sheltie barking/growling at strangers

Biscuit · Jul 3, 2015

Here's a new update on 7 month old Christy's barking, there are still some problems but some improvements:
When we had several guests over, we would usually put her in her crate with a Kong ball at first, and then let her out when she wants to see the guests. She usually barks and growls at the visitor. She would get close sniff then back up and bark, and it would be like this for maybe 2-5 minutes. We give the visitor a treat and feed her. When she gets over her barking, she will jump up and shower the guest with affection :lol:

. We introduced her to 3 guests at once, and a single guest which she liked after 2 minutes. I took Christy to home depot, lowes, and outside of target. She did very well, and mainly barked and growled only at kids and a woman in a wheelchair that came out of nowhere. She's a tad bit scared of cars, but for every close car that comes by, I treat her, and she now looks at cars expecting a treat :yes:

. Another success! Tomorrow I plan on taking her in front of Hobby Lobby, and let her watch people walk by. :fl

I hope it goes well. She will be going to obedience class in 2 weeks, which will help with her dog reactivity. I think she knows that I don't like when she barks at people, but she can't help it being the adolescent she is.

And for the issues...
She still barks at any person on our park walks. WHY?!? Like today, a man across a street 100 ft away walking along the road, she barked a little, so we walked away. She seems to bark at only 1-2 people at a time. We also had 2 mild incidents of our neighbor's 3 yappy little dogs running out and barking at us and acting territorial. The house isn't gated, and they are let loose when the owner is out, but not in sight. It ended with me yelling the dogs off, and carrying her away. They do that with everybody.

Christy reacted by barking and growling, although not constant If I got her to sit down. She is a little better at not pulling, but I always have to pull her back, turn around, or stop. I've heard about gentle leaders or no pull harnesses. I think the martingale/choke collar it probably making her more tense.

Hanne · Jul 4, 2015

Thank your for the update of the good progress with Christy :fl

Biscuit · Jul 8, 2015

Your Welcome! And I have more good news. We had to babysit our 4 year old cousin for about 6 hours yesterday. Before she came over, I was nervous about Christy's reaction, especially with her reaction towards kids. What we did was keep her in a crate with a stuffed kong. When our cousin came over she barked and growled. We played in the same room but from a distance. Then we moved closer and closer as we played until we were right up against her crate with no reaction. Christy was able to sniff my cousin, and I let my cousin give her a treat. Then I opened the crate, but turned our backs from her as we played. She instantly went up to my cousin and sniffed more. Soon enough she began to jump up and show lots of interest. I let my cousin practice commands with Christy, and both enjoyed it a lot

! I also brought out the tunnel for my cousin and Christy to play with. In the end Christy was so tolerant of my cousin that she was hugged and kissed :biggrin2:

, it was so cute. Hopefully this good experience will help Christy associate good things with kids.

trini · Jul 8, 2015

Good job handling the intro between Christy and your 4 year old cousin. Kudos to you, Christy, and your little cousin! :smile2:

Trini

Silaria · Jul 9, 2015

Sounds like you are making some great progress with Christy. Keep up the same routine with her and you should continue to see improvement.

Biscuit · Jul 9, 2015

Thanks! We will keep on doing these things every week. I am noticing that Christy looks at me much more, and even is starting to connect scary objects with treats. I also got her a easy walk harness as a more gentle tool instead of the choke chain, so this may make Christy feel more calm.

Cara Sandler · Jul 14, 2015

Things like choke chains actually can make behavioral problems worse. The dog interprets the correction as coming from the threat (strange dog, child, etc) and it just makes them more reactive toward that stimulus. Positive, reward based training is shown to be much more effective in eliminating problem behaviors and increasing desired behaviors. I highly encourage the use of treats and positive training techniques instead of the choke collar.

Biscuit · Jul 14, 2015

Cara Sandler said:
Things like choke chains actually can make behavioral problems worse. The dog interprets the correction as coming from the threat (strange dog, child, etc) and it just makes them more reactive toward that stimulus. Positive, reward based training is shown to be much more effective in eliminating problem behaviors and increasing desired behaviors. I highly encourage the use of treats and positive training techniques instead of the choke collar.

That's true, I realized that her martingale is making her tense up. It chokes her when she reacts, and I know I wouldn't like to be choked while I see something scary. Now I use an easy walk harness with lots of treats, praise, and guidance. Although the harness is a medium and is a little loose, Christy is much happier with it, and pulls less. I also remind myself to stay calm and walk with confidence. Although when she barks, it surprises me and can make me all jittery.
I used to correct her by jerking the leash, but I know that I shouldn't. Now I would make a "shh" sound when she Is too fixated, and then she looks at me, and I say "yes" with a treat. If I'm too late I just walk away briskly, or turn around. She only has the chance to get maybe 2 barks in, then is quiet. To calm her, I take her to a quiet spot and do tricks. We did this at Lowe's today, and she barked only a couple times, which I think is a record for Christy. :yes:

Cara Sandler · Jul 14, 2015

Biscuit said:
That's true, I realized that her martingale is making her tense up. It chokes her when she reacts, and I know I wouldn't like to be choked while I see something scary. Now I use an easy walk harness with lots of treats, praise, and guidance. Although the harness is a medium and is a little loose, Christy is much happier with it, and pulls less. I also remind myself to stay calm and walk with confidence. Although when she barks, it surprises me and can make me all jittery.
I used to correct her by jerking the leash, but I know that I shouldn't. Now I would make a "shh" sound when she Is too fixated, and then she looks at me, and I say "yes" with a treat. If I'm too late I just walk away briskly, or turn around. She only has the chance to get maybe 2 barks in, then is quiet. To calm her, I take her to a quiet spot and do tricks. We did this at Lowe's today, and she barked only a couple times, which I think is a record for Christy.

Awesome! Sounds like you have a good handle on it

Biscuit · Aug 20, 2015

If anybody's curious on how Christy is doing, here's an update:

She is much more calm around strangers when on our walks. :biggrin2:

She still will react to dogs, but its not as bad. We go to a nice park, and visit Lowes on a daily basis. She gets to just watch the surroundings, and do some obedience. She doesn't overreact, instead she will shy away a little. We play lots of treat games to relax her. She isn't as afraid of the car, and will go in herself. She also doesn't drool anymore. At home, she hardly alert barks at noises she used to hate. She mostly barks when playing. I'm so proud of Christy :smile2:

.

We also finished obedience class. The trainers were great, and both Christy and I learned a lot. The class room was very small with dividers. Christy would occasionally see a dog, and hear them. She used to sound like a vicious dog. Eventually she didn't react to dog barking at all. On the last day of class, we decided to let her meet the dogs in a enclosed yard. She was timid, but she sniffed the other dogs, and eventually became more and more comfortable. she wagged her tail a little, and explored. If we stayed longer, I bet she would've felt pretty comfortable, being the crazy playful puppy she is. Then we walked into a obedience room with the other dogs, and she was fine with them! Now I discovered that she is just leash reactive.

Christy was the most improved dog of the class, and won a sit, lie down, touch contest. We also got diplomas, treats, and toys with the graduation song playing. It was so adorable :lol:

. I decided we will take a long break, do more training at home, and then go to the advanced obedience class. This class has no dividers, so more distractions. This would definitely be good for Christy.