How can i stop my pup from barking at people. If the person/s have got a dog she is fine but if they have not then she runs up to them and barks.
I am going to start taking her to my local Sunday market to get her used to people, i just can't understand why she does.
Has anyone got any other suggestions as to what i do, as when i am out at my local park(shotover in Oxford) i find myself putting her on the lead because of people being frightned of her.

Cordelia

You can stop her by putting her on the lead!  Then she will not be able to run up to people and bark at them, possibly frightening them!  It is very inconsiderate of you to allow this behaviour.

If you bothered to read my post properly you will see that i do put her on the lead so that i have control.
I am looking for advice not people having a go!!!

I am not having a go, I am advising you to keep your dog on the lead to avoid the possibility of your dog's behaviour resulting in being reported under the DDA! If your dog WAS on the lead how could she run up and bark at people?

She has done it before that is how i knew she would do run up to people and bark.
This is what i wrote  "when i am out at my local park(shotover in Oxford) i find myself putting her on the lead because of people being frightned of her"
Yes but i do not want to keep her on the lead all the time i want to get rid of this behaviour. But i will keep her on until i can get this matter solved.
I am not allowing this behaviour i am trying to stop her when she does bark i tell her to 'shut up'. But this is not working

Cordelia

Can you reward her for being quiet?  For example set her up where there is going to be traffic going past but not too intrusive and click and treat when she is quiet rather than tell her to shup up?  Dogs generally respond faster to positive techniques. 

I think Jean Donaldson says it very well in her book The Culture Clash when she mentions "bar open" eg she uses a particular tasty treat that is available AT NO OTHER TIME than with the problem behaviour whatever it is so that she begins to associate the appearance of people with something juicy coming out of your pocket.  A market may be a little TOO much for her and stress her out.  What you should eventually get is a shaping of behaviour so that when she sees people instead of rushing up to them an barking in an effort to remove them she comes up to you and says "Gimme a treat now, those people have arrived"

HTH

I think tohme is being a bit unfair here, as we obviously have a catch 22 - if off the lead the dog runs to people and barks so the behaviour cannot be rectified while the dog is on the lead. Enrol at some training classes, tell the trainer what the problem is and hopefully you'll get some constructive advice. Sorry cannot be of more help. Perhaps a trainer on here can assist.

You are such a rude person!!, this person was simply asking a question and you couldnt even be bothered to read it properly!!!!

You did the same to me the other day!!

I may come across as rude but not half as rude as those dog owners who allow their dogs to be out of control and frighten people, children and other dogs.  It may take only one or two incidents to totally ruin some dogs temperaments.  Not only that but your own dogs risk being bitten by other dogs who do not like this behaviour or, as one poster pointed out, being injured by being kicked etc by people!

Whenever I see posts (or meet owners of) dogs out of control a lot of peopple make excuses for its behaviour eg its breed, rescue, it does not like dogs on leads!, people with blue hats etc etc.  The reason that dogs are out of control is because people allow them to be; pure and simple. 

So if you think I am rude in print think for a moment how you would feel if you were walking along minding your own business with perhaps a very timid rescue dog that you were trying to rehabilitate and up comes any dog of any size and barks, jumps around it! 

I cannot tolerate people who put their own and others dogs at risk because of thoughtless behaviour and lack of training; if this is being rude; yes I am!

I have always said, if you cannot control it do not own it.

There is a very interesting article on FlyingDogPress site by Suzanne clothier called "he only wants to say hi", something I hand out to a lot of people!

I would work on her recall.  And have her play games with you so that she is too occupied to bother.  Just letting her run up to people, even without the barking can be a problem for some folk - especially dogless ones.  A long trailing line would help so that you can step on it if she doesn't respond to you.  What breed is she and how old?

Sally

I have been to trainging classes with her before but they have now moved the time to 8pm and the only problem i have with that is i can not drive and my partner has to take me which means dragging my 3 young children along and asit is on a school night i can not do this.
I will buy her a new squeky ball (old squek has gone from her ball) and also look for a long line. Any ideas where i can get a good one from over the net.
She is an 8 month GSD, so
you can imagine some people being very frightned of her. Had a great experience yesterday as she did spot someone with out a dog but because the lady ignored her she shut up.

Cordelia
To tohme i use liver cake

The extendable leads are really good IMO and you can buy them really cheap on Ebay usually. This way you can let her run pretty far while still having control of her and be able to stop her and get her back when she does decide to bark at people.

