Looking for some comforting words!

[Lana R]

I have a doodle puppy who is a dream! My retired parents decided to get a doodle puppy at the same time (Tracer, 6 months old now), who is not as 'easy' as mine. We live extremely close, so our pups are best friends. Tracer is turning out to be WAY bigger than my parents expected. He is already at about 55 lbs which is his sire's adult weight, so this makes him hard to handle in regards to his 'issues.' Tracer is the biggest love bug in the world, and we absolutely adore him....BUT....my parents' neighbor HATES him....and I hold no ill will towards her, because Tracer is a BARKER. We have our behavioralist come over (3 times now), and also completed her puppy class, where Tracer completed the STAR Puppy test. He is incredibly intelligent. Here is the rub- Tracer has a fear mechanism (so named by the behavioralist), where some dogs may cower and run away, Tracer goes off the deep end and barks like mad, and if on a leash, he lunges. He has shown absolutely zero aggression, but to an outsider I'm sure this 55 lb dog (puppy) could appear terrifying! Our behavioralist said that you have to turn these situations into positive experiences, so my dad is to walk him, and treat him every time he is about to start barking/lunging. It has helped some, but it seems that he has regressed some now, and is not finding the high value treats (chicken, cheese) interesting enough to take his attention away from the evil bikes, walkers, or cars that he sees drive past the fenced in backyard. My parents are extremely committed to helping Tracer (only wish I could train my puppy, work all day, and still have time for him!), but have already spent countless dollars on this behavioralist and his training (we start another class in January). Does anyone have a dog with similar reactions, were you able to overcome this? We absolutely HATE the idea of bark collars, but the neighbor is calling the police about the barking the next time it happens (I should mention he never barks longer than 5 minutes straight and my parents immediately go and try to distract him once he's started) ... any experiences with one? Any training tips other than what we've been working on? Thank you for your time'

[Judith and Addie]

Your behaviorist probably mentioned some terms, like leash fear reactivity, or fear reactive? Look up the CARE protocol (http://careforreactivedogs.com/); I believe that is the training technique to which she is referring. Also, I have had  quite a bit of help, which helped with success, from two web-based groups on Facebook: Reactive Dogs (closed group) and Fearful Dogs. You can find detailed help on how to go about the desensitizing and counter-conditioning. It is not as simple as throwing treats. You need to determine distance to keep below threshold, for example.

My Addie has always been a bit fearful; very much aware of what is in the environment and reactive to changes (like the wire reindeer with lights on my neighbor's lawn added a day ago!) Then, she was terrorized by a group of about 5 dogs when she entered a dog park when she was 11 months. They were not attacking but pawing her, barking, nipping and otherwise trying to get her to play and she was on her back yelping like mad until I could extricate her. Two years later, I still cross the street to put some distance between her and an unknown dog approaching. However, using ds/cc she can now play at the dog park, walk the neighborhood, go to classes with other unknown dogs, and she is intermediate level in Agility.

Also, a bark collar is a negative reinforcement tool which is especially bad for fear reactive dogs. Using it may create more problems than you really want to deal with. The idea is to train for the behavior you want, not train out the unwanted behavior. Negative reinforcement suppressed a behavior; it does not correct it.Tracer may find a new way to show that he is afraid, maybe even by biting.

Your parents sound like great people to be dedicated to Tracer. It can take a while, but they should be able to help Tracer overcome his fear. Best of luck to them and to Tracer. It can be frustrating because it is not a quick fix.

BTW, to ease their minds about the neighbor calling the police, perhaps they should check out the nuisance laws in the area. Barking for no more than 5 minutes at a time does not seem to me to warrant a call to the police.

[Lana R]

Thank you! I will look into the resources you gave! And yes- we don't like or want to try the bark collar just very worried about retaliation (we have reason to believe she may have used a radar gun to shoot at him at one point) from the neighbor. The bark collar absolute would not be treating his underlying issue but could indeed push him to other behaviors so this is our lowest, lowest possibility. Tracer and my doodle go to dog parks all the time and he loves other dogs, playing with them. It seems to be bikes, walkers, cars from distances.

[Anita Lee]

So Tracer is 6 months old.. when did this behavior start?

If he is alone in the backyard, this is not a good idea. Have you tried keeping him in the house instead of in the backyard? This will give him some distance from the stimuli triggering the behavior.

Has he been socialized with other dogs? If you're able to, take him to an enclosed dog park close to traffic where he can see the cars/bikes go by but will have other dogs as a distraction and will be less prone to reactive behaviors. As much as arrange situations where the stimuli are present but he is not prone to barking.

