Tempest Posted December 8, 2006 Report Share Posted December 8, 2006 Jess is an 11 month old labrador and she had a pretty bad start in life and wasn't well socialised I don't think bless her Anyway she loves other dogs and just wants to play and loves racing around with other dogs at the fields and we've met some really friendly ones and she's had a whale of a time with them What I've noticed is that she really barks at other dogs when they're in the distance - so if she sees another dog she'll start barking but then once they've said hello and had a sniff she's fine and then she basically just says 'come on lets play' so I'm not quite sure why she's barking If she's off lead she'll run over to other dogs barking (although I can recall her so she doesn't go charging up to dogs we don't know) and I don't think it's an 'excited' pleased to meet you bark, I think it's more of a wary 'I don't know who you are yet' type bark I think maybe she's a tad nervy at first and thinks she'll get a bark in first to show she's big and scary but I just want to make sure I'm interpreting it correctly and dealing with it in the right way and I'm not sure what I should be doing when she barks I take Jess training 3 times a week and she's meeting lots of dogs there but she barks at them when she's in the car (which I know isn't unusual) and barks at them while we're waiting to go into class but she's 100% fab in class and 100% focussed on me - a bomb could go off next to her and she wouldn't react As I know quite a lot of the other handlers at training I'm making a point of speaking to people and letting her meet friendly dogs individually and once she has the initial sniff she seems fine but she's soooooooo excited to be at training (and possibly frustrated at being on lead) I think that could be why she's barking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoC Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 How much do you trust the trainers at the club? Might be worth letting them observe to see what they think. It's impossible to be impartial when it's your dog! Are her reactions any different when it's dogs she knows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted December 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2006 Thank Jo I do totally trust the trainers at the club and I'm going to have a chat with one of them but it's difficult for them to observe as by the time we enter the class she's really settled down I'm 99.9% sure that she's barking as she's wary and is giving a 'look how big and scary I am' bark but it's something I really feel like I need to work on now as I don't want to let it progress as her running up to other dogs woofing probably won't go down to well with the other dogs she's meeting To be honest the dogs Jess 'knows' always come to the house first before we go on walks and we tend to see different walkers at the nature reserve every day so we don't have any 'regulars' that we often see Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoC Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 It might be worth setting up a situation with one of the dogs that she knows as thought you meet by accident, in theory if it's a 'look how scary I am' bark she wouldn't do it with them, but if it's over excitement/frustration, it might even be worse. To be honest if you're 99.9% sure that she's a bit worried, I'd go with that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted December 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 Jo - if it is a worried/wary bark how would you tackle that? I've arranged to meet a friend from training with her lurcher (who Jess has never met before) tomorrow who is absolutely bomb proof with other dogs The plan was that we'd have both dogs on lead and approach from a distance with lots of treats and praise for relaxed quiet behaviour and gradually walk closer and closer to each other - if Jess does bark I was just going to calmly turn and walk in the other direction and then when she's calm turn back etc........ Today we met a GSP at the woods today - no sign of an owner at first - he came bowling over then stopped - body language was very stiff - Jess was also quite stiff and I decided to walk towards him with a happy 'Jess look who this is type of voice' and she only had one half hearted bark and then was running and playing with him after a second. Owner approached and we had a bit of a chat and the dogs got on really well - not sure if that sheds any light on anything though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoC Posted December 14, 2006 Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 I think what I would do would depend on the dog. If it's just the initial greetings then I'd work on that. Arrange lots of meetings with known dogs (so there is no stress) reinforce polite greetings and appropriate games, and then move onto arrange dogs who Jess knows but not really well, and then onto strange dogs. If it's general wariness then in theory the more dogs she meets and has good experiences, the more confident she'll be and she wont need to bark as much, but she might think the barking keeps her safe and incorporate that into her normal greetings. How did meeting up with the lurcher go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted December 14, 2006 Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 Funny you should mention this. Rosie does a similar barking thing at things she can't identify in the distance and I'm wondering if dogs really can't see far away things