Am I "making him worse"?

[delladooo]

My mum keeps saying this to me and I don't know if I should believe her....

Laufey still barks when there is a knock on the door / someone walks in (doesn't if it's me walking in and it's milder if mum walks in but brother or a stranger and he is very loud). I generally talk to him and tell him to go see where I think mum ignores him and brother shouts at him and tells him to shut up.

Also, he's still stopping on walks in a "I want to go this way so why aren't we" (as opposed to scared, he can do both so I learnt the difference) to which I either wait him out or bribe him on with treats. Are the treats encouraging him to stop more? It seems to be of increasing frequency and for longer periods, mostly in predictable spots.

Any tips on the best way to solve these? Mum and brother gave up on treats when they come in / visitors because it "wasn't working and making him worse" - I could see an improvement before they stopped and then got worse when they stopped. The stopping I have no idea about, he does it on walks with mum too and I suspect she just tugs him on but I don't know either way

[JudyN]

I could see an improvement before they stopped and then got worse when they stopped.

I suppose you have your answer there How to convince your mother and brother is another matter. What worked for Jasper (though he's not naturally a barky dog) is to give him a treat every time someone came to the door, regardless of whether he barked or not.

What worked for Jasper with stopping on walks was to wait him out. Bribing didn't seem to work (or he would just stop a few paces later). In an ideal world, I would reward him once he did get moving, but I wanted to keep our momentum going, which wasn't easy when feeding his treat through his muzzle. He has learnt now that once I turn my back on him and hold the lead behind my back, taut but without pulling him, then I will wait there till the seas freeze over (assuming he's not scared of course), so that position is now his cue to move on. Sometimes I have to wait for a short while, but it's rarely for long nowadays. However, I don't think he's a particularly stubborn/determined/persistent dog in this respect - Laufey may be very different And you do have to be very consistent, of course.

[delladooo]

I suppose you have your answer there How to convince your mother and brother is another matter. What worked for Jasper (though he's not naturally a barky dog) is to give him a treat every time someone came to the door, regardless of whether he barked or not.

Well... I saw it was working, they say it wasn't. Either way it seemed (to me at least) easier. I'm definitely going to try getting back to it.
We're rearranged slightly so that we now sit in the front room instead of the back room but this means that sometimes (most of the time) if someone walks past he has a grumble then too. Not a huge deal as we live at the bottom of a dead end but I suspect will be much worse in summer as the kids all play out at this end of the street

What worked for Jasper with stopping on walks was to wait him out. Bribing didn't seem to work (or he would just stop a few paces later). In an ideal world, I would reward him once he did get moving, but I wanted to keep our momentum going, which wasn't easy when feeding his treat through his muzzle. He has learnt now that once I turn my back on him and hold the lead behind my back, taut but without pulling him, then I will wait there till the seas freeze over (assuming he's not scared of course), so that position is now his cue to move on. Sometimes I have to wait for a short while, but it's rarely for long nowadays. However, I don't think he's a particularly stubborn/determined/persistent dog in this respect - Laufey may be very different And you do have to be very consistent, of course.

He does have a tendency to stop with bribes to begin with if I don't get him to move far enough. We'll have to try this method, he can be stubborn but he's usually pretty eager to please too so we'll see how it goes

[minkee]

If he says 'Why can't we go this way?' - why can't you go the way he wants? I realise it's not always possible but sometimes I do let Breeze just guide me where he wants to go, rather than choosing for him. Do you that's a possibility?

One thing to consider is if it might make it harder for him to understand if he can only choose the direction 'sometimes'. EG. you lose consistency.

[delladooo]

If he says 'Why can't we go this way?' - why can't you go the way he wants? I realise it's not always possible but sometimes I do let Breeze just guide me where he wants to go, rather than choosing for him. Do you that's a possibility?

One thing to consider is if it might make it harder for him to understand if he can only choose the direction 'sometimes'. EG. you lose consistency.

I do tend to do this when possible. For instance the other end of our road has a little offshoot that leads to a block of flats with some grass and at the minute he's obsessed with going there so we tend to go at least once a day but there's not actually anything there so if we're on a "real walk" instead of a "toilet break" it doesn't lead to anywhere. The other main places he does it is on the park when he wants to go a specific way (usually into a bush where I physically can't ) or just outside the park when he wants to go away from home, not towards it, but he only does this on the way home.

I also don't know if going his way sometimes is making him worse or better but we have a tendency to end up in alleys if we go "his way"


Edited to add: I spoke to mum too and apparently his barking still happens if I'm not in but it is no where near as bad. Also, my brother seems to "like them" more when I'm not in as he is adamant he doesn't like the dogs to me and ignore them but apparently spends time and plays with them when I'm not in... Not sure if his behaviour and the barking is connected but it seems I make his barking worse which I can sort of understand in some ways as I'm "his person"