Good dog, but a few problems!

[Niamh-Mickey]

Nearly a year ago now, my family rescued a dog from a nearby shelter. They said he was about 1 year old, half bichon frise, suspected half bedlington terrier, they weren't quite sure what he is! We had a few training issues with him, but with saturday training classes that also runs sunday social walks, his behaviour and socialisation has really improved. Fortunately, both my parents work at home, so he is only ever left alone an hour or two if they go out. He gets walked three times a day, about half an hour each time. However, he still has a few problems we are stuck with. He will bark at anyone who walks past the house, and will go especially crazy if a dog goes past. He has a specific hatred for a dalmatian and husky that live nearby, and also double decker buses... When these dogs pass it's impossible to control him, and when a bus passes when we're on walks, he lunges after them and i'm afraid he's really going to do damage to himself if he goes too near either one of them. Really need help, i'm worried and the barking is driving us all insane!

[Fundog]

For the busses: Since he is so small, for now I would start by picking him up---provided he is okay with being picked up; some dogs HATE that--- The first reason is for safety: as you say, he could very well become seriously injured by his lunging behavior and getting too close to the bus, not to mention the strain on his little body by pulling the lead so fiercely like that. The second reason is, *IF* he feels safer in your arms, then you alleviate some of his fear, and he may be able to accept an additional reward for building a positive association. And regardless of whether you are able to pick him up or not, definitely turn and get some more distance between you and the bus! This will help reduce his stress, as well as keep him safe by reducing the likelihood that he CAN get "too close."

If it makes you feel any better, my Dottie (English Setter) was a car chaser when we brought her home nearly three years ago. It took me just four weeks to cure her reactivity and lunging at cars, but she still has an issue with parcel trucks (in the states it is UPS). We suspect perhaps her original owner may have driven one, and we already know he abused her. So when I see a UPS truck coming, I first move Dottie farther away, off the sidewalk, if possible, and onto a patch of lawn, and I make sure I have the leash securely in my hand, so she would have to take me with her, rather than be able to get away from me. If I can, I try to get her interested in sniffing something, so she can get her mind off the UPS truck. Dottie weighs 40 pounds, so I really cannot pick her up. So far, this system has been working for us. Sure, I'd love for her to not get upset about UPS trucks, but some scars just run too deeply to be healed completely.

Others will have more ideas for handling the barking indoors and in the garden, etc.

[Ari_RR]

Perhaps consider wearing a harness outside. This alone won't cure the lunging problem, but it may help prevent an injury to his little neck, and also reduce the risk of him escaping from his collar and attacking a bus or a dog.

[emmabeth]

Barking at stuff passing the house, from inside the house needs to be prevented first.

Remove his access to windows or block his view from them - frosted window film is the best way to do this 'prettily', but you can test it out first by using paper over the windows and then spend money on frosted window film later.

I do firmly believe that many dogs are horribly stressed and over stimulated in the wrong way, by being allowed to watch and react to things going past the window. They will NEVER understand that stuff goes past and their barking is NOT contributory to 'stuff going away', it will always wind a dog up and increase their stress levels if they are allowed to do this (many people think its a fun hobby for a dog to be allowed to get wound up by things outside the window!).

So, remove the opportunity to do it - dogs stress levels will drop - training and management in other areas will be easier and more successful.

[Niamh-Mickey]

Thanks for all the help! I don't think picking him up is the answer - he'll still freak out and end up scratching me to pieces! But I'll definitely try distracting him away somewhere else when the bus goes past.

We've noticed that it's not just seeing the people that's setting him off, he can hear them as they walk past if they're being particularly loud. My dad says that when I'm out at school he is disrupted by Mickey's barking, and it's not good for his job to be in the middle of an important phone call and having a dog bark in the background. Even if Mickey has no availability to windows, he will still bark if he hears people. Is this just boredom? That he's just finding something to do?

[emmabeth]

Yep - cutting out the view will still help, because he can't hear things THEN race to the window to be rewarded by a good shout at stuff going past.

Once you are just dealing with the hearing things aspect, and he has realised there is no reward to be had by going to see - then you can deal with that by changing his associations to sound.

You do that by giving him a reward ANY time you hear a sound - don't wait for him to react, stuff a treat down him the second YOU hear something, until he associates 'ooh a noise' with 'go get a treat'.

If he can be kept occupied between his walks in a quiet room, initially IN the room people are in only (so he can be rewarded for sounds occurring straight away) with Kong toys and other interactive fun stuff, that will help.

Then for walks - avoid like the plague anything he normally reacts to. That means walking different routes, walking different times, turning around and going the other way w hen you see something you know he is going to react to - whatever it takes.

The more you do this, the more his stress levels drop. He begins to see that YOU deal wtih stuff, he doesn't have to and he becomes more interested in receptive to what you are saying/doing with him - it will have knock on effect on every aspect of his life so the more you can avoid in the initial stages, the better.

Once he is calmer you can THEN work on changing his emotional response to certain things, which will take specific training sessions to achieve and we can go into that in more detail once he is calmer.

If he is home with someone during the day then they DO need to be on board and willing to help with this, or at the very least willing to NOT effectively sabotage what you are doing by doing the opposite or doing things that make him worse.

[Niamh-Mickey]

Today was GREAT! My auntie and uncle came round with their dog and we went on a big walk round the park. Over the months we have built up trust in Mickey and he's been allowed off his leash recently. Well, just as we were going up the hill to leave the park, we ran into the dalmatian and husky! Mickey bolted round the corner towards them, but then ran back, scared because they were far bigger than he was. He left them completely alone, it just shows he doesn't like them walking past the house, and he feels much more confident at being aggressive to them when he's behind a window.