Superdog - Barking problem - Page 1

All,

Cody our superdog is a almost 5 month old male puppy that has recently discovered his bark.  While in the backyard he barks at anything and everything deemed barkable and while a little annoying not a big problem.

However, when we are taking him for walks and he spots another dog he automatically gets excited and barks at them.  Today we walked by a elementary school and he wanted to play with the kids so he barked non-stop at them.  Which in turn scared the heck out of them.

I know he is just excited (Tail wagging a hundred miles an hour) but people get intimidated by him very easily and act like he is going to eat them.

How can I teach him not to bark?  Sharp pull on the leash? Or?   I tried using the "Aus" command but he is so excited that he just ignores it.

Any and all suggestions welcome!

Very simple...Socialize him more...around people and dogs that can handle it...

You need to set up situations with low level of distraction and willing participants so that you can create an alternate default behavior. Then you can increase the distraction level.

For instance, have one person, without a dog, walk in the line of site of your dog. If the dog starts barking, give him something alternative to do. I use a sit and give a small treat. Once he has sat down, and turned his focus on you, and is quiet, the other person can approach and pet him and give him more treats.

If he starts barking again as the person approaches, they need to stop and wait for him to be quiet and sit.

I am assuming here that he does in fact want the person to come see him. The other alternative is that he is barking out of fear for the person to go away, and when they do, he is rewarded for the barking by getting what he wants (person leaves).

Figure out what he is being rewarded with by barking. Take away that reward and in order to get that reward, he needs an alternative behavior (a sit, for instance). As he is able to successfully complete levels of distraction, ramp it up. Do not move on to a crowd of 5 people with three dogs until the dog has mastered the easier distractions.

Also, work distraction with obedience in a seperate setting, and get that more solid. A dog who is sitting and looking at you should not be concerned with what is going on with other people or dogs. The dog needs to understand that barking does not make people come to them or go away from them - only you get to decide when he interacts with other people and dogs.

The good oleeee spray bottle!  If the dog doesn't like water too much, especially spritzed in his face, while out for your walk or anything else when he starts barking, say no bark and spritz him.  When he stops even for a sec, praise the hell out of him!  Treats, pets, what ever you want to do for praise.  After a bit, you won't even need the spray bottle.  All you will need to do is say no bark, then praise.  Worked on my barkers!  It's not cruel, and they don't get scared for life!