Barking at strangers

Hello!

I have recently adopted (woop woop!) a lovely girl called Sky. I will introduce you all to her soon with a few videos.

I am still going to foster in the new year so will keep you posted with those too. But right now, I need your advice.

Sky is a very intelligent girl. She has learned all the basic commands very quickly, she now sits and waits for her food (see my video on how I do that with my foster dogs), she walks to heal both on and off-lead, her recall is excellent, she is good with other dogs BUT....

When she sees someone she barks a lot at first. This is normal I know, but it is everyone and every dog and quite intensely. She has lived with other dogs but was not walked very often and had little socialisation. When approaching someone or sees another dog, her hackles go up. She barks (will listen to correction but then continues) but if the person stops and says hello (which I encourage them to do) she wags her tail, sniffs and says hello and is brilliant. I have walked along side another dog, gone into their house and she has lay on the bed with the other dog with no problems. It is just that initial encounter I am struggling with.

At one point, one dog snapped at her and she didn't react, didn't bark. As soon as she meets them she is fine and dandy. She even seems to remember them and will no longer bark. This lead me to think that she just needs experience...so I am going to take her to a very busy dog walking are and practice her walking on lead and, if all goes well, continue her recall training. But before I do I would like to ask the forum what they think of this and if they have any advice.

Thank you very much in advance

All the best

Dan

www.youtube.com/natureclip
http://youtube-natureclip.blogspot.com/

I don't really no what to suggest, never really had a vocal dog before, maybe give her time to settle in.

On a different note, congratulations on your addition Sky, and we need some pics

Yes, it is early days yet. It's an unusual adoption. She was my sister's dog but for one reason or another they couldn't look after her anymore.....but don't get me started on that.

I'm glad she's with us....she's adorable

I don't really have any good advice other than the regular stuff like teaching to bark on cue (and then you can teach a "quiet" cue as well)..

Otherwise I just want to mention something - beware that if she enjoys meeting the dogs after barking at them you risk rewarding the barking with the meet and greet. However, if she doesn't seem to bark at the same dog twice it doesn't really seem to be the case.

Oh yeah.. One more thing you could try is to teach her to "tell". This is easiest to do with a clicker.. If so you train it this way:
- after conditioning the clicker go out looking for distractions
- when she looks at an approaching person/dog - click and treat
- keep clicking/treating for looking at anything "interesting", but if she turns to you reward for that, too
- if necessary move out of the way to get a little distance (for instance if she gets too excited to take a treat) - try putting her up for success
- I would not click for barking, but any time she's quiet and just looking and/or looking at you is okay

In the end you want her to associate the approach of people/dogs as a cue to look to you because the approach of a stranger = a treat is coming.

when we got Lottie she would bark at other people still does now and then but mainly she just avoids them and looks on from the other side of the room. sometimes she will come close enough to sniff at them. out and about on walks she just ignores people now when we first got her she wouldnt walk past anyone without barking. it takes time and patience but every time she barks tell her no firmly and she will get the message but dont be too harsh we dont want to frighten her any more. if she carries on barking turn round and walk away from the situation. if she fixates or stares too long at someone take her away from the situation.

It could just be an old habit. If she isn't doing it twice maybe introducing her to lots of different people and animals will help sort things out.