Grumpy Doggy

Hi All,

Recently when on a walk Misty has taken it upon herself to bark and growl at certain people. She doesn't do it to every person she meets - maybe 50%. They can be in their own garden or by their car and she will bark. Others she just wants to meet, pulling to go and see them and utterly transfixed by them. There is no specific type she barks at- I have tried to pinpoint if they look the same or wearing the same type of clothes, but no there doesn't seem to be any reason as to why she takes a severe instant dislike to certain people. I must say that none of the people she has growled or barked at have done anything which could be deemed negative towards her. They can be gardening in their gardens or can be walking behind us completely ignoring us. I always tell her No followed by ' Its ok no one is going to hurt you' to try to relax her but she will carry on until Ive crossed the road or we are far enough away from them.

Tonights walk was awful. She barked and growled at every single person and dog we saw. It was so bad that we cancelled the walk and just came back after 10 minutes.  Im very paranoid as I really don't want people to see us and think badly of her and I really want to promote a positive image.

Does anyone have any tips on what I could do to stop this behaviour?
I will add I don't know if today is because she is over tired? Normally I go to bed around 9pm ( yes I know-Im old before my time )and she comes in with me and my husband joins us later. However last night I was out with friends until 10.30 and hubby said she didn't settle until I was in. Today I worked from home so her normal routine is we wake up at seven then I leave at half eight and she goes back to bed with my hubby but today I was in the front room working and she kept coming in every 45 mins to check I was ok {she really is so sweet} but this meant that she didn't have her lovely long uninterrupted morning snooze. Could she be overtired?

I wonder if anyone else has experienced this or has some advice I would love to hear it!

Thanks,

Emma.

If she doesnnt baark at every single person id reassure her with the people she does bark at plenty of reassurance dnt walk away from the person as this will heighten her anxiety and give her a reason to be anxious. Remember if u are tense the dog will pick up your mood .

Very strange Emma. I guess she could have been tired but I'm not convinced. Have you done any distraction training. I would go down that route so that you snap her out of any fixation she has and just looks to you for a tasty treat until you can move on with your walk.

I would say it was probably more due to change in routine than her being tired - when I first rescued Bug any little change in her day would throw her all out of sorts, and feeling unsure brought out her insecurities which in our case was also aggression to dogs/people. I taught Bug to "watch me" and more recently "look at that" to keep her distracted and under threshold in the face of reactive stimulus. If she looks uncomfortable, create space between you and the "scary thing" by crossing the road or doing a u-turn. There's a book called "fiesty fido" by Patricia McConnell which is all about this sort of thing, you can get it second hand on Amazon for a few pounds I think it would help you. For general reading "the other end of the leash" by the same author is a brilliant read too.

Echo Rachel, brilliant books and the technique described Feisty Fido is great.

I'd go with the watch me command as well. Also if you know anyone she barks at try having them feed her

Thank you all for the kind advice. I will order the books tonight! Well this weekend had been a revelation. I had a completely new dog on Saturday morning. I think we had an invasion of the body snatchers situation with Misty. It started Saturday morning. I took her for a 45 minute walk around the block. If I'm honest I wasnt much looking forward to it after the horrible walk on Friday with her growling and barking at everyone. Well, she was a different girl, everyone she saw she wanted to meet. She only barked twice, once at a lab x pup who barked at her first from across the street and a tiny little bark at a group of people who were blocking the pavement. I was over the moon with her. Saturday afternoon I had hired her an hour at a private field. We drove to the field and she was so good in the car, normally she tries her hardest to sit on the drivers lap. We got to the field and met the owner. Misty did bark at her but this lady was fantastic. She told us she was a doggy person and ignored Misty completely and held her hands behind her back. After a few minutes Misty was asking her for treats, it was lovely. This lady was great with her though. So we spent a wonderful hour with her running free in the field, playing with her boomer ball, throwing tennis balls and she even had a go on some agility equipment there was in the field. That girl is such a quick learner, she had a few jumps and loved running through the tunnel. After the hour was up we walked back to the car which was a five minute walk through a gorgeous park. Well as soon as we left the field there was a very fat beagle who she sniffed and had a small bark at so we pulled her away. We took her to the lake and she had a tiny paddle, she loves walking on stones but water not so much. It was lovely seeing her experience a lake for the first time up close. She was a little star. So we walked back to the car and the fat beagle is stood right by the gate. The women wasnt moving so we tried to walk around. The dogs had a little bark again. Then next thing I know the beagle had slipped it's collar and is coming back for more. He wouldn't go away so Misty gave a strong growl as if to say go away I've had enough off you. His owner then ran back and got him. We then waited for them to leave and moved towards the car. Now what do we see when we get to the car park. An off lead lab chasing a tennis ball his owners are throwing for him, IN THE CAR PARK. Yes, obviously the very best place to throw a ball for your dog is in a car park. Even better was the fact they were throwing the ball in our direction. I was so scared as I know the problems toys can cause and was scared Misty might go for the ball and i didn't want a lovely day ruined. Well again she surprised me, she looked at the lab and the ball and completely ignored them, she just wanted in the car. What an angel. Then yesterday on all her walks she was like a puppy, she was so inquisitive about people and dogs. It was lovely, she just looked at people with no growling and no barking. She only barked once and that was because four dogs in one car went ballistic when we walked past and I didn't blame her one bit as they were really going some. She saw people waking,getting in cars,in their gardens and nothing phased her. She saw one dog she was desperate to meet but he was going the other way, some little yappy dogs started barking at her and she just looked and ignored them. It was the nicest walk we have ever had. She had a lot of treats during it as she was a star. I don't know if she reads this forum and hated me calling her grumpy but she has definitely changed. She has always been my little angel and its so nice that other people can now see it. One guy we walked past yesterday looked at her, she looked at him then he just gave her the biggest smile. It made my day.

What a lovely story another thing i love staffies for is their willingness to learn and please you they are quick learners

Ive never known a dog so quick to learn as her. She is my angel, hubby just text me to let me know they have had a massive walk and she's been a star again. Staffies really are a different level