Experts Weigh-In: A Barking (Lunging) Dog and Walks

We’re continuing on with our local experts’ weigh-in series. Top professionals, all from the San Francisco Bay Area, help you with your questions. Today we have the following question:

Q: How can I get my dog to stop barking uncontrollably while we are out on walks and he sees another dog across the street? People get really startled by my dog and we have a new baby so this is beginning to become a problem. -Kevin M. San Francisco, CA

Professionals' background and advice (listed in alphabetic order). Have a question? Send us an email.  Thanks to all who participated for your valuable advice!

Almudena Ortiz Cue M.A. CTC, CPDT-KA, TTouch PiT is the owner of CHACO Dog Training and Behavior Consulting. She is also a graduate of the San Francisco Academy for Dog Trainers, a national certified pet dog trainer (CPDT) by the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and a Tellington TTouch PiT Practitioner for Companion Animals. You can reach her at info@chacodogtraining.com.

Daphne Robert-Hamilton , CPDT-KA, CAP2 is the owner of K-9 Partnership . She specializes in dog aggression and obtained her training and counseling certificate from SF/SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers along with honors in their dog aggression internship. She's been a Certified Professional Dog Trainer since 2004 and a member of various humane animal behavior, training and enrichment organizations. She volunteers for Guardian Angels for Soldiers Pets and is the vice-chair of the Morgan Hill Dogs Owners Group. You can reach her at k9partnership@yahoo.com.

Kelly Gorman Dunbar of Sirius Dog Training is a cofounder and the executive editor of the dogstardaily.com, contributing editor at dogtime.com and President of Open Paw. She is a Director of the Center for Applied Animal Behavior, a business that focuses on teaching people how to train their dogs to be the best canine citizens possible. Kelly is also a Director for the K9 Games Corporation, a venture dedicated to bringing fun and games to the process of dog training in order to make it easy, entertaining, and accessible for all people, including children. You can reach her at dunbaradmin@mac.com.

Lisa Manolius , CTC, CPDT-KA, is the owner of Oh Behave! She’s an Honors graduate of the SF-SPCA’s Academy for Dog Trainers, where she completed two internships in dog behavior and training. Lisa works with private training clients and is also a trainer at the East Bay SPCA in Oakland, where she teaches group training classes and in an anti-violence humane education program for kids called, Teaching Love and Compassion. You can reach her at lisaohbehave@gmail.com.

Sandi Pensinger is the owner of Living with Dogs in Santa Cruz County, California. Established in 2000 Living with Dogs provides training to hundreds of dogs every year in family manners, puppy preschool, agility, lure coursing, dock diving, flyball, difficult dog and focused workshops. Sandi also works with private clients on behavioral modification, primarily with leash aggressive or anxious dogs. You can reach her at sandi@livingwithdogs.us.

 Almudena Ortiz Cue: Its normal for dogs to feel frustrated when they are unable to reach for something they want - whether it’s another dog or a person. This frustration can often be triggered when a leashed dog is out on a walk and he sees another “desirable” object. Your dog’s lunging and barking - which can be an unpleasant situation for both dog and dog owner - may be a form of leash reactivity.  

The good news is that there is a lot the owner CAN learn about and do to help stop this behavior!

