Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 7:06 am Post subject: Frightened of people barking at everyone please help
Hi all - I need some help please
First I will explain the situation in which Rubys behaviour started in case it helps anyone shed any light
We went away to Wales on Monday myself, my OH, Ruby, Crissi and OH and Kyra both camping and had pitches together in the corner of the site. All was normal on Monday evening and Tuesday morning we went off to the beach and all was again perfectly normal in Rubys beahviour - later that day the campsite gardener came over to us as we were sitting around outside the tents 'how old is the pup' al the usual questions - he was a very friendly chap if a bit forward. Ruby went to him but was a bit wary at first (she has done this before usually with middle aged balding men and he was of that type) the man then tried to speak to her he told us he has knowledge of labs and has taken them to crufts etc etc etc so was just ignoring her hesitation he was trying to make friends (although as I said he was a bit more forward than usual people we meet) Ruby then backed off totally and did this
+ Ears back and down
+ Tail under and curled under her body
+ Barking constantly not growling at all bit persoistant and quite high
She carried on the man didnt back off and I just ignored her (she has never done this before so thought she would stop) my husband was holding her and he walked off with her she walked away still barking at him.
After this episode she barked at EVERYONE SHE SAW same pitch and tone as she had at this man - the next morning I took her to the main walkway outside the shop where is was busy and sat on a bench we chatted (Ruby and I hehe ) and I fed her LOADS of treat 'good girling' her all the way and she was fine didnt bark at anyone. We stayed there for about 10 minutes adn then came back. She wasa lot better after that but still intermittantly barked. When she barked we were telling her no etc Which I know wasnt right but I was conscious of the fact that we were on a campsite and you cant have a dogs barking at anyone in sight so I think i may have taught her that barking = attention
We went to the beach again that day and she didnt bark at anyone and on the way home we stopped at services and she didnt bark.
Anyway (and congrats for getting this far if you are still with me) my questions are - what do I do now?
+ we dont walk in busy places usually should i change and purposely seek out people to de-sensitise her or just carry on?
+ What do I do if she barks at people again? Ignore? Walk in the opposite direction? Reprimand her? HELP!!!!!
Ruby is 10 months old and I am very aware that she is in a fear stage therfore I know the way I deal with it now can/will affect the rest of her life so I really want to nip this in the bud.
I SO look forward to your responses - i want my friendly pup back its horrible watching her distressed.
Oh dear Vicky This sounds like Doobs in the making, and because we didn't have him when he started displaying this behaviour, it was already installed in him when we adopted him. I hope someone can help coz its taking me months and months to get him to a reasonable level of behaviour, and when he does have these moments I know what to do. With Doobs he HATES eye contact. The more he barks, the more people stare at him - which is natural as people want to see what he will do next! I always tell people to not look at him and just look at me. I say a sharp No! to Doobs, the lead goes slack and we ignore him. He shuts up then after a minute.
Hopefully Di or John can help, as if this isn't nipped n the bud now....well Jules can back me up on this one how horrible it is to own a Lab who doesn't automatically want to be everyones best friend
I am sure it will be fine Vicky, you spotted it early and you will be able to help her through this!
Just a quicky as I'm off to work!
What about teaching Ruby a different behaviour that she can't do when she's screaming like a banshee?!!
Can she do "watch me" (where you get the dog to focus on you and nothing else.) You can teach this by holding a treat up to you face (teasing her with it to get her fixed on it) and then once she makes eye contact say "watch me" and reward. I then build this up so that I get 2 seconds eye contact, then 5 etc etc. Then start putting small distraction in (ie tapping a cup with a spoon) whilst still asking her to "watch me". Then once she gets good at it, start doing it anywhere and everywhere.
I'm thinking that if Ruby is watching you, she can't be looking at anyone else. Also it gives her an appropriate rewarding behaviour that may see her through her 'silly girlie phase'!!!
Another good one to teach is 'touch' where you get her to touch your left hand with her nose o command. You can then use it to guide her into a position you want her to be in (maybe slightly behind you if she's feeling stresed?)
I am the same Sonia. Charlie has usually hated being eyeballed by people he doesn't know too. Oddly enough though, some he accepts and some he does not, and it is hard to know which way it is going to go.
I must say the problem is many times worse when he is on the lead. When he is off it and able to roam a little he is much better. I think because he is more nervy on the lead that means I am too, and the lead is like a two way transmitter.
One thing I have started experimenting with is holding a little bit of dog food in my other hand and allowing him to sit and lick it if I think he is about to get awkward. It has been sort of successful.
thanks al - yes Becs she knows both of them FAB idea hehe
I am now wracking my brains and i have a very sneay suspision i may have assisted in this. As i said this man was erm pushy and I was thinking 'why do ou care about her breeding why are you so interested **** off you dog napper' BUT I cant remember if I was holding her lead at that point or whether my oh was - oh dear if I was then those vibes would have shot down that lead.
[quote="Sonia"]Hopefully Di or John can help, as if this isn't nipped n the bud now....well Jules can back me up on this one how horrible it is to own a Lab who doesn't automatically want to be everyones best friend [ /quote]
I certainly can Sonia.....
