I have 6 month old westie male - who i have spent a lot of time training and socialising. I took him to puppy classes (15 weeks) and from a young age, he would bark at dogs when he first met them and then would settle down in class as he got to know them, but as soon as we came out of class and there were a number of dogs waiting to go into the next class outside, that he wasn't familiar with, he would bark and pull on the lead. He is very receptive to training and i can teach him various things very easiliy using the clicker. Since his puppy training though he has developed this habit that he first exhibited as a younger dog, now though barking very agressively, hackles right up, at other dogs when walking on the lead. If the other dog passes close by he goes absolutley ballistic. Advise from a local dog trainer to get him to sit, look at me and treat with a smelly treat etc does not seemed to have worked (as he pays no attention to the treat in this situation even when i have it right on his nose). He has got much worse over the last couple of weeks. Even barking at certain people or plastic bags. When i let him off the lead in the park though, he barks a bit, runs up to the other dog and plays with the other dog if it is also off the lead - he is very good at the recall.
On the lead though, I have now started to try the spraying the face with water approach - a bit early to say if its working yet.
There seems to be alot of opinions of this subject as to whether you treat your dog and thus associate the passing dog with something nice or whether you spray water or rattle something to associate the act of barking with something not nice and therefore deter your dog.  I am very concerned whether i am doing the right thing or whether i should go back to my local dog trainer. Any thoughts???

> Advise from a local dog trainer to get him to sit, look at me and treat with a smelly treat etc does not seemed to have worked (as he pays no attention to the treat in this situation even when i have it right on his nose).

Timing is essential for this, you need to let him know you have the treat BEFORE he gets exited/aggressive, it may mean that you need to act really excited yourself (ie, OTT voice, jumping up & down - whatever keeps him interested). Also a 'special' treat - something he loves but doesn't normally get (cheese, cooked chicken etc..), or even a favorite toy.

If that doesn't work then you need to be further away from the other dog, find the distance that your dog will focus on you and practice keeping his attention, when he is reliable at that distance, practice while a little closer to a strange dog etc...

>There seems to be alot of opinions of this subject as to whether you treat your dog and thus associate the passing dog with something nice or whether you spray water or rattle something to associate the act of barking with something not nice and therefore deter your dog.

I am not a trainer/behaviourist, but i would always go with the positive association (eg. dog learns: strange dog = treat time).
With the other method you can make things worse, if the dog associaites a loud noise/being squirted with other dogs he could think he needs to be more aggressive or even attack the other dog so he doesn't get squirted/subjected to scarey noises :(

I've never used anything negative to train a dog, always reward based, I've always found in the long run it works best and gives a very close, trusting bond between you and your dog if you use positive methods, we don't squirt our children in the face when they 'misbehave' I'm sure if we did they would think us awful parents, many may disagree and prefer these methods but myself it is only a deterrant against an aggressor, not something I would use on my own dog who trusts my guidance and who protects and loves me.

Your Westie is at that stage in his life when he is feeling very vulnerable and is having what we call the fear factor, your puppy classes have put him in good sted, but his own instincts are now over-riding his earlier socialising.  He is coming out of puppyhood and going into adolescents which is the most dangerous time for all dogs when they are liable to be attacked by other males and are loosing their puppy innocense which other dogs take note of, he is reacting exactly as he should if he is to keep safe.

Breeds act in different ways, some will submissively flip on their backs, some hide, some run, terriers at least most will bark that is their defence as they are small to get in there first and warn off a dog, a plastic bag whatever if sees as something that may get to him first.

So forget the water pistol, or any telling off, if anything it will increase that fear.  You need to just make him sit, stroke him, tell him to shush if he does give him a treat, if he continues to bark no treat, behaviourists often suggest sitting on a park bench where many dogs and people and plastic bags :-) will walk past until he realises there is nothing to fear.

If he has no negative meetings with dogs or people or a killer plastic bag he will outgrow this fear, it is mainly age induced.

But........ all terriers are quite barky as a character trait some with age don't bother so much, hopefully yours will be the same, one of my mothers dogs is a Westie X and my grandfather has 3 Parsons JR's they are always the first to enjoy a good old yap. :-D  So don't expect to eradicate it, but you can certainly stop the fear barking by reassurance and keeping a calm light voice to help sew the seed of the world not being such a scary place. :-)

I agree with Carrington: if this is in any way fear based, sparaying him with water is likely to increase that fear.

Keep your eyes peeled for dogs and whilst walking towards them keep one eye on your Westie. The minute he clocks the other dog, before he even starts barking, just turn right round and walk away from the dog. Then walk back towards it. Again the minute he gives the minutest reaction turn away again. If he really kicks off, walk away and cross the street. But, if you can try to get past the other dog, keeping yourself between them.

While you are doing this do not communicate with your dog and look straight ahead while keeping a calm face (somehow you have to develop the knack of doing this, while keeping one eye on the dog). The idea is your dog should take his cues from you. If you are not concerned he needs to learn to trust your judgement.

If he appears genuinely startled by something I think its okay to do a brisk, "nothing to worry about walk on".

I think a lot of terriers, males in particular, go through a phase like this. Also they are led so much by hormones at this age, all strutty, "look at me" or "what are you looking at" behaviour. Mine used to do what I called yob shouting. It wasn't so much aggressive barking as teenage yelling "oi who are you?" You just have to brazen it out, stay clam and let him know that you make the decisions not him, best done really by ignoring what he's doing-or appearing to.

I assume that your dog is reasonably well trained on lead and will walk with you rather than ahead, and that you don't have him on an extension lead?

You also say he is bright and a quick learner. Well like most bright youngsters, he probably thinks he knows best and you just have to persuade him otherwise. You know he's not dog aggressive because he will play, once he's sniffed others out. But do be careful with other boys. If he's a bright, clever clogs, he might try to impose himself on the wrong man.