Excited dog when going for a walk

[Oreo]

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We've been going to dog class now for 5 weeks and the improvement with Oreo has been significant.

Her pulling has reduced and we have even had a few sucessful 'walking to heel' without a lead. She is a great little dog and we expect to pass our Bronse award soon.

We have even managed to stop the jumping and have worked hard in getting her to calm when visitors come to visit.

However we have one issue that even our trainer is struggling with and could do with ideas.

When Oreo realises she is going for a walk, whether that be her third walk of the day or first she goes mental. She will listen to me as far as sit and wait but she will bark and bark and bark. She will continue barking until she has got to a small piece of grass and had her first wee.

From then on she is calm and very easy to walk.

We have tried to have different ways of leaving the house and even put her in a seperate room but she always knows when she is leaving.

We have left leads around the house to de-sensitise her against this but she just walks around the house with her lead in her mouth.

We have also tried the returning to the house or taking our coats off when she makes a noise.

Any ideas?

 

[eingana]

Have you tried giving her something to take her excitement out on? One of the dogs I used to walk was very similar. He is a little border terrier/Norfolk terrier cross and he gets himself so excited and wound up that he barks, runs round uncontrollably and shreds anything around him when he knows he's going out. This is quite expensive in new harnesses and similar as they all get chewed up.

The solution to this has turned out to be a piece of dental rawhide, the stuff that's in single sheets and small chew size. He gets that to take his anxiety out on, and then he's much better when you get to your destination.

It sounds daft, but have you tried taking her in the garden for a wee a few minutes before starting the preparations for the walk so she doesn't know that she's going out yet? Maybe the excitement makes her desperate for a wee? Molly gets excited to the point of hysteria when she really needs the loo and we can always tell when she needs to go, particularly for a poo. Could pre-empting that with her drop her excitement level?

I wish you luck on this one- it sounds rather challenging.

 

[Oreo]

We have high value treats that we only use for training. She loves them. But they don't work in this situation.

It's almost as if she ignores everything around her, including food.

We have tried letting her out in the back garden before we go for a walk so we know she isn't desperate for the loo. It's almost as if she is marking that peice of grass as hers!

It makes no difference if we walk her for hours or for a few minutes or not at all. We've tried all sorts.

For example she stopped at my moms on Sunday and mom loves to take her for a long stroll around a lake, when she comes back after a few hours Oreo is straight asleep.

She stays like that until someone touches her lead and that's it, she's got to go now!!

She barks a lot less with my gf than she does with me. Perhaps there is something in that?

I have been guilty in the past to just get her out of the house to avoid the noise so I guess that hasn't helped the situation.

 

[hanneroon]

hi cadac, she likes balls yes? What about a ball in the mouth like a gobstopper? Or a ball on a tugger?

I'd keep shaking her lead at her all the time so she loses interest. Or rattle the lead then chuck a ball and repeat endlessly till picking up a lead means something else other than 'bark your head off'.

Maybe incrementally working up to getting out of the door after she's got used to having her lead rattled at her.

Its going to be a very barky old job, maybe invest in some earplugs!

Walking the girls at work is similar. I have to sit on a step and put my head on my knees and ignore them, just to get the leads on! The springer cross can jump five feet in the air, so i just get mauled until they realise i am ignoring them, and chill out. It takes about 5 minutes of barking and leaping around before they shut up.

 

[MissYeh]

We have also tried the returning to the house or taking our coats off when she makes a noise.

What was the process like and how persistent where you with this?

Have you tried the following process of desensitisation?

1. put the lead on Oreo
2. if she goes mental at this stage, you stay calm
3. calmly take the lead off
4. wait for her to calm down
5. repeat and rinse till she shows you the desired level of mentalness and go out

(replace step 1 with whatever makes her wild, e.g. the act of walking out of the door. Then simply walk back in and wait for her to calm down.)

• It is important in this process that you do not react to any of her excited behaviour. No talking, no whispering, no petting etc.
• Only reward her when she back to being calm. A reward can be anything she likes, like petting, a hug etc.
• Be consistent in this and soon enough she should understand and realise that her slightly too high enthousiasm is not getting her anywhere because a) she's not getting attention from her owner and b) she not getting to go out.

Depending on your dog, this might take you 10 or even 40 repeats. Especially if the behaviour was never correctly corrected. Dogs don't reason like us humans. Evenso, some humans can reason very well and yet can't get rid of some of their own nasty habbits ...dogs will eventually get it! If you think it might take 10 or more repeats, don't do it close to potty time but start earlier.

Persistence, patience and consistency from your part is very important for her to grasp what behaviour is asked of her.

Good luck ... would love to hear how Oreo is doing now with her enthousiasm

 

[RhianLDN]

Sounds very much like my Lacey. I've gotten to the point where I've given up trying. I could walk her 80 times a day but she'll still be ready to go whenever I go near her lead, put my socks or shoes on, or touch my handbag, etc. Sometimes when I take the lead off her at the door and go to put it away, she'll run after me & jump up expectantly like we're going for another walk! D'oh!