I wonder if anyone can help me?

I have got two king charles spanniels which i have had for about six months. Lucy is 5 and Jennie is 3. My problem is with Jennie. When she sees that we are going for a walk she gets overexcited. this usually results in her shaking and barking. She begins barking as soon as she sees her lead and does not stop until she is in the car. Once in the car she whines until she gets to where we will be walking and begins barking again once she leaves the car. she usually barks for most of the walk although she is a little better when she is let off her lead. I have tried the following remedies so far:

Squirting her with water when she barks - this worked for a few days but she soon became wise to it and now barks but then swings around to dodge the water

Refusing to move until she stops barking - this doesn't work. she gets the message that i want her to stop barking but as soon as i begin moving again she starts again. Tried this for about a week but neither of us got very far plus it was a bit frustrating for Lucy who just wants to get on with her walk.

Ignoring her - she thinks this is great but it does nothing to stop the barking

If anyone can make any suggestions i would be grateful.

What does Lucy do, when Jennie is going wild???? I'll assume for the moment shes doing exactly what you want.
I understand that Lucy goes wild when you put her on the lead, so call them both over to you, and i'll assume that Lucy (i'll call her L from now on) sits infront of you, so give her the "SIT" command (cos she does it anyway). When she does this, give her loads of love and praise plus a treat. J will probably be going wild, but give her a chance to be good :). Call her over and give her the sit command. She'll ignore you probably so LEAVE WITHOUT J.
Only step out of the door for a few minutes but return as if you've just come back from the walk!!! Ignore both dogs for 5 minutes and do the excercise again, and agina and again until J learns that she must stay calm if she wants to go for a walk!!!
DOES J GO WILD WHEN YOU ARE ESCORTING YOUR DOGS TO THE CAR??????
If she does, then this is another training stage that you must take.
You must now teach J that, " ok you stayed calm so got the lead around your neck, but if you wanna go for a walk then you must remain calm"!!!!!!!!
If at any stage after putting the lead around J's neck, that she starts mis behaving again, take her back to the house, take the lead off her and leave, again, without her!!!
The good thing about having two dogs is that you can work them against each other, not in a cruel way, but if one is doing something good, and the other bad, then when you give loads of attention to the good dog, the bad dog gets jealous and thinks "what do i have to do to get a bit of lovin'???"!!!!!!! :)
I think there are two things that MAY be wrong with J, first that she got rewarded (ie taken for a walk) when she was doing a set pattern of behaviour and secondly, you maybe making it clear what she ISN''T supposed to do, but you havent made it clear enough what you DO want her to do!
Goodluck
Josh_

That sounds like good advice to me...

I'd try what Josh says.

I'm new here but had to agree.....

Lisa

I've just editted the post....you may want to change your opinion!! :)
Regards
Josh_

Thank you Josh. I will try what you have suggested. I think that it may work as Jennie does not like Lucy getting more attention than her, she will usually do anything to try and stop it so hopefully anything will also include being quiet. I do however think that this will only solve the problem up to the point of getting her in the car. Once we get to the walk she will begin barking again as soon as the car door opens. I am worried that her behaviour will rub off on Lucy who at the moment is a lovely well behaved dog. I do not have any problems with Jennie other than this one. She follows all of the commands i give her and the only time she barks is at strangers who approach the house and in anticipation/during walks.

Thanks again.

Nicola

If she starts barking when she's out of the car, put her back into the car!!!!
The key to "a good dog" is that the reward should not be a treat or a walk in the park, but knowing that the owner is HAPPY. You must show, with your body position, voice tone, and eyes, how you feel. If your happy, the dog should know, if your not, then you need to COMMUNICATE to the dog that what she is doing isn't pleasing you, and you should be able to COMMUNICATE what you would like her to du.
What do you do when you let them out of the car? Do they have sniff around off lead and play amongst themselves??

I'd have to agree with Josh here.
My Kyra (GSD bitch 12mnths) would jump straight through me and anything in her way to the door for a while, until we made her sit down and
wait till we went out the door first THEN she could come out for her walk :)
Now, it didnt happen overnight (took about 2 months) and she is still quivering in anticipation, but she is actually capable of waiting for 5 minutes till we put the lead on and actually open the door all the way ;)
What you have to be carefull of, I dont know if you are planning to do obedience with J, is that you could get a very unstable sit, as she is always poised for action.
We have solved this by making a big distinction between "wait" and "stay".
"stay!" means, you sit/lie there and I will come back to YOU eventually. "wait" means: Just hold on while I ask you to do something else, e.g. go through the door, come to me etc. .