I have an extendable which i am going to use again.

If you can get a clicker do, they are a great tool.  Unfortunately shouting her to shut up won't help, it will either make her nervous of you or make her do it more.  Good luck with your baby, sorry I'm not much help but I'm sure that other people will be able to advise you :d

I know an apdt trainer in the oxford area who would be able to help you on a one to one basis and probably supply you with a suitable long line but I don't know how to do pm's yet.  A long trailing line is different from a flexi- lead.  Effectively she is off lead but you still have a means of stopping her getting into trouble whilst you are trying to train.  With a flexi lead she is on lead but just further away.

And as she is a G.S.D. she probably thinks that when you are telling her to 'shut up' you are actually telling her that she is doing a lousy job of keeping these strange people away so it could cause her to bark sooner and louder next time.

Sally

Hi sally yu can send me an e-mail, i went through apdt to get the people i went with before, i'll stop telling her to shut up.
When we was at puppy classes there was a schnozzer (prolly not spelt right) that bark constantly all the way through i#m not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Cordelia

Found the APDT site and have just e-mailed a couple of trainers one of which does house calls, and as i can not drive that would be great if he can help me at my house.

Thanks
Cordelia

I've sent you his name.  It's schnauzer and it probably didn't help.  Sally

Hi Cordelia, if you look at horse lunge reins on e bay you can get them for under a fiver. I have a 9 metre one used to let Manic Morse explore without going AWOL when he smells a rabbit. I like them because they are thicker than flexileads and dont amputate my fingers, other dogs legs etc and if you plan on tracking later they can be used for this too. I also prefer them as they dont work by pulling like the flexis - Morse is a reformed lead puller. Best of luck with Inca ( thats right isnt it?) she looks beautiful.

Yes it is Inca the little (big) horror :-).
I shall check out e-bay, i normally use a halti because she is one of the best pullers with out it :-D.
I have e-mailed a couple of trainers in my area one of which comes to the house so hopefully we will get somewhere with him.

Thanks
Cordelia

Hi Cordelia
I have the same issue with my 8 month BC at the moment and the same thing she is worse if the people walking don't have another dog??

It's all about fear really, but we were advised to keep her on the lead to until it's sorted, we are going to see a behaviourist because it's meant to be a struggle getting them to stop.

Hope that helps and I know what you mean about some people/person being rude and just having a go!!!!!, they did the same to me the other day.

Just found a someone selling two reins so i will go for those, when one gets wet then i can use the other one lol
ROSIEDOLLYJAZ i think a lot of things i have read from the person has not been nice.
Thanks
Cordelia

I agree!!

Good luck and those reins sound good

Please don't use an extending lead with a Halti or any other head collar - it can cause awful damage to the neck - if you need to use a long line or extending lead please use a solid body harness....

I just have to say i have exactly the same problem with my 8 month old retriever, i think it is something to do with the age, coming into adolecence and probably coming into season soon as they are both large dogs. I also find she only barks when they don't have dogs with them, but i think it might be owing to the fact that another dog gives them something else to think about and focus on. (Although i think they wonder why anyone would want to go out walking in this weather if they don't have to walk a dog - well sometimes i do anyway!!)
I also find that she doesn't do it when she is on her extending lead. I have tried a lunge line a few times, but i find it quite awkward. The ground is quite muddy and there is quite a lot of horse and dog poo around so it isn't really an option to let it trail so i end up getting tangled up in it myself. I am also taking her to the local towns to try and get her better socialised and she is fine, infact she loves all the people, so i'm not sure if the barking is fear or excitement at the moment. The biggest thing to work on is recall, which she has always been terrible at, despite working on it from day one. Shes ok when there are no distractions, but i daren't let her off the lead at the momentfor fear of total embarrassment. Good luck with inca. :-)
(she sounds lovely, GSD's are gorgeous!)

