She's drivin me nuts!(barking at passing dogs)

lola my bt is driving me bonkers! shes always barking in the house out of the house anywhere she can open her gob! went for a walk this morning and a lab walked past so had a treat ready for her and charlie so she wouldnt bark she clocked him but sat and nibbled at the treat.
on the way back we bumped into an old lady i know with her staffy whos quite nervouse and lola just wanted to rip her head off!!(the staffys not the ladys) i did the treat bit but she wasnt interested she did frighten the lady a bit with her growling and barking.

im just at a loss what to do wioth her i dont want to have to treat her everytime a dog walks past as she will then expect it and most of the time shell sit for the treat and as soon as shes had it all hell breaks loose! also what can i do with this insesant(sp) barking , i tell her to be quiet but she carries on ive got 4 dogs but shes the onkly one who barks1

In my very non expert opinion, I'd say that if the treats work, which they seem to do going by the incident with the lab, then I would use them everytime a dog goes past initially. As she gets better behaved around other dogs you could try and phase them out. Get her attention with the treat before she sees the other dog if you can. My lab is like this, not so much barking but mega over excited and lunging but a treat makes a massive difference. My lab also loves his ball, if we're at the beach the ball is more effective than a treat as retrieving the ball is way more exciting than other dogs to him now.

shes 2 now and have always used treats to stop her but it hardly works ive kept trying and trying but shes just getting more aggresive rather than keeping quiet

does she gets the treats while she is barking or once she is calm?

As well as above ^ What do you make her do before you give her the treats, if anything? What treats are you using?

Take her out on her own and work at the problem, can't sort it while you have to deal with other dog/s as well.

Or you could try making a hissing noise at her and flicking her (VBG)!

rune

Just picked up on this - if you are rewarding her for sitting, then it may be that the treating is not really teaching her anything about the other dogs. Timing can be quite important with this sort of thing. She may just associate the food with sitting and nothing else.

I agree with training her when you don't have the others. Also maybe getting some help from a good local trainer? Sally Sanford is in your area, see www.apdt.co.uk for someone who may come out with you and give you a hand

Wys
x

she is sitting and is calm when i give her a treat(dog treat) and she does have training on her own it just happened i had to take the other dog out as well this time,i keep the treat in my hand until the dog has passed but she doesnt always want the treat shed rather be tryin g to get the other dog.
i cant afford a trainer at the moment but did got to training classes when she was younger even had a one to one but he couldnt stop her barking, we left the group in the end as it wasnt fair on the other couple of people who were also paying for training as they couldnt hear the instructor as she was so noisy.
ive worked hard on this problem but she just hates other dogs! she does get let off the lead sometimes (with mzzle) depends where we are as i need to see her at all times as she has cecs and would hate to think of her off somewhere having an episode when she cant see me.

my sil came round with her pup and she barked at her but wanted to play but she was so in her face that i had to remove her as she was frightening the other pup.
i soilicialsed her as soon as i got her she met many dogs none of which did anythin g to her it was always the other way round

If you are sorting out a problem you have to make sure the dog is on her own and not put into a situation where you might cause her to fail. So she has to go out on her own every time, otherwise you are going to fail.

Will your insurance pay for behaviourist help if you go through your vets?

rune

I'm certainly no expert, but our bitch can be a nuisance with other dogs every now and then. She seems to sense the baddies, or confident dogs and gets in there with her barking and snarling before the other one starts, it really is awful at times, especially when I have my other on on my other side behaving as good as gold, and being quite startled by her behaviour!

HIGH reward treats do seem to work for us some of the time, as a distraction, other times I just make sure she's kept behind me, behind my offside leg, so that I can nudge her back if she dares to start! It's usually only when she's in front that she seems to think she has to take on the world for me.

Although not at all positive training - but I have used it on a couple of occasions is a quick blast of pet corrector her side, she hates it and drops to the ground. But this is more of a last resort, she's gone too far and I fell I've lost control (only twice I've had to use it I think)

However, I don't really want to recommend it for daily use with the particular problem you have, as it may only lead your dog to associate meeting other dogs on their walk with a negative thing but in some particular situations I have felt it necessary to use - an offleader dog jumped on her and she went for it, noisily, the blast frightened them both and seperated them instantly It might just give you more confidence when you're out walking, if like me, you sometimes fear the worst, this will instantly lift your confidence a little and your dog might respond better?