Hi all,
We've recently taken on a new Vizsla boy (who's now 21 weeks old and the grandson of my beautiful 8 year old Viz girl that we just lost to a heart tumour)...but I've noticed that when we are out and about, if we meet up with a group of dogs in our local woods, my two older Vizsla girls just stand by me barking like mad whilst our new little lad is having his fun playing with some more sprightly pals. Our Scarlet is now 12 and a half and doesn't seem to be able to hear very well anymore and Ava is ten and a half, I'd be very grateful for any advice on how to stop my old girls from barking like this as I'm sure it must be getting on other peoples nerves....I was wondering if they are thinking that they need to protect Hektor?...any advice would be greatly appreciated. 
Thanks
Mair x

I have a rescue boy who gets very noisey on the approach to other dogs which will often get him into trouble as the other dog thinks hes being agressive when infact he just doesnt know the appropriate greeting ritual and gets over excited... What I have started doing is getting him to sit in front of me and "watch me" so by the time another dog has reached us and is doing an intro with my girl he has nothing to get over excited about and can just have a sniff and move away. I would suggest you do something similar, get their focus off what your boy is doing and back to you wether this is with the aid of some treats or a toy they like, just takes their mind off whatever it is thats worrying them and breaks the behaviour before it turns into a pattern.
Hope that helps any?

Came across something today which is similar to what MadHuskies mentions above -
http://functionalrewards.com/

It's also similar to the Look At That! Game from Control Unleashed, which has helped my reactive dog a great deal (though it has taken months of hard work).

Thanks both, I will give it a try ;)

Think they may just be joining in the fun, not able to actually rough and tumble they give ringside support.

I was thinking that too Nova, but they make such a racket that I have to move on 'cos I don't want them to get on peoples nerves LOL. 

I met a really interesting chap in the woods at the weekend who is a dog psychologist and he managed to stop the pair of them barking instantly....was quite amazing because he didn't even say a word to them. He told me that Scarlet is trying to take on the pack leaders role but that she's no good at it because she just doesn't have the right personality to be the leader, and Ava is just copying Scarlets behaviour because she's a follower. He said they need to realise that it's my duty to step in and take control when the energy levels get too high, Scarlet and Ava need to realise that it's not their place to step in.  This psychologist meets up with loads of other dog walkers on Saturday and Sunday mornings and we all just walked together, I joined in with the pack and the girls were like two completely different dogs, Scarlets tail came right up (she usually scuttles about with it tightly tucked underneath herself!)....and Hektor had a hell of a lot of fun too, so I'm going to make the weekend pack walks a regular part of our routine now. ;)

> I met a really interesting chap in the woods at the weekend who is a dog psychologist and he managed to stop the pair of them barking instantly....was quite amazing because he didn't even say a word to them. He told me that Scarlet is trying to take on the pack leaders role but that she's no good at it because she just doesn't have the right personality to be the leader

I'd take all the above with a pinch of salt if I were you; whatever he's doing is working, but probably not for the reasons he's saying. He's not a fan of that chap on TV is he?

I don't know if he follows the Cesar thing, but he did give me his contact/business card, although he said my dogs wouldn't need any private consultation and are no threat at all around other dogs, they seem to be picking up on some nervous signal that I must be giving off and they just need to realise that I'm in charge of our new little man and not my two old girls ;)