• When walking your dog, ALWAYS, keep a loose leash. Tightening the leash sends the message that something is “wrong” and that he needs to “worry”.
• If your dog is lounging towards the trigger of his frustration (i.e. another dog walking), remain calm and speak to your dog in an up-beat voice. This will make YOU relaxed and your relaxed state of mind will be noticed by your dog. Move away from the dog as quickly as you can while keeping that same tone of voice.
• Remember, your dog does NOT have to meet or be friendly with every dog you encounter on a walk. If you know or sense that your dog is getting fidgety in the proximity of another dog -- walk away! It is helpful to notice how close the other dog was when your dog became upset and began pulling on the leash, barking, or lunging towards the other dog. This will be a good clue for you in the future.
• Many dogs lung and bark when on-leash but are fine with other dogs when off lead. If this is your dog, find well-socialized dogs that your dog likes as his “buddies.” If your dog is lunging and barking at other dogs while on leash because he wants to play with them, having off-leash play on a regular basis, will be an indispensable part of his treatment.
• Never leave your dog tied up and unattended in a public place. Dogs in this situation are very vulnerable to other dog’s aggression. The fact that he is tied up and has no way of defending himself if confronted by another dog will reinforce in him that dogs can be “bad news.”
• An effective way of helping your dog relax in the presence of strange dogs while on a leash, can be achieved by carrying some treats that your dog really likes (not he’s everyday kibble). These could be given to him as soon as HE spots the other dog. Stop feeding your dog once the other dog is out of sight. In time your dog will start associating a dog’s approach as something desirable. A second advantage to treating your dog while on a walk is that your dog will learn to focus on you. This is a great thing because it gives your dog something to do while confronted with the proximity of another dog. Consider walking your dog when hungry and yes, the food used for this type of work should be a part of his total caloric intake!
• Use a Gentle Leader (GL) head halter when you are walking your dog OR a front clip harness such as the Sensible harness which you can buy locally or on line. The GL is a humane and efficient way of giving you more control.

Most importantly, remember that you are not alone! If you do not see a change in your dog’s behavior you can always join a reputable growly class.

Please be advised, that the use of aversive treatments such as pulling on the dog’s leash, the use of prone collars, choke collars to correct the problem will only make matters worse, you might end up with a dog that is still leash reactive and aversive to you, who punish him (by pulling on the leash) every time he sees a dog!

Finally, most likely (and unfortunately) the displays of behaviors from your dog will not improve on their own because they are symptoms of a motivation so unless this motivation is address in a systematic way the problem will either remain the same or perhaps get worse. It is crucial to practice this regularly and re-direct the dog to engage in a more acceptable and incompatible behavior to the one we wish to modify.

 Daphne Robert-Hamilton : There are several things you can do to help reduce barking. I’ll provide some general ideas without taking into account your dog's breed, age, health condition or history of the behavior in question. If your goal is to have reduced barking then the first few weeks will have to be "training walks" where the focus is on the training.

Start in a controlled environment where you have the upper hand – for instance a public park with some dog traffic. Find a distance at which your dog perceives the other dog(s) but can still easily respond to simple behaviors he does well. When he does respond, reward him with a special treat such as a ball, game of tug or high value treat. Distance helps you manage your dog's emotional arousal – in regards to the trigger that causes the behavior you are trying to change. He can look at other dog(s) as long as he's casual about the encounter - i.e. he can sit, do tricks, etc. Eventually with time, you can get a little closer to the other dogs.

Another approach is to recruit a familiar dog your dog gets along with. Go for parallel walk and do some walk-bys. Then do a set up where the familiar dog is down the street and you both start walking towards each other. If your dog gets 'hyper' or overly excited immediately turn around and walk the other way without saying anything to your dog and without leash corrections. Walk a good 10 ft or until your dog settles down, then turn back towards the dog. Repeat the process until you get calmer behavior. You can reward good responses with treats. Over time “good” behaviors can be rewarded by allowing your dog to investigate the other dog IF your dog has never hurt or been in a fight with another dog.

There are many progressions you can do to get to goal behavior but best done under the guidance of a certified trainer. An important note is NOT to physically correct the undesired behaviors. This leads to complications. The best way to get a well-behaved dog is to address the emotional basis – so teach the dog to have more self-control. Be proactive in teaching rather than after-the-fact punishment.

Finally, make sure you really know your dog - walking away can either be a punishment or a reward. So really understanding your dog will help you come up with the right “rewards” in order to elicit “good behavior” from your dog. What would your dog do in the presence of a dog if it was off leash? If the answer is to maintain distance and/or to move away then walking away would be a rewarding consequence. However, if your dog is social and approaches the other dog and offers socially appropriate behaviors then moving away would be a punishment.

Kelly Gorman Dunbar: Congratulations on the new addition! Walking a noisy ,barking dog with a baby on board can be a little frustrating – not to mention even a bit embarrassing.

