Hi all, My Enya turned 8 months and is now suddenly this extremely loud girl!! She is barking at pretty much everyone and everything. On walks, she barks at other people, dogs, birds...etc. Is she becoming 'leash reactive'? The other day, she barked madly at a half-melted snowman. I took her to smell that big snowy mush and then she stopped! I have tried to redirect her, make her look at me or at the treat in my hand, make her sit and stay...nothing is working I sometimes take her to pet-friendly stores for socialization, she enters the store and starts barking. Any advice will be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Priya
It sounds like she's suddenly becoming wary of new things. This is quite natural around this age; she's becoming more independent so having to make her own decisions as to what's a threat or not - so suddenly everything becomes more threatening! Let her know these things are no big deal, have lots of people of different shapes and sizes throw her treats, feed treats yourself in the presence of anything "interesting" before she gets a chance to react. Use a "look at that" cue so you can pre-empt anything you think she might react to, ask her to look at it from a distance you know she can manage and then give her a treat to make a good association. The world is suddenly a slightly scarier place for her, so be patient and try to understand it's not bad behaviour, it's just a bit of nervousness. You should be able to get past it but look at your dog and make sure you're not pushing her too hard. Try to keep everything matter-of-fact and don't force her into interactions she really doesn't want as this can increase her fear.
Thank you for the advice. I will keep at the methods you suggested and be patient...sigh...I love her to bits but, honestly there are days when I just want to sit in a corner and cry
