Little Man Syndrome!

Took Mr Sparkles out for a nice walk at a local park on Friday, it was his first time at a park, the weather was lovely and so it was pretty busy.

It would appear Mr Sparkles has suddenly found his voice and yapped at just about every dog we came across despite normally being very well socialised with other dogs - so embarrassing!!

I tried using the normal approach for correcting his behaviour which was a short sharp 'Ah' sound but it didn't always prove as fruitful as normal and even when it did it didn't stop him from doing it at the next dog and the next etc. I do not want this to become a habit and him to become a stereotypical little yappy s**tbag especially as I am hoping to qualify him as a PAT dog.

He has since taken to barking at dogs everywhere we go even at work if they are unfamiliar which he never did before.

Can anyone with experience advise on the best way to tackle this, or do I just need to persivere with the way I am doing it in the hope he eventually gets the message?

I love his name. Sorry , I dont know your dogs history . How old is Mr Sparkles and how long have you had him.

Unfortunately the "normal" way of dealing with this problem by correcting with the short sharp Ah doesnt deal with the underlying problem that your dog has. Generally dogs are reactive because they don't like other dogs. Attack is the best form of defence!

Thanks Dibby.

Mr Sparkles was 17 weeks old on Friday. He's a Pom. I have had him since being 10 weeks old. From a very reputable show breeder / good citizen trainer with lovely well adjusted dogs.

He is a lovely energetic little thing. He comes to work with me, I work with animals and adults with learning disabilities and epilepsy (hence why he will have to register as a pat dog when he is old enough) as well as having a Northern Inuit, rabbits and chickens at home. I take him practically everywhere with me.

Needless to say he has been very well socialised from day 1 of arriving being used to busy places, a variety of animals and lots of noise. We have a regular dog at work (a cocker) who is amazing and has become his best friend. We have other dogs come in who come in for grooming that he gets to meet occasionally.

All his encounters with dogs have been positive though the dog at work and my dog will tell him off if he oversteps the boundaries.

I cannot see a reason why he is now suddenly becoming yappy.

ETA: Even after yapping at the dogs at work and being corrected he has then gone on to play happily with them off lead so its not an aggression issue.

What a busy life you lead! PAT dogs do a great service.

He may be barking through over excitement and over stimulation but as I'm sure you know, pups do go through stages and the second "fear period" is between approx 4 to 6 months so that might have bearing on his behaviour .

He leads a busy life for a puppy , Just a suggestion . Do you think he gets enough rest and down time for his age?

Also , you can over- socialise where too much can have the opposite effect and make dogs "fearful."

My little dog was under socialised and barks at strange dogs but once she gets to know them she is fine too.

Could you give a bit more detail here? is he already in your work place when the other dogs come in? is he on a lead?
When incidences happen , you need to do your ABCs

The Antecedent
The Behaviour
The Consequence

I hadn't even given the second fear stage a thought, and now you mention it he does seem to take a step back first, it could well be that he is nervy, I suppose with all the socialising he does I just didn't expect to really encounter a problem in this respect.

In terms of rest and down time I think he probably does get enough, any less than what he gets at present and he doesn't settle, he is pretty full on personality wise and will only actually rest if he is forced to by crating.

As a general overview:

On Monday and Tuesday's he gets a couple of hours of crated time during the working day to rest. He sleeps on the journey to and from work and on these days and anywhere else we go (such as school run etc) he is carried (cliche I know but I do think about his poor little legs!) He goes to the toilet when we get home and then he is crated for a bit until tea time. He then gets to go loo, potter about, socialise in the garden with the other critters if the weather isn't crap for a short while, I'll do another 5-10 minutes training and then he will settle down in his crate for the night.

Generally speaking Wed, Thurs and Friday are my days off unless I am needed to cover for another member of staff, so the morning routine is basically the same but instead of work we do the school run and then tend to come back home, depending on what errands I may need to run it is mostly resting between a couple of short stints of training, play, toilet breaks and perhaps a small walk before its time for the school run again. Then he gets to cause trouble until tea time and the above routine comes back into play. Most errands involve him being carried too as places don't seem to mind you taking a dog if its not on the floor.

Sat & Sunday routine is pretty much as Monday and Tuesday except there are only 2 of us on the premises so it makes for a quiet day where he still gets to potter and play but without all the hustle and bustle of of the week and without any other dogs being present.

Anything less than this and he will not settle.

Since this only seems to have only started recently (on Friday) I have only had one incidence of this at work to date as I was off ill on Monday and now I am on my day off.

The regular dog was already in so I carried Mr Sparkles into the building as normal and then popped him on the floor (again as normal) and he ran over to the other dog and just began to play (all normal). The 'incident' was at lunchtime, he was sat on my lap on the grassy area being fussed when another member of staff came out with 2 dogs (which he has met briefly before with no issue), one on lead (extendible) one not. Mr Sparkles promptly perked up and had a yap, I corrected him and he stopped instantly, he remained alert and they ran off to play with his friend (the cocker) at which point he leapt out of my lap and ran after them and just joined in with playing. The other times he has always been either walking on lead or in my arms.

Sorry thats a huge essay.

Dont apologise. It actually saves time as we dont need to keep asking questiosna nd waiting for replies and it helps build the big picture.

I need to digest it and have a think .

I hope you will get more replies. Are you in contact. with anyone who has a Pom puppy so you can compare energy levels and reactiveness? I know they are busy little dogs , they are popular in my area .

So to recap , the incidences started on friday when he went for a walk at the park , it was his first time and it was busy .

Maybe he found going to a strange place and it being crowded a little overwhelming. There could be several reasons why he barked, maybe excitement or frustration if he was on the lead or maybe he found it a bit too much .

I would watch for the quick tongue flick , thats a good indicator of how he feels . Dogs tend to do this if they are anxious or stressed.

When a dog barks because it is in an over aroused state it floods its brain with chemicals, it takes several days for the effect to wear off and the body to return to normal so if it sees or meets another dog again it is more likely to over react again.

The second incident at work , when you were in the grassy area, it might have been the sudden appearance of the dogs coming into view that caused him to bark and/or he might not have recognised them as friends. dogs recognise other dogs and us by scent so sometimes they may bark when we come into view and then get a whiff and realise we are friends

If this were me I would teach Quiet . This is useful because you can say it before your dogs kicks off , its more specific than saying Ah after the event.

I dont say Quiet in a negative harsh way , I taught my dogs this by saying the Quiet in a normal voice and doing the sign of finger to my lips when they are actually being quiet and then good dog and fuss them so its a positive thing.
Obviously once you are cetain your dog has made the connection between Quiet and not barking you can say this when they are barking and they should stop . If my dogs are in a highly aroused state then I say a soft drawn out sshhss first as this seems to attract their attention.
I have given my dogs food rewards for not barking because they are reactive and I really want to enforce quiet , if you do this you have to be careful that your dog doesnt start to bark to get a treat.






ETA Just checked out his photos . How cute he is !!

I do not want this to become a habit and him to become a stereotypical little yappy s**tbag especially as I am hoping to qualify him as a PAT dog.

This made me laugh out loud. Sophie is bull moose sized but this describes her very well

Callie is terrific...some humans he'll growl at, but other dogs and cats don't bother him a bit.