Hi All,

New here so forgive me if i post in the wrong area.

We have a 1 year old westie who we adore. However walks can be a bit of a pain for him.

Whenever we go out he will yap and bark at pretty much every person he sees or dog he sees. Its getting annoying as he goes for a walk at 5am so barking that early annoys me let alone the neighbours.

What are the best ways of stopping this? Ive been told to ignore which i cant really do when walking that early. What i do is tighten the lease so i can tug it a little (has no effect) i try and get him to sit and be quiet but i assume he sees this as attention so carries on.

Hes good in the home knows his sitting, laying, paw and high fives. but the yapping is really getting to me as i dont let him meet a dog if hes yapping, when hes quiet hes allowed to but this has been going on for a few months now hes 12 months now and was around 9 months he started yapping when out all the time.

Thanks in advance

This could be a fear/stress response.  Around 9 months could have been the start of his second fear period, in which dogs can become reactive to things that they weren't previously - my last pup went from absolutely fine with other dogs to totally fearful of them literally overnight, with no trigger, when she hit hers.

Ignoring won't help, whether he's worried or just doing it for fun; if he's worried, he'll just continue to be worried and if he's doing it for fun, barking is an incredibly rewarding thing for many dogs so he'll just do it more!  Also, if it is fun now and you start correcting it every time, you run a high risk of turning it into a stress response as he could associate the correction with whatever he's barking at.  Yapping like this can be a tricky one!

Ideally I would recommend getting a decent behaviourist to help you as they will determine which it is first of all, and then prescribe appropriate techniques to stop him.  In the meantime, try to distract him when he starts (or even better, just before) then reward him for stopping - you'll need really high value stuff for this (meat, cheese, that sort of thing).  I would also recommend trying this method:

http://www.clickertraining.com/reducing-leash-reactivity-the-engage-disengage-game

Timing is important - in that first stage you have to mark him (the click, or whatever you use to mark a good behaviour) the *instant* he spots whatever he normally barks at.  But get it right, and it is a hugely effective tool for reactive dogs, whatever the reason behind those reactions.  I use it in my fearful dogs and I have my clients do it, it really is brilliant.  It was the very first thing I did with my fearful newbie and it calmed her down very quickly.

Its not a fear thing, he hates bikes and the barking for that is different, its a I want attention kind of bark when see him out, i can understand that its darker so he cant make out people as much. its just trying to get him to stop as if i get a treat he stops but wont he think i was barking and i got a treat, if i carry on i will get more...?

Thanks

its just trying to get him to stop as if i get a treat he stops but wont he think i was barking and i got a treat, if i carry on i will get more...?

Yes he will, so this is why Nikita explained that you have to reward him BEFORE he barks. He has to see the other dog, person whatever and not have barked yet, get the reward, so he gets that the reward is coming when he sees something and stays quiet.

Will be a long wait to see if hes quiet, its the instant he sees anything, ie whilst closing the door will start barking.

If it's definitely excitement, then use what he wants as the reward.  So if he starts barking as you're closing the door, go straight back inside the moment he starts, take his lead off and go back to whatever you were doing before.  Out on a walk if he starts barking at something/someone, immediately turn round and walk away.  This must all be done calmly - lead by example.

A key point to bear in mind while trying to do some of the above is that you're not going to have a 'normal' or 'ideal' walk during this period. You need to see this as a period where you train him how to go to a walk, during which period the actual walk itself will effectively be suspended. You may not get further than the end of the front path for the first week. But you have to be ready for that.

If you're trying to 'achieve' or 'complete' the walk at the same time as training him, you'll just get stressed that he's not 'doing' the walk, and the training won't work. You need to be completely relaxed; and happy that if you don't get past the end of the path, and spend all the time just coming back in the house because he barks, that's fine; his loss.