Barking when meeting a new dog

[Steph&Khan]

Hey...I just wondered if anyone had any advice for me, me and Khan are having a little problem...

He's not been the most confident of dogs around other dogs but when he is off lead, he will just walk straight past anotherdog without looking at it. If a dog calmly approaches him, he's fine, has a sniff and a tail wag and thats it. If a dog runs over to him and seems boisterous, he normally barks at it and chases it away, if it barks back, Khan backs down and thats normally the end of it.

Last night, we met a 15 week old weimerarner pup (absolutely gorgeous ). At first they were sniffing each others noses, Khan's tail was gently wagging, then the pup jumped up on him and he cowered behind me. Once the weimerarner backed away, he was barking at it. He was wagging his tail slowly while he was barking (I know that sometimes very fast tail wagging can mean they are about to attack) and luckily the other owner understood when I said he is not being aggressive, but I just wondered if there is anything we can do as this is not the first time it has happened. If the pup would have barked back, Khan would have backed away, but I didnt expect a 15 week old pup to stand up to a dog of his size.

He is brilliant if we walk past dogs that bark at him, I either tell him to leave, or we sit and wait until the other dog has passed. A bloke once said to me he hasn't been very well socialised, but he couldn't be further from the truth. Socialisation lasts for the dogs whole life and ever since he was a pup he's been walked with other dogs and taken to the beach or park at least once a week. I'm not sure if he just needs a confidence boost but I do things with him such as sit on the front garden and watch people and dogs walkby and there isn't a peep out of him. Advice would be much appreciated

[pridhams]

Steph - Khan sounds like he's doing really well. It was really good of him to tolerate the Weimer puppy, it sounds like you're doing fine socialising him with other dogs. It will take a while for Khan to learn good manners, especially if he's having to take his 'cue' from some other people's dogs who aren't as relaxed as you'd like, because dogs do react to each other's behaviours.

The barking isn't necessarily an issue, it's probably just exitement/arousal on his part, and you can teach Khan how to 'speak' and 'shush' on cue. It's not difficult to teach, but like everything else, it takes a little time to learn.

Don't get tense yourself if Khan barks, but do keep his leash loose, and relaxed. If you try to haul him back, or keep the leash tight, that might be translated by Khan as an instruction to go forward or start barking.

I forget if you said you walk him in a headcollar, harness or just a flat collar, but a harness or a headcollar would help give you confidence and control if you feel he might be inclined to lunge, and that in itself will help you to relax more.

His confidence will come with time, but he needs you to be confident and relaxed too, otherwise it'll worry him if he feels that you're tense. He sounds like a great boy, so don't worry too much.

[Steph&Khan]

Thank you for the reassurance I'll remember to keep his lead loose and maybe he will relax quickly.

On normal walks he just uses a regular leather collar but if we are going somewhere in the car, he walks on a harness because it's part of his seatbelt. He drags me all over on a harness...its just a normal one and its a mixture of knowing he's at the beach and knowing he's now stronger than me

I'm going to look into head collars I think, it will be easier for me to divert his attention and hopefully calm him down quicker.

I think you're the agony aunt of the group haha thank you

[Mishady]

I have the same problem with my 15 week old puppy bitch. She's barking at everything. At first it's an anxious bark but as the other dog runs away it becomes a deep bark and she chases them. It feels embarrassing when people don't distinguish between the two and think she's agressive. As if I'd be walking an agressive dog with two children under the age of 6 ? She's been socialising since we got her at 8 weeks with my parents and brothers dogs, so I don't understand why she does it. Puppy classes me thinks?

[Steph&Khan]

Puppy classes will help, they will help build your pups confidence as well as help with socialisation. Keep doing what your doing with yours, they do seem to have bad days and good days. It probably isn't as bad as you think, she will still have her baby bark aswell so most people will probably be able to tell she isn't being aggressive. Even now, Khan's nearly 2, we have barks at unusual things, like today he barked at a wheelie bin with stickers on it . All your hard work will pay off in the end. Socialisation lasts a lifetime, even now i've had to start going out of my way to meet more dogs, and had to go back to treats as a distraction. Some pups are just very confident and others you have to bring out the confidence in them. I wouldn't worry about it too much. She will learn alot of things from other dogs too.

[Mishady]

Thanks Steph & Khan! She was alot better today. I let her off her lead and she ignored most people, which she normally barks at. She did play bark at a poddle that chased her. All in good fun though. I start puppy classes next Monday. Hope Khan's getting on OK.

