Hi, does anyone have any advice for me please. My 5 month old mini schnauzer has developed a strange habit of barking at people whilst out walking. It doesn't matter whether he is on the lead or off. He tries to make himself as big and loud as possible until he gets about a metre or two away from them, then he stops but still barks. When the people carry on walking to him and try to pet him, he runs away - tail between his legs, behind my legs. I've tried a number of things, stopping as soon as he barks, making him sit very still and waiting until the people have passed (I feel a real dork doing this). I have also tried pulling him away in a different direction, all I get then is Oscar on two hind legs facing the original direction until we are far enough away. To summarise, he is fearless at a distance and wants everyone to know, but when up close, he's a really scaredy cat. If I didn't know better, I would put it down to a lack of socialisation but he has had lots, including training club once a week. He is also far better with dogs than people, in as far as there isn't much barking and at least he is prepared to greet (although if the greeting is too enthusiastic on the part of the other dog - I still have the running off to the comfort of behind my legs.) Can someone help me here please - what am I doing wrong?

hi,
sounds to me like he has learned that barking at things he is scared of, ie people, makes them go away! an, since it works, he will keep doin it.

What you need to do is twofold. Firstly, stop making the behaviour rewarding for him, so yes, making him sit down, whilst people pass is a good move. Secondly, u need to get him to associate people with GOOD things, so you need to get him to associate people with treats, either food or a toy.
The best way to do this, wich is quite hard, is to get strangers to give him a little treat, when u have got him sitting! Get them to walk past and just drop a treat beside him. If he is barking then NO FOOD, if he is quiet, then a treat appears.

You can then graduate on to getting ppl to pet him and give a treat eventually.

Good luck,
Em

Hi, strangly enough i have been beside myself just lately with a similar problem. People on here have been so helpful and I now have a number of things to try. My young male pup is frightened of people/strange places. He has gone through the three 'f's ie freeze, flight, fight - which basically means that when he sees something he is frightened of (people) he would firstly try to freeze - which got no response as I kept walking, so he had to. Next is flight, but because he was on the lead he couldn't run away, and the third option is fight - where he will bark or grumble at the people.
Because most people will stay clear of a grumbling dog - this reinforced his behaviour, he thought that basically if he grumbled then people would just go away.
I have been given loads of great advice which I am sure people won't mind me passing on.
Firstly - ignore his behaviour, but at the same time anticipate it and make the occassion fun and distract him - play ball or give him a treat (make him sit as you have been doing if that helps)
Perhaps get people to give him treats, or drop them if he is quiet. Try to set up an example - get someone he doesn't know to 'accidently' meet you on a walk (armed with his favourite treat). Talk to the person, but get them to completely ignore the dog. have them have the treat in their hand clearly visable/smellable to the dog, but not to encourage the dog verbally. You will probably find that he will creep forward to get the treat in time - but don't even acknowledge that he has.
This will encourage the dog to go to people (in time) and it not be an issue.
Please feel free to email me if you like - as so many great people have given me advice lately there is too much to fit into one post.
PS if you are reading this and have given me advice on my 'wimp' - thanks so very much - its great to know that you are behind us - and I thought with 30 years around dogs I would know most things about them - just goes to show you learn something new every day - Thanks again XX :)

hi scattergood....i'm not sure how many schnauzers you've had but he is stereotypical........its a fear motivated behavior...you must quickily set up a dynamic where its a ''treat-based'' training....using food and developing a high food drive are your only hope.when they are in drive they are able to focus better....you must take a proactive approach......and you must teach him that he does not dictate the dynamic...when he starts barking for now hold just the handle of the leash ..say nothing and turn away .....repeat so that he sees you are determined to go and couldn't care less about a barking coward...because you are so confident yourself..........this will be a comfort to him

Junior was like that (boston terrier). He would growl at the people,dogs and would not allow them to pet him at all, then he found if he lunged forward growling they would back off. I started going to my dog classes about 20min earlier (another class before me) and I would make him sit, laydown, heal and would keep doing that. Then people would walk (or with their dogs) by and I would put him in a down position as they walked by, I would tell him leave it and treat him when he stayed in the down. Then next time it would be a sit, I always alternated him from a sit to a down to just a heal. This seemed to work very good, then they would also stand almost beside me and I would allow Junior a little sniff then call him back happily and tell him how good he was and treat him ( I would never just pull him back I always made the return to me happy). I was also slack on the lead where before I would tighten it and now that I'm slack kinda like I don't care he seems a lot more confident. I can now take him places and people can come over and pet him, I find the ones that start talking first and saying OOh what a good boy and then go to his level and pet him (but Junior has also took to putting his paws on their leg to be petted before they even get a chance to crouch down). It took some time but has paid off and now I'm very proud how far he has come. He will bark and growl at male dogs at times, rather then that he has come a long way. I got him just over 3 months and he wasn't that very well socialized, I started socializing him at almost a year (I know more my falt) but he is 3 years old now and doing brilliant. Got him into agility so he is always around people and other dogs beside my family and the other 4 dogs we have at home. I find the more he has fun doing something then he seemed to get usta having people and other dogs around him and now he gets along pretty good.

Not sure if this helps u any, but ur little one sounded just like my Junior and it only takes time and alot of work and patience. They day he is good u'll be so proud of him. Wishing u the best of luck :) Never get tense and tighten on the lead they seem to sense that and get worse, obedience helps alot.

ttfn :)

That's great, dollface! Just goes to show, it's never too late to get improvements, and the more effort you put in, the better the results will be!
Go for it!!
:)

Excellent, thanks, I'll try these ideas, I think my nervousness transfers all the way down the lead to the dog. I must act more nonchalent.