1yo chihuahua/jack russell cross barking problem

[chicago1988]

Me and my partner have a 13 month chihuahua/jack russell cross Boy. We have had him from since he was 12 weeks old. Last month, we got him neutered - as it was recommended by the vet.
Since then - when he is going for walks he barks at the slightest thing. We take him for long walks twice a day for around 45mins to 1hr.
He generally has two problems
Barking at other dogs
Barking at humans
He will bark if he sees the anyone (person or dog) in the distance, and usually at this point he doesnt listen to any commands and we can longer get his attention.
We have tried getting his attention before he 'breaks', but this is only successful, if you get his attention before he see the person or dog.
Once he sees the dog/person in the distance, nothing can get his attention.
We have also tried the "turning around" and walking in the opposite direction to correct the behaviour - but he just thrashes around on his lead.
We have also tried getting him to sit while the person/dog goes past, but he will immediately get back up or if he is too 'locked' on he will not even sit.
When he is at home, or not being walked, he listens to the basic sit/down/stay commands, and is very responsive.
He sometimes gives short little barks when nothing is around - like he is barking at the wind in his ears.
We can get his attention for a few seconds before he gets 'locked on', but as soon as he sees the person/dog - not even his favourite treat can entice him.
I cant figure out the cause of the barking - because if its a dog he lunges and snarls if the dog gets to close - although his is usually down to the fact that
other untrained dogs are allowed off-lead and allowed to run up to him barking.
When he barks at people its completly different - when they get close his ears go back and his tail wags and he likes the attention anyone pays him.

Has anyone got any ideas of where we can from here. We are willing to put in the work to correct this behaviour

[jacksdad]

Neutering cuts off a dog's primary source of testosterone, which can be the "straw that broke the camel's back" so to speak for some dogs. I also have a neutered chihuahua / JRT cross, the neutering wasn't my choice he came to me this way and he came to me with exactly the same behavior your describing, fear reaction to both humans and dogs. The good news is, you can help your dog.

The reason you can't get his attention and the reason treats aren't working is because your too close to what is scaring him. And being in part JRT, his fear reactions are going to mostly be of an "attack" looking behavior verse cowering or trying to hid etc.

The turning around and walking the other direction isn't about correcting behavior, it's about getting out of a bad situation or avoiding the situation before it happens.

At this stage, do not ask him to sit while a dog or person passes close. he isn't ready for this.

for his "barking when nothing is around"...you may not hear, see or smell what your dog is hearing, seeing, smelling so don't assume "nothing is around". Most of the time my dog actually needs to see a dog before he will react to it, but there is one dog he will react to simply by smell or hearing LONG before we see it.

The cause of the barking is fear. In nature there are two basic responses to a perceived threat/something scary. Run or attack. When a dog is on leash, they quickly learn they can't run, so they switch to attack mode. Right now your dog is trying to use a bluff verse actually wanting to attack. hence the barking and lunging trying to look "big, scary, don't mess with me go away". why one dog becomes like this and another doesn't is all about genetics, socialization, experiences, "personality" of the dog, environment (the untrained dogs running up to him) and probably a lot more.

For the people it's still a fear response, but not as intense. ears back is a clue he isn't liking the attention, tail wags can be misleading.

So, what to do. First, very important. Your dog isn't being "bad" and the behavior doesn't need "correcting". stick with me here please... the behavior needs changing and your dog needs help. It's important to keep the distinction in mind because while you can help your dog, it's not a overnight process and along the way with the ups and downs that are a natural normal part of helping a dog like yours (and mine) it's easy to get frustrated and lose sight of the fact our dogs are in fact just afraid, not being bad.

You were on the right track with treats and the turning to go the other way. however we need to adjust this a bit.

First step though is to give your dog as much a break from other people and dogs as possible. take your dog on walks at "odd times". this is where you go when most people aren't out with their dogs. Or drive to another park or place where there is less a chance of running into other dogs.

make a real effort at this for a week or two. then start to work out the distance your dog need to be from other people and dogs and know they are there, but not react. this is the distance that treats will work to refocus your dog on you. they aren't working right now because your too close.

you will also need to practice keeping dogs and people away. letting dogs or people, no matter the claim of dogs like me or my dog is friendly etc is going to help your dog at this time. generally speaking with people, just ask them to not approach. "my dog is people shy", "he is afraid of people", "he is in training" etc. then move your self to be between them an the dog, I have found that to get the message across.

For dogs, you might be amazed how many respond to "SIT" in the most commanding voice you can give. Or "go away", again in the most commanding voice you can give. moving your dog to be on the other side or behind you an stepping towards the other dog often works to get the other dog to go away. another option is to throw treats at the on coming dog. if the dog does get up to you, body block it way. basically you herd the dog away while talking in a friendly voice.

there is more but lets start there. don't want to overwhelm you with all the possible thing you can do in one post. I will leave you with this though. when I first got my dog and his fear issues started coming to light he looked like a mad dog flailing, lunching, barking, howling, making noises I didn't even know a dog could make simply at the sight of another dog. on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being WOW, HELP, PROBLEM....he was a 12 easily. with humans, he was probably a 7 or 8. Today, he has two dog buddies, and can pass most dogs without an issue. even small dogs who behaving towards him like he used to do. with human, he is now seeking out attention from people outside the family.