You don’t mention whether your dog enjoys other dogs in general, so I’m not sure if his barking is due to excitement or stress, but the good news is it doesn’t matter. A dog that barks at other dogs when on leash is most certainly frustrated, whether he’d like to be free to romp or to take a chomp, because he’s not able to control his proximity to, or interaction with, his canine counterpart.

Thankfully it’s pretty easy to change your dog’s emotional response to seeing other dogs on the street with a few simple tips and lots of practice.

Basically it comes down to three things: (1) Reduce your dog’s reason for barking via classical conditioning and stimulus blocking, (2) Reward the cessation or absence of barking, don’t take it for granted and (3) Teach your dog to Woof & Shush on cue in an easier environment and then gradually introduce to more distracting environments.

Practice this form of classical conditioning. Teach your dog to look forward to the presence of another dog on walks by hand-feeding him his meals on walks whenever possible for at least a couple of weeks.

Every time a dog comes in view, talk sweetly to and praise your dog for not barking (likely there is a distance where your dog has spotted the other dog, but hasn’t started barking yet). Reward him with a few pieces of his daily ration of food. Remain calm, stay stationary and continue to feed your dog as the other dog approaches, or as long as the other dog is in view. As the dog gets closer, offer your dog a bit of his favorite snack, preferably something soft and stinky such as liverwurst or cheese. This way your dog learns that the mere presence of dogs earns him some of his dinner and dogs that come close bring with them a delicious treat!

Soon he’ll learn to enjoy the sight of other dogs on walks because it means good things for him. Also, by pairing dog-sightings with food delivery (by you) he’ll learn to anticipate a reward and will start to look at you when another dog appears. This is a brilliant moment because when your dog is looking at you he’s no longer looking at the other dog, and when he’s sniffing and savoring his favorite snack, he won’t be barking, so you are actually rewarding silence and attention as well!

At this point feel free to add a proactive cue if you’d like to keep your dog busy and give you another reason to reward him for good (quiet) behavior. I recommend targeting. A nose-touch to your outstretched hand or if he’s a toy-crazy guy offer him a ball or tug to hold and play with while the other dog passes by. If you hold the toy or your hand target in front of your body, your dog will likely turn to face you and now can’t even see the other dog. When the “offending” dog retreats, stop rewarding your dog and go back to normal behavior, until the next dog comes by, unless he does something brilliant of course!

Additionally, once your dog is reliably woofing and more importantly, shushing on cue you may try asking him to shush when he’s barking at other dogs, but it will take some time to build up to that point. You really do have to practice at home and outdoors when other dogs aren’t around first and work up to such a high-level distraction.

Troubleshooting - If you run into trouble and your dog won’t stop barking try to increase your distance from the distraction of the other dog until you can get your dog to focus again. Reward your dog the moment he stops barking. It may be late, but he did stop, and for him to learn that is what you like he needs to have something good happen when he’s quiet.

Tip – Try your best to keep calm, the leash loose, and to not yell at your dog. Pulling on the leash or punishing him will actually make the behavior worse.

Practice makes perfect. It never hurts to get the help of a professional trainer who can guide you and offer additional exercises as necessary. Happy training!

 Lisa-Anne Manolius : If your dog is in good health and has just recently started doing this behavior, it could be due to a recent decrease in off-leash aerobic exercise or opportunities for off-leash dog play and socialization. This behavior may very likely be “leash reactivity,” which can be caused by fear of other dogs or frustration -- the leashed dog wants to interact with the other dog but the leash prevents him from doing so. Whatever the root cause, the leashed dog behaves this way because he’s upset.

To reduce barking in this situation, train your dog to have a positive association with seeing another dog. The goal is to teach your dog that seeing another dog means wonderful things are coming. Feed your dog treats he adores and/or ask him to do an easy behavior and reward him with fabulous treats the moment he sees another dog, but before he starts to react poorly. You should be far enough away from the other dog so that your dog is totally comfortable. When the other dog is out of sight, stop feeding treats. Over time, you’d gradually allow other dogs to get closer to your dog, as long as your dog’s comfortable at every step of the training.

