Lunging and barking

Does anyone know how to stop my boy from lunging and barking at other dogs?? He doesn't do it all the time, but he did it today in the vets and he literally wouldn't stop barking! If he's in the street and the dogs on the other side of the road he tends to stare a bit but he responds well to correction there but if he locks onto them first or he's facing them he'll generally start barking, and once he's barking he won't stop! It's so embarrassing as it makes him look so aggressive when he's actually dog friendly! It obviously puts a lot of people off letting their dogs play so he's missing out!

Any help would be fantastic!

Have you noticed any changes from when he's on lead or off lead? :)If it's only when he's on lead, he's may just be completely over excited and doesn't know how else to express this excitement. Usually, this behaviour calms down with age, but it's usually a faster process if you add in some training, such as 'sit-stay'.

Is there anything Charlie finds more interesting than other dogs? Toys and treats, for instance? :)If there is, you could try bringing this with you on walks to distract him. When he starts to lunge and bark, you can bring the object out and try to get his attention with it. As soon as he turns his attention to the object, you can give loads of praise and let him have the object/reward. This works best if he only ever sees this particular object on walks, so it's more of a novelty.

He's never been off lead with other dogs, he's only been on long lines or off lead in the house which we've just let the other dogs walk into the house since he's fine with that so I can't really compare to much!

As to treating him, he will take a treat stop barking for a few seconds but he continues to bark pretty much straight after! He doesn't care about any objects out on walks though unless it's just one on one play with me and him with no distractions! We do sit and stay but again, he will just sit and bark like in the vets! I'm sure it's built it energy and excitement I just don't know how to reduce it! I will continue with what you've said about treating and distracting though, thank you for the help

Chance has always been a dog that has lunged, barked and done back flips at the sight of a dog. Nothing to him is more exciting then another dog, no treats toys or anything.

What you need to think about (and sorry if you already know this) is your dogs threshold distance, by that i mean how close can you get with your dog on lead to another dog before he shows any sign of reacting. This can literally mean another dog is a spec in the distance and any closer they react, and with that you work on teaching them to 'leave' the other dog whilst reducing the distance.

What i do with Chance is IF i spot the dog before him i relax the lead and do not look in the direction of said dog, but give him a strong leave command and a 'this way chance' (if we are walking obviously) and praise him, if he lunges or barks a little tug on the lead and say the same.

I can now get him in a sit stay and let him watch a dog walk past, relatively close and most times he does as he's told, and this was done working on his threshold distance, again with a leave it command, praise and reducing distance.

HTH

Yeah, Ella's advice is good. If you manage to get his attention before he notices the other dog, it's often easier to keep the attention on you, rather than trying to interrupt him once he's already going crazy.

A lot of dogs do grow out of it as they mature, usually anywhere from eighteen months to three years. Some don't though and, as Ella said, it can be managed.

Wow I've actually never though of that Ella! Thank you for the help he is normally pretty good at listening to corrections but like Chance, nothing is more exciting to Charlie than a dog! Does he react to dogs the same way when he's on a long line like does he still bark and stuff?? I'll definitely put that into practice tomorrow though, thank you and well done Chance!

Good luck!

CodlingKid wrote:Wow I've actually never though of that Ella! Thank you for the help :Dhe is normally pretty good at listening to corrections but like Chance, nothing is more exciting to Charlie than a dog! Does he react to dogs the same way when he's on a long line like does he still bark and stuff?? I'll definitely put that into practice tomorrow though, thank you and well done Chance!

yes he does act the same on a long lead if i don't get his attention first, but off lead (which is a very very rare occasion) he is brilliant meeting and seeing dogs and has no reaction at all.

good advice and some I must take up , Tommy was a little shitebag tonight at handling with 2 Blue males , one a 3 year old and 1 an 8 month old pup , neither did anything to set him off he just decided he was the boss , but forgets it all for a treat and doesn't lose attention . Already decided this evening if he has a dislike to a dog in the show ring then the treat will come out as far rather him lose to a judge on movement than to show him up for lunging

tut tut tomminator!

Dave wrote:good advice and some I must take up , Tommy was a little shitebag tonight at handling with 2 Blue males , one a 3 year old and 1 an 8 month old pup , neither did anything to set him off he just decided he was the boss , but forgets it all for a treat and doesn't lose attention . Already decided this evening if he has a dislike to a dog in the show ring then the treat will come out as far rather him lose to a judge on movement than to show him up for lunging

It's a problem with some staffords, Dave. They just don't like other dogs and especially other staffords. There doesn't need to be a 'trigger' as such, just a sudden dislike.

Maybe you could attach the treat to a fishing rod & dangle it in front of him on the move - he might move better that way!  

To be honest, I'd rather have a dog aggressive dog than a human aggressive dog - dog on dog aggression is far easier to control & contain.