Problems when out walking

[TheCaptain]

My male schnauzer is 18 months old. I have a problem when we are out walking in that Oakley, when he sees other dogs begins yapping loudly and starts pulling towards them. It is getting rather embarrassing!

[hart]

Thats not a problem thats schnauzer behaviour LOL, LOTS OF US have the same "problem" don't worry about it. Just try to distract him with food before the barking gets too much. My Shadow has a complete melt down and barks for eternity even when the other dog has long gone.

[Wookie Woo]

Wookie does that sometimes, it's like she has to get to another dog & say hello or makes such silly noises, but doesn't do it every time she see's a dog.
She is fine with every dog no matter how big or small.

[MieleMoo]

Miele does that as well but only when she is on the lead, then when the other dog takes an interest she hides behind me. I'm not worried becasue her tail is wagging so I know it's just a friendly "hello". Distraction with treats or a toy usually works.

[hula-hoop]

Oakley sounds just like Stanley....wish i knew the answer!

[Dee sharp]

When walking Chloe, I dread meeting up with any greyhounds, as she absolutely hates them, pulling on her lead and barking her head off. On the other hand, she loves golden labs or retrievers and has a special, high pitched squeal which she reserves for them

I also find that she tries to dominate any dogs which are walked off lead, but she'll ignore the same dog if it's on a lead??

What's that all about

[Mike Jackson]

Bobbie starts screaming at the top of her voice if she sees another dog when she's on the lead. You'd think someone was torturing her the noise she makes. I used to try and stop it but it wouldn't work so now I just pretend it's not happening.

[hart]

LOL see i told you it's a common behaviour. just part of schnauzer "make up" it appears

[Wolfmother]

Its part of life for us too! Fortunately I was prepared as I had done lots of research and was aware they are a vocal breed It only bothers me when you get the occasional negative comment which is understandable but sometimes the comments are "look out for the aggressive dog" he's not aggressive, he doesn't even look aggressive when he is doing it, he just has a big gob!!

[clm]

Hi,

Our 18-week old male mini Schnauzer - Basil - sounds just like Oakley! Virtually anything that moves gets the yapping/straining at the lead treatment (we've got him a flexi-lead so that he can explore whilst still under control). Because we live in a built-up area we're really concerned to at least minimise if not eliminate the barking. The big problem is that advice seems to be very contradictory - distract with treats, a firm "no", lots of off-lead opportunities with other dogs - you name it, we've heard it! So what do you think you SHOULD you be doing to address this in a puppy? Any advice gratefully received,

Clare

[Little Bear]

Oh this sounds oh so familiar! LOL

The trick here, as I've learned the hard and expensive way is to understand why they bark. It could be excitement 'Oh boy oh boy, there's a DOG mamma, can I play?' or it could be fear 'Oh no, a DOG! Better bark like a big boy and scare him away quick'

With the latter, the technique normally works for them - they bark and the dog goes away. Result! The fact that the dog was going the other way anyway is irrelevant to them, as far as they're concerned they made it happen and now that it's worked once, they'll try it again. The removal of the thing that worried them is what they call a functional reward - so it's the same relief we get when we see the spider like a dinner plate run out the back door.

Using food and/or toys the dog finds rewarding if they're fearful can do more harm than good. I was told to do this but actually, what I thought was distraction 'Hey LB, stop barking and have some chicken instead' was actually just rewarding his reaction and reinforcing his fearful state of mind 'Yes I know that Yorkshire Terrier looked menacing, here have some chicken for barking so hard.'

So, million dollar question is how do you tell the difference between excitement and fear?

It's hard! Dogs who are fearful will often, but not always bark while going backwards or angling their body back, even if their feet stay still. They might also freeze on sight of the other dog; LB freezes and whines and now, thanks to loads of training, will look at me with a 'What now?' kind of expression instead of launching into a bark-a-thon. Other signs of stress include lip licking (hard to see under Schnauzer beards admittedly) and tellingly, a shake once the 'danger' has gone. It's well worth watching some You Tube videos to get the idea of what to look for.

With young dogs it's more likely to be excitement and a desire to play and meet other dogs, but wanted to flag this to hopefully cover off all of the bases just in case. As I said, I got it wrong and it's taking a heck of a lot of time, patience and investment in fixing an established problem.

Making sure that they get enough dog on dog social time is really important too as if they know lots of dogs and know they'll get to play with them every day, they're a little less desperate to meet every new dog they clap eyes on.

Hope this is of some help

[summer46]

Zeke can bark like a maniac and at everything he has his hi pitched squeal when he is excited and a deeper bark for warning things off. Summer was the same up until she hit 2 then she seemed to take things more in her stride and tends to only bark when she wants to warn people off.

[clm]

Thanks for such a helpful response Little Bear - you've given us loads to think about! Have also enjoyed reading a couple of your recent blogs too Clare

[Little Bear]

Thanks for such a helpful response Little Bear - you've given us loads to think about! Have also enjoyed reading a couple of your recent blogs too Clare

Thanks for such a helpful response Little Bear - you've given us loads to think about! Have also enjoyed reading a couple of your recent blogs too Clare

Thanks Clare! And thanks for reading the blog

If you want to chat more do PM me, I'm no expert but always happy to talk dog!

[blackgiant]

Can I make a point to Clare (clm) that flexi-leads can be very dangerous both to dogs and humans if not very carefully used.

It would be better to get a long training lead and do lots of recall work - the sooner you get your puppy off-lead the better and at 18 weeks he should be fully off-lead in a safe place every day if possible.

Work done now will pay off massively in the future as having good recall enables your dog to explore and learn so much for himself, very soon he will have lots of confidence and then recall training will be harder.

I agree with the post from Little Bear.

Although I'm not a fan of Jan Fennell Dog Listener one of her techniques has proved very useful - it's called a Calm Freeze.
It's like a time-out which can be used when you're outside but it takes time to teach.
Just Google Calm Freeze and you'll get instructions on how it works.
I've found it can be a help to calm down a dog when they get excited and the shriek-barking can border on hysterical so it's good to have calming techniques to use.