Socialisation / Barking

[Louise]

OK, I know socialising is very important – the girl who ran the puppy classes we attended couldn’t stress that enough both before and during our time there. My boy was about 17/18 weeks before we got him into a class (we didn’t get him until 13 weeks, then his shots), it took him a few weeks but eventually he came out from under the chair and joined in the fun – running off lead with the other pups during play-time.

However he’s somewhat of a barker. Mainly at other dogs. That alone makes it hard to socialise him – because time and time again people hear the bark, see the breed and off they go in the other direction. I tell them he’s fine and that he just wants to play (sometimes he’ll do the down on the front paws thing) but it doesn’t really help matters. It’s very frustrating and very hard not to pull him back when he sees other dogs (will it make him think “she’s pulling me back, I’m right to bark”???).

I don’t know what to do – and I want to walk him and for both of us to enjoy it – as it stands it isn’t working out that way and I’m starting to stick to places where there are few dogs. I don’t believe he’s an aggressive dog… I’ve certainly never witnessed it and he’s OK with people incl. kids.

What can I do?!!!

[Jon]

Jackson can be exactly the same.

Practise the recall loads and loads, I've also taken to walking him with my friend's Lab who by nature is relaxed and friendly to all and that helps him. He rarely barks when he's with her and follows her lead.

I've been street walking him in the evenings too, we go through a busy high street, past a railway station with loads of commuters (they usually flee... ) and back up the hill... I make him concentrate on his heel work and his look at me command. It's kinda working...

He's off for a week at the dog behaviorist friend when I go skiing... I've told him and his missus that I'm expecting miracles... hahaha

[LOVEGSD]

Do you know of any socialised dogs you can walk him with? What about arranging meet ups with the other pups in his class?

I would try to re-direct his focus when he starts barking, you need to be more fun than the other dog...hard but achievable! So that way if you can see someone is not comfy with him meeting your dog then you can recall him back to you and engage him in playtime with you.

Some older dogs aren't fans of puppies so it might not be that they see the breed and panic.

Start to teach him the watch command and the quiet command.

[Mark D]

I do feel for you as Indi was a real barker for some time and to a certain extent still is.
The watch me command is one you should try as i used to do this with Indi using baked liver and it works well.
I have recently been doing a focus on me routine making her go down then sit and repeat and reward.
This is the human version of get down and give me 10!
What this does in an older one is distract her so that she focuses just on you.
Good luck just keep going

[sami]

I never managed to stop Sami barking at other dogs but it obviously wasnt threatening as all the dogs ran straight up to her!!

With Leo I made him sit, if he sat like a good boy he could watch them go by and even say hello if they wanted. This worked quite quickly for Leo.