Can your dog become like this? I can't promise that. What I can give you is hope. there is no reason to think you can't make things better for you and your dog. how far it will go is anyone's guess at this time. But there is hope and we can help. please stick with us, ask questions, share when things don't go as planned and share your successes too.

So, for now work on avoiding dogs and humans, give your dog a break and find that safe distance he needs to not react to other dogs / humans.

we can talk about what's next in a week or two after you have done that.

[chicago1988]

Thanks for the information.

Over the past week we have done what you have said.
We have had some successful dog walks and quite a few bad walks.
We have been trying to find the dogs "safe" distance as you say, but he doesnt seem to have one. Let me elborate on a few of our walks

Today for example, we went for half an hour walk around up to our local town and around the local park. He walked past 20-30 people completely fine - not even making any noises or even caring that they were there. There were a couple of small barks when someone came around a corner quite fast and startled him, we just continued to walk away from the person and the barking soon stopped.

While walking the other day though, he barked and lunged at every person he saw. The problem with the safe distance is, that sometimes he will let people pass within a few feet and not care that they are there - he looks but continues walking and ignores them, but other times he will bark and lunge. And on other times, people can be 200-300 meters in front of him - and he will bark and lunge. We even took a walk on the beach when no-one was around and he noticed someone who was in the distance( over 300 meters). This is why i say he doesn't have a safe distance - because his safe distance changes on each walk we take or depending on his mood.

[Maxy24]

The absolute best thing I've found for reactivity is called "Look at That", from Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed book. This is basically a process of marking (with a clicker or word...a clicker may be better at grabbing his attention) and then rewarding the dog EVERY time he looks at the person/dog, from the very first glance until the people are far enough away that he would not react. You mark and reward every single look he gives them so long as he is not reacting. Of course you must stay at a far enough distance that he'll take the treats. Then if he reacts you move him away from them.

Another thing that may help you is a no pull harness, one that clips on the dog's chest. I used this for my dog's reactivity and it makes turning the dog away MUCH easier and prevent lunging. I also find when I try to keep my dog away from someone while he is on a collar it often causes him to react, whereas if I pull him away with the easy walk harness he does not.

[ckranz]

What are you using for treats? Remember what his favorite treats are may not be what you think of as a "treat".

My recommendations for treats:
string cheese
a cheese block that you can cube
canned chicken
canned tuna
leftover roast chicken/steak
Homemade treats with things like liver

The standard charlie bear crackers or store bought treats really are not enough to really be worth much to your dog.

I will second McDevitt's "Hey Look at that game" Its based on the premack principle and eliminates the competition between you and your dog by allowing your dog to look and somthing that creates a compulsions for lookging...This prevents the dog from having to choose "obedience" or "disobedience".

The most important things to keep in mind: Distance and timing. Right now your timing needs to be the second he sees something with an extremely high level of treat and high rate of reward. You clicker may sound like a machine gun at first. click treat click treat click treat.....gradually you can slow this down to click your dog looks back for his treat then reward.....eventually your dog should get to a point where when he spots something he will turn and look at you expectently for his reward.

I would most highly recommend McDevitts book "Control Unleashed"

[Nettle]

The safe distance differs with each individual stranger and each different day; some are perceived to be less threatening than others and are therefore allowed closer, some days a dog is more sensitive than others. Your dog chooses the safe distance: up to us to watch the dog and remove it to its safe distance, be that 200yards or 1 yard, before the dog reacts with lungeing or barking. By the set of the ears, tail and features, even the look in the dog's eyes, the attitude of the approaching dog or person, you will learn to read whether your dog needs to be further away.

[dog2]

am finding this interesting.can you please tell me what to look for in the dogs body language as mine also doesnt have a set distance he will tolerate long distance sometimes and others not no sense at all to it.what do the ears do the tail etc., i am too busy thinking of what to do next to notice body language so as to be able to act before the reaction.

[WufWuf]

can you please tell me what to look for in the dogs body language

If you go to page 1 of your thread viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14451&p=102220#p102220 I gave you some links, one of them is for understanding dog body language.

He walked past 20-30 people completely fine - not even making any noises or even caring that they were there

This is because he was overwhelmed and most likely a little shut down NOT because he didn't care that they were there. At the moment I would not walk him in crowds at all.

While walking the other day though, he barked and lunged at every person he saw. The problem with the safe distance is, that sometimes he will let people pass within a few feet and not care that they are there - he looks but continues walking and ignores them, but other times he will bark and lunge. And on other times, people can be 200-300 meters in front of him - and he will bark and lunge. We even took a walk on the beach when no-one was around and he noticed someone who was in the distance( over 300 meters).

This to me sound like he's very stressed and uncomfortable but when people are really close or there's lot's of them he doesn't have the confidence to shout at them to go away, however when they are at a "safe" distance he will try and use shouting to make them disapper.

I would try and minamise the amount of people he see's. Pretty much the whole time you are out with him should be a training session at the moment. You cannot just walk a dog like this and expect to see an improvement. He needs to be rewarded for EVERY person he see no matter the distance or if he barks or not. So this might mean making the walks very very short , out of the house reward and back in, repeat as many times as you can with little breaks in between. If you see people reward him really really well and at a high rate and then back into the house. This will stop either of you becoming stressed or frustrated.

You will also need to let his stress levels come down (viewtopic.php?f=20&t=10923) so I would advise that if possible you take a break from walking him for a few days/a week and entertain him at home viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1135.