had a couple of minor woofs at someone but was then fine and wagged his tail and said hello so that was a big relief after the incident with the lady on the bike yesterday!!

Just out of interest do other peoples dogs bark when someone is at the door - he barks but then greets them when they come in.

 

[Esty]

My two don't bark when people are at the door but they do bark if they see strangers or other dogs when they are looking out of the window and down the road (we live in the corner of a cul-de-sac crescent and they can see both ways.) Roscoe drives me mad by barking when he hears a noise from the back garden though. It can be someone next door putting a bin lid down and he's straight out barking his head off

 

[Janimal]

My Roscoe gets like this over people carrying tripods and fishing equipment. Grover gets it (and he's worse) when we see black collie/ shepherd type dogs as he was attacked by one once. It's ok when my husband is with me as we have started lead training all over again (we give the command 'walk nicely' and when he gives us attention, he gets a reward.) When there are two us, we can take a dog each and we get the attention on us, not the 'scary thing'. You have to do it periodically on the walk even when there isn't anything to worry about, as otherwise, you doing the treat thing can actually make them think there's something to be worried about.

The other think we did was to establish pack leader roles again. With Grover, he got to thinking he had to protect US from the strange dogs, not himself, because we weren't strong enough leaders. It was just silly things like we'd started letting him creep in bed with us, get on the sofa whenever he wanted, letting him jump up. We stopped those things, made him realise (nicely) that he was a dog and didn't need to be a soldier (lol) and it did make a big difference as he trusted us to cope with situations outside, he didn't feel the need to do it himself. I knew it was fear aggression and it steadily went from barking, lunging, to actually trying to nip a couple of dogs before we managed to stop it. He started again recently when I'm walking all three dogs because the practicalities of lead training with three at once is mind-boggling! Embarrassingly for me, the foster whippet we have seems to have no issues of this sort and is a dream with any other dog or person you meet.

BTW, very interested that Oscar did this at 18-24 months as R and G are 22 months now so hopefully they will get more stable and assured with age as well.

[/quote

My Oscar sounds like Roscoe...he dosnt like anyone carrying anything, sticks...fishing equipment...ladders... and barks when people approach too...

he also barks at joggers with strings dangling or loose clothing... :clown: I tend to talk or say hello to the person in a calm and low voice ....and try to mainly ignore his behaviour.

He also barks at people at the door, and is always the last dog to greet people.....he does eventually come around...but I tell visitors to ignore him...and make a fuss of the other two dogs

and he usually comes round in his own time and curiosity gets the better of him... :lol: he definitely wont be forced into being fussed over.... :clown:

 

[LM1981]

Mae doesn’t bark when people are at the door, just gets a little over excited, but then she is not a very vocal dog (so far), she only really barks during play. I live in a terrace on a busy city road so she has been exposed to lots of noise from both the road and neighbours since she was very young so I suspect this has desensitised her a little.

Some dogs are just more vocal than others and though you could try to discourage the barking it depends on if you consider it a real problem, at least he lets you know someone is about :thumbsup:

 

[Louise_Simon]

Mine bark when someone knocks on the door except when you are relying on them to make some noise then not a peep, missed a couple of deliveries thanks to my 'doorbells'

Also when our back garden and shed were broken into and heavy stuff was going past the front of the house yep not a peep out of them this happened again a month later still not a sound.

 

[NickyVN]

Well Kendall appears to have reverted back to his old self again. I had put a DAP collar on to settle him while we were away and I took it off and back to normal - everyones friend again!! Not sure if its a coincidence or not, whether it just made him that bit too confident? Window cleaner came this morning and he was just wagging his tail keen to greet him, and been fine on walks too!