hello, We have a 6 month old fox red lab, most of the time is well behaved, unfortunately we have a real problem when walking him with him barking at anything and everything that he looks at. The barking will carry on until either the distraction has gone past. We have tried using the clicker technique rewarding good behaviour of not barking at people and dogs with a treat but barking that loud now clicker cannot be heard by our dog. We then tried the distraction techniques by sitting him down focusing him on us and again rewarding for not behaving badly, attention span only lasts few seconds before barking starts again at people/dogs. When he does this barking it can be on the lead or off the lead the end result is the same. It is now becoming embarrassing when walking him as it is very loud and persistent and makes our dog look untrained and aggressive which is completely the opposite! Help please!!!
Does he bark at people you know and say Hello to? Jet started barking at a year old but I noticed she didn't if I knew the people. Simple solution, greet everyone like a long lost friend. Plus to reassure her and them I put her into heel position (we were off leash) to show her and them I was the one deciding who was a threat. Leslie McDevitt's book, "Control Unleashed" might help you too. It's for fearful, reactive dogs and for those with a short attention span. Oban doesn't usually bark but I used it to get us past other distractions and learn to focus on me. The book uses Premack Principle, which is not new, but her presentation is fresh and employs what she calls "games." Are you going to obedience classes? They will help. First learn to work with pup in a small area where the other dogs are under control, Then move to apply it to the big wide world. It's hard with a young dog, when everything is new and exciting to them, to make yourself the centre of his (quiet) attention. Good luck, you can do it, most of us have had something similar sometime. Welcome to the board. What is pup's name? Can we see a photo?
Hi and welcome to the forum. What's your boys name? My advice runs along the professional help route by making an appointment with a behaviourist. The barking could relate to fear or being over excited, alot depends upon his body language when he sees something and he reacts and at what distance it starts to impact. A behaviourist could also guide you with the training to help. Also important to remember is he is not behaving badly, he is just doing what all his senses ate telling him to do and it is a behaviour we want to modify to make him a happier boy when out for a walk.
Thanks for the guidance! W have thought about taking him to classes he barks at everyone, his body language is not aggressive but his heckles go up and he barks constantly until it is gone, we socialise him with other dogs regularly we will look into the book and see if we can get some good tips from that, Thanks again for your help and guidance
Hi thanks for the reply! Our pup is called teddy, his barking can start at any distance really from a few meters up to spotting someone on the horizon 100/200 meters away, his body language is strange as his heckles go up, but his tail is wagging, we may have to look into getting a behaviourist as we have tried all the other methods mentioned to no effect! Thanks again for the reply!
Teddy looks a lovely boy, and a gorgeous colour As he is reacting at different distances I personally would consult a behaviourist who will watch his body language for the signals as to how he is responding. Wagging tails can mean different things depending upon how they are held and wagged. You've been trying the normal recommended techniques which haven't helped much. You can try supplying absolutely fantastic treats in rapid fire for distraction but you need to get his attention first. I'm sure other members will be along later with ideas, it's quite quiet today
Thank you, we'll have a look into a local behavioural therapist and see if we can make progress with him that way.
Hello there. Teddy is a gorgeous boy - who is his friend? I've had a bit of an issue with barking at strange things/people with my two, especially my girl, Willow. I read Control Unleashed and the technique of "Look at that!" that is described in there really helped us. We still have the odd occurrence, which is mainly when she is skittish for some reason, such as this morning, when she was excited because of the fresh snow we had, and barked at a man passing. But, most of the time, we can now walk past pretty much anyone, however strange they look or are acting, without a reaction.
Hackles can go up from excitement, fear, anticipation and are not solely an indication of aggression. They can be sign of aggression of course but in a six month old Lab puppy I'd tend to believe the tail. He's a pretty boy, such a nice colour. Love his name, my first dog's name was Teddy.
The other puppy in the picture is his brother Rocky, he is a lot bigger than Teddy ☺️ I think we may try having a look through the books and maybe try a behavioural specialist, we have tried quite a few various methods but to no luck at all, we have even tried the distraction technique and rewards but the attention span is minimal. We'll try the book first though and see if we have any luck there. Thank you for your help.