She loves people as she loves the attention the give her and she is a sucker for stroking.
We have a lot of kids around by us that make dog barking noises which is unfair but you tell them to stop it and you get a mouthful back.
When she is on the lead and halti she is fine just loves to sniff people, we also have a lot of people that come in my house aswell as children and she is fine so i think it is mainly strangers that she is not keen on, i also notice that she does this more when i have my children with me so i think she may be protecting aswell.
I am going to walk her round the market on Sunday and see what she thinks of that. As for recall mine too has never been great off the lead especially if there is another dog but she respond to a whistle (two fingers in mouth) well.
I am going to make some liver cake today for treats for her, but i have 7 kids to look after today so i will try and get some time to train in the house, outside training is the worst as there are to many distractions for her, but i am sure we will get there in the end.
She is a great dog and learns things quickly so hopefully it want take us tolong to get over it, after all she learnt to ring my neighbours door for the other dog to come out and play :-D

Cordelia

I use an extendable with the halti but she knows that she is not allowed to run with it or plus i do not let her run with it on it is maily for walking.

Cordelia

The behaviour isnt unusual for adolescents :)

I would use a mixture of classically conditioning the dogs to associate the presence of people with brilliant rewards which can over a period of time be phased out. For most dogs this works extremely well - but timing as always is important, as is the ability to not nag/shout/ etc :D and not panic ..... !!! So yes, dog on lead and when a person is spotted, toys come out or high value rewards are given. Lots and lots. Plenty of verbal praise and happy times! Keep going until person in question goes past, and then the rewards stop.

It won't work in a day but progress should hopefully be seen after a few weeks. It must be done continually preferably so that the dog doesn't get a chance to slip back. Dont worry about rewarding the dog for acting up - this isn't what is happening.

MOst dogs will start to associate the presence of oncoming people with nice things happening and start to even feel disappointed when they leave ;)

Dogs who are very hyper may need more help (ie behavioural) due to the surges of adrenalin making them unable to really learn anything of value.

Hth
Lindsay

I am making liver cake today which she has not had for a while and i know she loveeeessss it :-D,
I am also going to keep going past the shops each day where there will be a few people and do as you suggest Lindsay treating her until they people or we have gone past.

Thanks
Cordelia

I think it is great guarding,protection behavior that you should incourage.Take her for obediance training and protection work training so that you will be able to control her off lead.My Great Dane is now 5 years and has been exactly the same as your girl,being friendly to people with dogs and barking at people without dogs.He has done great in his obedience and has won titles and the police canine unit is very impressed with his manwok/protection work!Retha.

Sorry to say but i do not want to encourage this i live in and area which is surrounded by children and lots of people that do not like dogs mainly the old, and as she is 8 months i do not want this before to turn into aggression towards people. Puppy's will run off to people but as she is a big GSD now an inch taller than my other GSD and as lots of people will scream she will think this maybe and excuse to bite.
I do have a 6yr GSD that does gaurd aswell but this has been done since she was about 3yrs. She is on her gaurd when my partner is not at home an instaly warns me when people are about and will sit by the door for me to open it but at all times she is aware and at night when i walk her she is off lead but working (so to speak) and always on gaurd of what is happening she also knows what people i would be frightned of and will act on that by staying by my side at all times, and she has before now frightned off my people that have had unacceptable behaviour towards me.
But my for my pup this wll happen later in life and not yet as i also have 3 young children that have freinds coming to the house. So for know i will discourage this behaviour.

Retha, I would guess that you are not in the UK. Any dog that causes people to fear they may be attacked can be seized under the DDA. To have a 'protection work' dog I believe you need a special licence and insurance.

There is a huge difference between having an out of control, untrained dog that frightens/barks/bites (not suggesting yours bites GSD owner) and having a totally controlled dog with an experienced owner that has been correctly trained for protection work. 

In the UK you can train dogs in this type of work and compete in Working Trials (Patrol Dog Stake) and Schutzhund competitions; however prior to competing in either you must be able to demonstrate that you have total control and that your dog is sociable in everyday situations; eg your dog must pass a BH prior to competing in Schutzhund competitions. 

Well trained dogs, whether for security, police, MoD, or merely sport dogs are not a liability; untrained dogs are!  There is a great difference between training a dog to "retrieve a sleeve" on command and "leave" on command and a windy/aggressive/out of control dog.

I know there is a differernce but i just do not want to commend my dogs actions towards people so it will be stopped until i feel she will be ready for duty's so to speak.
Treats doing well went to shop with kids today and she did not take notice of anyone just me with the ckae.

Cordelia

Great Cordelia, it is amazing how addictive that stuff is isn't it and how everything else suddenly becomes far less interesting :D

i am going to make some tuna ones today with just tune, flour, garlic and water but no eggs as my other gsd can not have meat or eggs.
She is always trying to pinch the cake from my pocket :-) so hopefully she will like the fish one then it will be fare.

Cordelia