very well. At home she doesn't bark at all, not even if someone knocks on the door. Rosie has barked at a woman with a jacket tied round her waist so you couldn't see her legs and a couple of carrier bags/balloons waving around on posts and in the grass. Close up she loved the woman and walked straight past the bags. Hope the meeting with Jess and the lurcher went well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted December 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 Thanks guys - the meeting with Tara the lurcher went really well We met in the car park with both the dogs in the car and Tara's owner got her out first and walked out to the other side of the field and then I got Jess out on lead and began to walk over to them (they were quite a way in the distance). Once Jess twigged they were there she gave a couple of 'woofs' and I turned and walked in the other direction - did some heel work with treats and we gradually moved in nearer until we were walking parallel to Tara When they were really close we stopped and let them have a sniff and Jess was fine with that - we walked alongside each other for a while and then let them both offlead and within 2 seconds they were having a game of chase around the fields like loonies What I did notice though - and I don't know if this is more the root of the problem was that Jess seems to bark at things in the distance and they're not such a problem when they're up close For example there's a play area in the park and we were standing chatting near it with both dogs onlead and a family arrived to take the kids into the playground and Jess started woofing at them (they didn't have any dogs with them). Later on we walked through the car park back to the cars and the same family walked past in close proximity and Jess didn't bat an eyelid Part of me is thinking now that it's not so much other dogs that she's barking at but if she's just trying to alert me to the fact that there's something nearby - whether it be people, other dogs or whatever? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoC Posted December 14, 2006 Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 Sounds like it went really well yesterday, that's fab walking away does seem like a good plan too, if she wants to make contact then she can only do that by not barking. As for alerting you to stuff, I remember Angela Stockdale saying dogs rarely bark 'at' something but more bark to let everyone know there's something scary there. You could try acknowledging that you've seen whoever/whatever it is, and see if it helps her knowing you've seen it too? Is her eyesight ok? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted December 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 Is her eyesight ok? I've not had it checked or anything Jo - but she's fine around the house i.e. doesn't bump into things or anything She went to 'meet' the vet a few weeks ago when I first got her and he gave her a checkover but I can't remember if he looked in her eyes He definately looked in her ears, listened to her chest but I honestly can't remember about the eyes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoC Posted December 15, 2006 Report Share Posted December 15, 2006 i think some dogs don't have great eyesight, but not necessarily a problem with it (like my Charlie) the vet did try and look in his eyes but Charlie kept moving away and the vet didn't want to push it. I didn't realise you'd had her for such a short length of time, I reckon your instincts sound spot on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendbert Posted December 16, 2006 Report Share Posted December 16, 2006 Just a thought Jules, but knowing that Jess didn't have a great start in life, do you think it could be that seeing new things/people/dogs etc is just something she is getting used to? Tess, in her own way, was under stimulated so when we were out she was so interested and enthusiastic about everything - she'd pull on the lead towards new things and keep looking back at me, as if to say "look, look at that!". Maybe Jess is more vocal in communicating to you that she's interested or excited in new things? Probably not much help, but just my thoughts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted December 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 Thanks Wendy I think you're right there too - it was only really when she got to Jo's that Jess got to experience the world and I think there's a whole host of things going on nerves/excitement/uncertainty all at the same time - which is probably similar to what Tess went through too? The good news is that Jess has been doing FAB bless her I've been plugging away with the socialisation and both yesterday and today she's seen dogs in the distance and not barked at all She was a star at training today too - much less barking and she was a very confident girlie outside of the class afterwards while I was chatting with some of the other lab owners and their dogs - not a single bark and lots of sniffing and interacting with the other dogs too Today I specifically took her to the park near my parents as you tend to see lots and lots of dogs there and again she was fab - at one point she was playing a 4 way game of chase with a giant schnauzer, a border terrier and a cav girlie I think it's probably just a case of getting her out there and just socialising, socialising and then socialising some more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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