Bark her head OFF!!!!

[blueruby]

My dog barks at every dog/person. everytime we walk by a person with a dog, or even WITHOUT a dog. my dog keeps are barking at them. I have tried to introduce my dog to the ppl and let them pet her. THEN my dog would stop. but then when she sees another person, she will bark again!!
the next method i have tried was to distracted her by giving commands and praise her if she does the right command with treats. but after she got the treat, she would go back to barking.
the third method I have used was to give her a strong snap on her collar. that didn't work for her, and I think that was really cruel...

so what can I do?? please help!!

blueruby~~

[Angels3]

You can find some practical articles about barking as a behavioral problem by going to: http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/library.htm
Scroll down to (Potential) Behavioural Problems Under that you'll see 'Barking'.
Click on that & up will come a bunch of articles on the subject. I hope this information helps you with your dog.

[carrie]

This is one of those situations where it is really hard to help unless you see the dog (aren't they all!!).
The first thing to do is to really think about yourself when this happens. Do you see someone coming and anticipate your dogs reaction? (I know I would!) Do you start to gather in leash and prepare yourself? Do you shout or apologise quickly to the "victim"?

In some way the dog is not interpreting your actions as a signal that the behaviour is unwanted and may be seeing them as actual encouragement and validation of what he is doing.

Try slowing things right down - set up some people you know to "meet" you out walking. As soon as the dog begins to react just stop, with a loose lead, ignoring both dog and passerby. Do not walk on until the dog is quiet. Do this ALL the time, simply stay as relaxed as you can and keep the lead loose - do not look or speak to the dog. The first time the dog gets closer to the oncoming person than is usual give him some calm verbal praise and a food treat. You must be sure that he is definitly closer - if he then starts to bark - ignore him again.

The slower and calmer you can be the better.
Good luck, remember he will take a while to realise that things have changed and you will have to persevere. Let us know how you try and solve this problem and what how you get on, please.

[blueruby]

carrie,
thanks for the tips. but I have a trouble keeping a loose lead! Cookie is always trying to run towards the person she is barking at. So I have to pull her back because some people are not dog people. I would usually pull her back and give her a command "quiet". If she does quiet down, I would give her a pat. If she doesn't, we will stop and we will wait till the person has passed us. http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/frown.gif

[carrie]

The trick is to anticipate the dogs reaction without giving the dog the clue that somebody is coming.....
You can see people coming before the dog does, you are higher up and your horizon is further away. You then have time to get ready - get the lead to a comfortable length before you go out - so the dog is not able to run towards people and scare them but you still have a relaxed, loose lead when normally walking. Walk slower, this will calm the dog and give you both more time to think.
Another thing you could try is the technique for getting a dog to stop pulling on the lead that I have described before - this will concentrate the dog on you and make it easier to appear that you haven't noticed anyone else as a threat.
Start this in a quiet area - every time the dog gets two paces in front of you - walk backwards, patting your thigh and saying in an encouraging lively voice, "come close". This should be fun and once the dog has the idea of it use it out on walks ALL the time. As soon as you are aare of anyone coming towrds you start the "Come close!" routine and keep it up ( you will look daft, but you'll get used to it!!) until the person has passed or the dog starts to bark. If the person passes - go wild, praise, treats and hugs. If the dog barks stop straight away and leaving the lead at the length it was try not to haul the dog in.
This is so frustrating!!! If I could get to you I could explain it a whole lot better but I'm no good at trying to explain without a dog!! I do hope this is helpful and good luck, keep us up to date, please