And lastly, most behavioral problems can be alleviated with lots and lots of exercise.

[Lana R]

No- he will not be in the yard alone, my dad will be out there working when he is out. And yes- very well socialized. We go to dog parks all the time- he loves, loves, loves other dogs and meeting people. It is just things at a distance like cars, walkers and or cars that he sees. He has been in my backyard that has a privacy fence, heard a dog bark and then 'gone off' though, so it's not 100% visual. It probably started 2 months ago...we don't know of any specific event that occurred. yhanks for your reply- we are going to have to find the sweet spot between the stimuli and freak out.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

"Socialization" for dogs has a different meaning than it does for humans; it means getting a dog comfortable with all aspects of human society, and that includes cars, bikes, walkers, trash cans, sirens, all of the sights and sounds that make up the society in which they live. 

I adopted my labradoodle when he was 14 months old, and he was fine with people of all ages as well as other dogs and cats, but he was still quite undersocialized in general, because he was afraid of just about everything else outside of our home. Garbage trucks, skateboards, somebody's garage door going up or down, a bird flying out of a bush, a statue on someone's lawn, you name it, he was terrified. Our trainer (true "behaviorists" have post-DVM degrees) gave us the assignment to go out to a different public place at least 3x per week, so that he could get used to all of these things. We visited stores that allowed dogs, automotive repair shops, farmer's markets, even the police department. We walked through unfamiliar neighborhoods, we walked past school yards at recess time, you get the idea. It helped a lot. 

[Bonnie and Kona]

The barking is something I can relate to. When we moved 3 years ago, we suddenly had windows the dogs could see out to the front yard and street. Our 3 year old (at the time) doodle decided it was imperative for him to bark his head off at anything going down the street (including nothing discernible to the human eye). It took me quite a while to figure out something that would help. I would give him the "quiet" command. If he stopped barking he would be praised exuberantly. If he didn't stop, I put on a slip lead (like you get at the vet). I would put the leash on, bring him to where I was, make him sit and stay. Every. Single. Time. Consistency is key. It got to the point that if he barked he would come running to me and sit. Then, we reached a point that if he barked twice, I just put the leash on him. We now call that leash "The Silencer". Hahaha. I hope you find a method to help your dog learn not to bark. 

The leash idea came from BJ's discussions on tethering a dog to you. There are many ways this method is helpful while training. 

[Lana R]

The tethering is a really interesting idea. I will definitely look into it!! Thank you for your positive words!

[Bonnie and Kona]

You should be able to search for it in this group. I'm pretty sure this is where we discussed it even though it was a few years ago. 

[Bonnie and Kona]

Here is a good one:

http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/trainingmindsets/forum/topics/umb...

[Joani, Skadi & Elli]

I love my bark collar for Skadi.  Elli hardly barks and responds to my commands for quiet.  I worked and worked and worked with Skadi...and it didn't work for us...so, the bark collar.  I love it.  The intensity only rises if the barking continues.  I have not had any issues with her wearing it when she is in my fenced backyard.

[Lana R]

Thank you for sharing!!!

[Cynthia Shoe]

A few thoughts - as we have a barker and one of our neighbors called animal control (but we still have no clue who)

• I wrote a letter to all our neighbors, with my cell and my husband's cell - explaining that we wanted to hear from them if Lambeau was disturbing them. We also let them know that he was never let outside without someone home and would always address his barking immediately. We asked people to please reach out with any concerns. None of our neighbors fessed up to calling, but everyone seems much nicer now that we have opened the communication line. Do you know why the neighbor is upset? Perhaps the neighbor has a shift schedule and sleeps during the day?
• Look up the laws - from what I found out, we could only get a ticket if the barking was consistent (I believe it was over 10-20 min) and the police would need to verify on a few occasions. If you are calming Tracer down in a few minutes, that is not enough time for the police to get there and verify.
• We also have quiet hours that are 10pm-7am - so we take Lambeau out on a leash if it is before or after those times. He doesn't bark when we are with him.
• Teach the quiet command
• Teach a strong recall we took a 6 week rocket recall class
• We had a trainer tell us to get high value treats and show them to Lambeau before he goes outside and then to practice his recall with it. We started with letting him get a few feet away and calling him back, to further and further away, always giving him the goods when he came. Now we show him the treat and send him out for a quiet potty. If there is a good treat, we get much better recall when we call him if he barks. If there is not a treat, it is harder to get him to come.