Training to modify this behavior takes time, patience and consistency. It’s crucial to avoid punishing dogs in any way for showing leash reactivity. Any type of punishment (e.g., yelling, scolding, leash jerks) makes this behavior far worse. Instead – and I know it’s hard -- try to remain calm; talk to your dog in a happy upbeat voice; and keep the leash loose and avoid tightening it whenever your dog sees or is around another dog.

It’s also important to avoid situations in which your dog has a chance to react poorly to another dog, which can be challenging in cities. Putting distance between your dog and another dog by changing directions and walking away, or crossing the street will help keep your dog out of the reactive zone. Distracting your dog with lots of treats or a toy he loves is another way to keep him calm if a dog takes you by surprise on a walk. Blocking your dog’s view of another dog by stepping in front of him or behind a parked car is another strategy.

Do be sure that your dog is getting plenty of daily off-leash aerobic exercise, and if he’s comfortable with other dogs when off-leash, regular opportunities for off-leash dog play and socialization.

There are some group classes that address this behavior; or you can work one-on-one with a private positive trainer; or you can try the training on your own. Click to Calm, by Emma Parsons, and Feisty Fido, by Patricia McConnell, Ph.D. and Karen B. London, Ph.D., are two books that provide training instructions to modify this behavior.  Best of luck!

Sandi Pensinger : There are a number of things you can do to help your dog. Assuming he is healthy, barking uncontrollably can stem from an excited, friendly dog OR a fearful, reactive dog. I'll discuss both cases here.

In the case of an excited dog, you can teach him manners and impulse control. Avoid having an excited dog towing you up to greet another dog. A dog needs to learn that it is not ok to go up to every dog that he sees. Training a dog to sit-stay and to relax will help him learn to cope with his frustration. Waiting politely for food, a leash, the door and a game of fetch can help a dog with impulse control problems. Train at home first, then slowly increase the distraction level.

In the case of a fearful, reactive dog, he may bark because he wants to keep other dogs away. This is called leash aggression. And this may only manifest when he is on leash. If your dog is aggressive both on and off leash then the aggression may be more generalized.

A dog often becomes leash aggressive because he feels trapped. When something scares him, your dog’s reaction might be to flee – but the leash is taking away that option. Prevention of leash aggression is much easier than fixing it after the fact. To prevent leash aggression, avoid putting him in compromising situations with other dogs - particularly new dogs - and learn proper approach and greeting techniques.

First seek a professional trainer who uses humane, positive reinforcement training methods. Never punish your dog for being reactive. It will only escalate the situation. The best thing to do is be proactive. Set him up for success by avoiding situations that will set him off.

“Manage” or limit your dog’s exposure to other dogs until you can work with him to change his behavior. Limiting exposure to compromising situations helps decrease undesirable behavior while you are teaching him new “good” behavior and changing his reaction towards other dogs. Most importantly, limiting exposure to other dogs helps him avoid a “reactive state of mind.” When your dog is in a reactive state of mind, he can't readily respond to proper training.

Your trainer will show you how to “tune in” to your dog's reactivity threshold and keep him below that threshold level. Reading your dog’s body language is important – so is being proactive about managing his threshold level when you are training him. I’ve listed some common signs that show when his adrenaline levels may be increasing: his respiration rate will go up, his heart rate will increase, he is panting, his pupils are dilated, his body is tense and rigid and his ears are up and forward. He may also be grabbing treats harder than usual. When you see any of these things you should seek out a “safe” spot where your dog can be calmer and more responsive to you.

Behavior modification and training can both help your dog manage “scary objects or situations.” Behavior modification is about being able to relax and pairing good things with the scary things to change the underlying emotions that are creating the barking. Training might mean working on the dog's orientation to you, head turns to you, eye contact, relaxation, hand targeting and a sit-stay while dogs get slightly closer. Train for short spells and take frequent breaks so the dog can relax. A very helpful training book is How To Right A Dog Gone Wrong by Pamela Dennison. I also suggest reading "Karen Overall Relaxation Protocol" (you can search this term on the web) and following a few of her tips.

Photo by: Grant and Caroline's pix