My 3 mth old Cav has just starting barking at everyone she meets, if she is out on a walk she balks and people passing by, at puppy class she barks at other people and dogs (for a few mins when we get there), when my boyfriend came round last night she barked at him for 5 mins ??? I am the only person she doesn't bark at. My 5mth old Cav doesn't bark at all ! He has only barked once at the vacuum cleaner.

She's probably just entering a fear impact stage - all dogs go through this, but it seems to affect some more than others. Things that appears fine to her before are suddenly scarey because she's entering the stage that, in the wild, she would be left for longer periods by her mother, and instinct tells her to be wary of anything she doesnt' fully understand. Careful sympathetic handling, without giving extra attention for barking and other scaredy behaviours will help her get through this.

Thanks Digger :-)

Hi

Had the same problem with my 8 month old bitch. She would bark at thin air sometimes as if her life depended on it :D

At first I used to go through the 'oh dear whats the matter poppet' routine, till I twigged that my attention was ,in her eyes, rewarding her, almost like saying 'Oh what a clever girl please do it somemore!'

From that point of realisation I found that totally ignoring her, difficult I know, for as long as she barks, eventually did the trick, dont speak or so much as look at her until she goes quiet and sits down, then you can smother her with kisses and tell her what a good girl she is for shutting up! It does work eventually :D

At first I tohught it was cute as Ozzy never barks !!! Not quite cute though now !

Thankyou Rufty i will give that a go

Hi Cath,
its ''Donna'' how did puppy classes go??? did they enjoy it apart from the barking... hee hee (sorry)

Hiya Donna,
Ozzy is doing well at the classes, after 1 class he can sit and nearly lie down with the help of a clicker. Tilly can sit.
As for Tilly's barking she has now started to bark at the cooker !!!!