Dog barking on walks

[BallyRoanBaubles]

My little pup is now 12 weeks old and can start going for little walks.

I have been carrying him round beforehand to get him use to the sights and sounds of the outside world, since I got him at 8 weeks old.

He loves coming to the yard with me where he is mainly off lead. He is happy to follow me around while I’m doing my jobs or play nicely with the other dogs.

I took him with me to the pub last night and he was great, no barking and happy to say hello to nice people who came over. We also went for a play on the beach beforehand with my friends two dogs and he was great, came back when called and happy to speak to other dogs if allowed.

So my issue is, when I take him for a walk on lead he barks at other people walking by. These are a range of people so I can’t pin point it to tall men or anything like that. Some have dogs some don’t.

I’m fairly sure he’s nervous about being on the floor, he never barked when I was carrying him along these same little walks. He’s going to be a big dog so I don’t want to get into the habit of picking him up to say hello to people, but do you think it would help in the short term?

I obviously want to nip this in the bud. Does anyone have any tips?

 

[Goldenstar]

At this stage I would try distraction not correction .
Is he food oriented ?

 

[BallyRoanBaubles]

At this stage I would try distraction not correction .
Is he food oriented ?

He is but I sometimes to ‘het up’ to notice, would you try distracting before I think he might bark? I’ll take my tastiest treats next time that might work better

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

When yu were carrying him, did people come up to you and make fuss of him? I wonder if he is trying to attract attention, now that people don't seem to be taking as much notice of him.

 

[BallyRoanBaubles]

When yu were carrying him, did people come up to you and make fuss of him? I wonder if he is trying to attract attention, now that people don't seem to be taking as much notice of him.

Not especially, not when we were on walks, they did if I took him into a pet shop or the like, but he doesn’t bark in these situations now either.

He was fine in the pub with people walking past and either saying hello or not.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

He is but I sometimes to ‘het up’ to notice, would you try distracting before I think he might bark? I’ll take my tastiest treats next time that might work better

You will have to be very good with your timing so that he doesn't think the food is a reward for barking. Where are you walking him, pavements, footpaths, woodland? Could you keep his attention on a toy as you walk along, so that he doesn't really notice the other people?

 

[BallyRoanBaubles]

You will have to be very good with your timing so that he doesn't think the food is a reward for barking. Where are you walking him, pavements, footpaths, woodland? Could you keep his attention on a toy as you walk along, so that he doesn't really notice the other people?

That is a very good point! I hadn’t thought of taking a toy but I’ll try that. Edited to add I’m walking him in different places, pavement, footpaths, fields etc.

 

[Goldenstar]

With distraction you focus the dog on you when you see a trigger coming it’s to teach the dog focus .
You and also use the turn and go thing that works well for some situations It’s using movement and change of direction as distraction but I find that less good when space is tight .
Of course you need to have timing .
I never use a toy I require a dog to learn about me and my control of its behaviour I find toys become about the toy not me.
Also at home I would be training a command for don’t as well as no .
I use ah ah for don’t .
I also train a hand signal for focus on me .

 

[BallyRoanBaubles]

With distraction you focus the dog on you when you see a trigger coming it’s to teach the dog focus .
You and also use the turn and go thing that works well for some situations It’s using movement and change of direction as distraction but I find that less good when space is tight .
Of course you need to have timing .
I never use a toy I require a dog to learn about me and my control of its behaviour I find toys become about the toy not me.
Also at home I would be training a command for don’t as well as no .
I use ah ah for don’t .
I also train a hand signal for focus on me .

So if I saw someone coming I would get his attention with a treat, then hopefully keep his attention until they have gone past? Ie get his attention before he’s thought about barking?

 

[Goldenstar]

Exactly , before he barks .
As he gets older he needs to develop his ability to concentrate on you in an age appropriate way
You can work on it at home.
I do sit maintain eye contact , reinforced with a hand signal then reward.
With a dog with a high drive to please you don’t need food much or for long except when the distraction is great .
My youngest is so driven I quickly learnt that offering eye contact alone is a reward .

 

[SAujla]

Depending on what you're feeding him you could use his meal allowance on a walk so his attention is going to become more on you, as long as he doesn't run much after so it shouldn't upset his stomach, so you can feed him more on the walk and not worry about overfeeding. He's probably young enough that any food will be super appealing and when he does something really good like not barking at someone then give him some luxury treats. Slowly phase them out as time goes on so he'll always be guessing when will a treat come, called the gamble effect I think

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

Squeaky toy, teach him ‘look at me’.

For mine, it was people with hats. Fun in winter!

 

[Clodagh]

Squeaky toy, teach him ‘look at me’.

For mine, it was people with hats. Fun in winter!

Ours have a deep suspicision of Hi viz!

 

[CorvusCorax]

It's likely to be genetic, with the dog wired to be alarmed by strange things/people/things 'above' it; so much so that it vocalises in order to drive the 'threat' away, and agree would be doing all my feeding by hand and a lot of engagement work at all times to get the dog focussed on you *everywhere*.
If the dog is already thinking about barking, and it will tell you with ears, eyes, tail etc, it's too late.
The pup likely felt more confident when elevated, as many of them do.
The dog needs to learn that all good things come from you and there's no point in barking as you're the one who controls social interactions.
Start in the home and then take it outside.
I would also enlist volunteers to hang around while you do this..at the moment it's likely that because of people normally walking past/by you, that the behaviour will be reinforced because the dog will believe it is driving the threat away.
I had a 5mo in last week who barked and hackled up at the A-frame on the field...the owner and I went over, touched it, showed the dog is was not a threat, fed the dog. Demonstrating it was no danger and making a positive association.
Does the dog have any verbal or physical signifier of 'this is not the behaviour I want/this is not acceptable' and does the dog understand it? For instance the word No, Ah-Ah, etc?
As the dog gets older and bigger, that is probably going to be an important thing to instill.

 

[BallyRoanBaubles]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions I’ll try them out, he understands no and good most of the time

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Ours have a deep suspicision of Hi viz!

The Rottweiler hates hoodies, the Labs don't care! They just look at her mystified

 

[[139672]]

As others have said you need to break the habit. If you have someone who could help and he barks at you could get them to walk past a few times which may help? When you take him out, Before he has a chance to even think of barking distract with a toy, squeaky toy, squeaky tennis balls are good, and/or really high value and tasty treats. ‘Watch me’ is also a really good and useful thing to teach ?. Actually I should try teaching my husband that one ?