Mojo isn't as bad now as she was, but she does still take offence to some people. The instances are usually the same; the person/people haven't got a dog with them, or they stare at her, or she is in a position where she can't get away (whether that is on a lead or perhaps cornered). I have tried to get the people to stop looking at her and talk to me, so that she can see she isn't going to win the war of "if I bark you'll go away" , but it isn't always easy, as she can look quite scary. I don't avoid situations that I think will make her worse, I just try to remain calm and stay in control, using a "watch me" or a "what's this" (tennis ball) to distract her. I do purposely take her places where there were lots of people around and funnily enough she is better behaved in that sort of enviroment. Whether that is because people are busy doing their own thing, so don't look at her, I don't know .
I would love to know why she started this behaviour, as I don't think I did anything differently with her, than any other of my dogs . I'm not a nervous type person, so I don't think I've been giving off too many vibes.
I feel I have control over her 99.99% of the time , it's just that 0.01% that gives me concern. I don't think I'll ever be able to go on holiday and let someone else look after her, as I'm so tuned into this reaction, I can usually see it come and divert her attention, whereas someone else won't have a clue what to look for .
She isn't a "bad" dog, she is just fearful in certain situations and I often wonder if she is inadvertantly guarding me as well as protecting herself, which is the last thing I wanted really. I'm a big girl now and can look after myself . After all, if I had wanted a guard dog I wouldn't have bought a Lab .
I really hope someone on here can shed some light on why a few of our Labs behave like this.
I was going to make a very similar post about Alfie, he's started to bark and growl at people who are dressed in dark colours and we tried to walk past some fishermen the other day and Alfie put the brakes on and refused to walk so i had no choice but to drag him must've looked like such a bad owner another time there was 2 men cutting the hedge and again he refused to walk, they even turned their hedge cutters off but i don't think it was the noise stopping him from going past them
I have no idea what to do, i usually say A A A and do the "watch me" but he'll look at me and then continue to bark it's actually quite embarrassing because he does look like an agressive dog when he's doing it
Sorry for hi acking your thread but i'd be really interested in any help and advice too
Please let me know if you find anything that works with Ruby
Hi Vicky. I don't really have anything constructive to say as I haven't had a similar thing happen - but I know you will have masses of help and great advice and be able to deal with it before it escalates if there is a problem developing.
However, I have to say, that although I haven't had a problem like that with Dan as he is very friendly with people, there has been an odd, and I mean odd, occasion when he has acted 'strangely' to someone. This bloke that came up to Ruby got your radar going and similarly he must have done the same to Ruby. I would be very wary of strangers being that pushy. I think you always tend to know what people are genuinely interested and friendly and those that get your neck hairs up. Maybe I'm just too wary! But I do trust my instincts and I would be very inclined to trust my dogs IF it was not normal for the dog to react in that way. Think my mother must have drummed 'Don't talk to strangers' so much into me when I was little that I think its left me with a massive hangover!!
I remember my mum had Dan for us while we were away for a week last year and he was under a year old then. She rang me to say he had growled and barked and basically 'seen off' a jogger who had come up behind my mum in the woods while she was walking him. He apparently came quite close up behind her and Dan did not like it and made sure he put distance and himself between the jogger and my mum and followed him until he was sure he had gone. He has never reacted to people like this in the woods before. Why to this bloke?
Anyway, I think I have waived from your point completely, but I'm just suggesting that she just didn't like this bloke and you yourself were unsure about him as well and she just was warning him to 'back off' you all. My reaction would be good for Ruby! I do hope there isn't a problem starting but know she will be fine!
____________ Philippa and Dan
She could have wiped my feet first
It definitely sounds like she was protecting you and wary of this man.
Joey sometimes takes a dislike to someone - the other day he barked at a teenage boy holding a cricket bat at him in a threatening manner which I thought was perfectly understandable!
He also went out onto the street at my Dads house to bark at a random man. We found out later that this man had made some inappropriate comments to my 12 year old stepsister!
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You cannot download files in this forum
) and I fed her LOADS of treat 'good girling' her all the way and she was fine didnt bark at anyone. We stayed there for about 10 minutes adn then came back. She wasa lot better after that but still intermittantly barked. When she barked we were telling her no etc Which I know wasnt right but I was conscious of the fact that we were on a campsite and you cant have a dogs barking at anyone in sight so I think i may have taught her that barking = attention 
This sounds like Doobs in the making, and because we didn't have him when he started displaying this behaviour, it was already installed in him when we adopted him. I hope someone can help coz its taking me months and months to get him to a reasonable level of behaviour, and when he does have these moments I know what to do. With Doobs he HATES eye contact. The more he barks, the more people stare at him - which is natural as people want to see what he will do next! I always tell people to not look at him and just look at me. I say a sharp No! to Doobs, the lead goes slack and we ignore him. He shuts up then after a minute.
. After all, if I had wanted a guard dog I wouldn't have bought a Lab 
.