[rizia999]

When Shiloh was acting up(an age thing) I found that putting him in a headcollar did wonders for my self confidence. I knew he couldnt pull me so I relaxed and when another dog came in to view, i could let his lead go loose and we could approach the other dog because I knew I could control him.
It worked because now as he comes up to 2 yrs old, we dont need it anymore but I got him a mekuti harness and he is walking beautiful now and not even a squirrel can tempt him away when he is with one of us.
You will get there. Oh and keep socialising him. I was told that a dog can become de-socialised very quickly if they stop meeting other dogs so there is a lot to remember but you can do it girl!!

[Steph&Khan]

I honestly do believe they can become de-socialised very quickly. Every day we normally go to the same field with my friend and her jack russell. The jack russell was becoming aggressive towards Khan so we stopped going out together. Now we are going to new places and instead of avoiding other dogs, he is starting to want to play. He doesn't run after other dogs but if dogs approach him he's not so defensive anymore. We are just gonna go to more doggy places more often. We have always gone somewhere special on a sunday and he still does ignore other dogs there but at least he isn't so scared now. The only thing we have to do now is learning how to ignore dogs we walk past on the lead. I think Khan normally thinks "If i bark, you won't hurt me". The headcollar will work a treat i think. Thanks for all the advice...I will keep you all updated .

[andrewdaniel]

Hey...I just wondered if anyone had any advice for me, me and Khan are having a little problem...

He's not been the most confident of dogs around other dogs but when he is off lead, he will just walk straight past anotherdog without looking at it. If a dog calmly approaches him, he's fine, has a sniff and a tail wag and thats it. If a dog runs over to him and seems boisterous, he normally barks at it and chases it away, if it barks back, Khan backs down and thats normally the end of it.

Last night, we met a 15 week old weimerarner pup (absolutely gorgeous ). At first they were sniffing each others noses, Khan's tail was gently wagging, then the pup jumped up on him and he cowered behind me. Once the weimerarner backed away, he was barking at it. He was wagging his tail slowly while he was barking (I know that sometimes very fast tail wagging can mean they are about to attack) and luckily the other owner understood when I said he is not being aggressive, but I just wondered if there is anything we can do as this is not the first time it has happened. If the pup would have barked back, Khan would have backed away, but I didnt expect a 15 week old pup to stand up to a dog of his size.

He is brilliant if we walk past dogs that bark at him, I either tell him to leave, or we sit and wait until the other dog has passed. A bloke once said to me he hasn't been very well socialised, but he couldn't be further from the truth. Socialisation lasts for the dogs whole life and ever since he was a pup he's been walked with other dogs and taken to the beach or park at least once a week. I'm not sure if he just needs a confidence boost but I do things with him such as sit on the front garden and watch people and dogs walkby and there isn't a peep out of him. Advice would be much appreciated

khumo is 1year old and still doing it! he's settling down now, hes been going to agility/obedience for a months now and isnt anywhere near as bad as he was. just gives a few big barks and settles. still doesnt like strange dogs running at him which to be fair, a wouldnt either heh

[Steph&Khan]

settles. still doesnt like strange dogs running at him which to be fair, a wouldnt either heh

My god I actually thought I was the only one with this problem haha..what does he do when strange dogs run at him? Khan grumbles at them and chases them away. He never gets teeth out or goes to bite but the horror on the other owners face makes me feel awful. I am gonna start carrying an air horn with me I think, because if I shout, the other owners might start thinking Khan is gonna attack their dogs, but he's the softest dog ever.

[andrewdaniel]

settles. still doesnt like strange dogs running at him which to be fair, a wouldnt either heh

My god I actually thought I was the only one with this problem haha..what does he do when strange dogs run at him? Khan grumbles at them and chases them away. He never gets teeth out or goes to bite but the horror on the other owners face makes me feel awful. I am gonna start carrying an air horn with me I think, because if I shout, the other owners might start thinking Khan is gonna attack their dogs, but he's the softest dog ever.

nah not at all, ma wee staffie X runs up to go play with them but its dog dependant. most dogs hel run over towards them to stop them running at me i guess. doenst bare teeth just lets out a few really loud barks and will either sniff at them or come back to me, no dog has barked back at him yet so duno if he'd run away or not. he'l try and play sometimes but just depends on other dog.

think he is now a lil unsure of other dogs as when he was a pup, my mate also has a GSD a week older than mine who is very very boisterous and used to pick on him a lot and think it has maybe had a lil knock-on effect. other than that he seems fine. wouldnt worry about it unless he starts getting aggressive. dont think khumo has it in him, hed lick anyone or any dog to death before he tried to rip there throat out!

well, only one instance but thats when a wein thingy (same as the pup your on about) went for ma staffie and he went for it :)