Need some behavioural help please

My cocker spaniel is causing me concerns as soon as she is let out of the house she runs at the fences and barks madly at the next door dogs, it generally carries on until I drag her away.

Can someone please help in how to treat this behaviour....when out walking her, she doesn't pay any attention to the dogs unless they rush her, when at the groomers, where there are many dogs running around, she is fine, although a little stressed.

I might add she is a very people friendly girl.

She's being territorial and protecting her property and winding up the dog next door, all of which is great fun and self rewarding if the dog next door barks back
How do you usually get her to stop something she's doing that you don't want?
Syd my male Dobie could bark for England given half a chance, and feels the need to protect the back garden from pigeons especially the pesky b*ggers are very good at sitting there ignoring him much to his disgust . So he's allowed a couple of barks and is then told "Enough" at which point I expect him to stop, if he fails to stop I pick up the hose pipe and squirt it just in front of his head, for him this is enough for him to get the message. An old washing up liquid bottle filled water could be just as good.

It take 2 to tango, as they say. presumably both dogs are dog friendly, and would be to each other? assuming the other dog is also running up and down the other side of the fence barking, then they are rewarding each other?
thus they are rewarding each.
what does your neighbour do with her dog?
would it be a problem if they were left to it?
can you work up a plan with the neighbour?
such as letting the dogs meet and play, or taking one away in turns by simply calmly walking up and hooking on a lead and going indoors?

lots of questions

She will do it even if the other dog is not in sight........little monkey!

The other people don't seem to pay too much attention to their dog, no matter what.

Trouble, normally we only have to give the "ah ah" and she knows that means "no"........not with this problem......she wouldn't even hear with the din she is making. As for the birds in the garden, they don't worry her at all.

Ah but there's always the possibility that a good barking session from her will bring the other dog out to play

People that don't at least try to make their dog be quiet make me mad, it's so damn inconsiderate and as my OH works nights I have to try to keep the noise to a minimum in the daytime, neighbourhood dogs barking their heads off can make that difficult to say the least.
As for Syd the Dobie barking at pigeons he thinks he's a guard dog and he feels the need to warn all intruders off It's in the genes in his case and although I can keep it to a minimum, stopping it completely just ain't gonna happen

I can imagine the Ah won't have any effect when she's in full barking mode but the squirt of water should make her pay attention. With Syd I've made contact with the water a few times and now I just have to squirt it in front of him for him to get the message and it's so much better than trying to be heard above the din. Also because the hose pipe has a fairly long reach I don't need to be that close to stop the barking.

I think in some ways, you need to define exactly what you want and then train for that and stick with it.

For instance, if you think it's ok for her to bark a few times, train for that - you could allow her to bark but insist she responds when you say "Quiet".

To do this she must understand and also you must be able to control her if she keeps barking (ie you could bring her in each and every time she ignores your instruction, a long line would be helpful here rather than collar grabbing).

A big problem is going to be the whole adrenalin factor - dogs who are adrenalised often literally cannot hear the owner.

Does your dog have lots to do - lots of walks, chews, toys etc? as a bored dog will be much worse as this will be theonly outlet (not saying yours is bored!! I always write with the idea that many people could be viewing the thread ).

Environment: could you change this with regards to either timing of both dogs being out, or only allowing access to some of the garden (works best if you have a big garden!).

A friend with many GSDs always brings straight in any dog who barks and I've done the same, likewise another friend who is a breeder and has quite a few dogs and again she brings hers in. So that can work very well

Anyway, good luck!

Wys
x

Thank you to everyone for your help, I will certainly try a few of your idea's and keep you posted.