Need Some Help Decoding A Bark Situation

[Guest happygrey]

Our still new boy Tatam (we've had him almost 5 weeks now) often barks pretty much nonstop at other dogs when I'm out walking him and other dogs pass us by or stop for a hello chat. He does not do this when DH walks him. Ever. We each walk him about as often but I usually am the one to take him on long walks at a park or trail. DH typically does neighborhood jaunts. But still manages to run into quite a few other dogs.

 

And he's only started doing this in the last couple of weeks. For the first couple of weeks he met other dogs (greys and non-greys) when we were out just fine and didn't bark. Today he really shocked me by barking at a new grey (whined first, then barked a few times)! I told him "no" and moved him away (making matter worse, she was a real shy girl, and the other grey we were with was a perfect lady with the shy girl) and then he calmed down, they sniffed each other and he proceeded to lean all over the shy girl's owner. Trying to make up for his lousy party manners, I guess.

 

This barking occurs often when I'm walking with a friend who has a female grey but it's also happened when it's just he and I out together. The other evening he barked at a dog he'd met before with my husband and was fine with. He barks at big dogs, medium dogs and small dogs.

 

He doesn't seem to be aggressive in his barking, he's usually wagging his tail when he does it and never jumps, lunges, growls or bares his teeth. I don't see his hair going up either (although he's often in his coat -- so that's sort of hard to see). He just barks, and barks, and barks! He won't stop until I get him to turn in the other direction (but then he sometimes whines once the dog is back in sight) or we walk away.

 

The few times recently we've walked by other dogs and he hasn't barked I've praised him. But this is usually when the dogs are relatively far from us, for example on the other side of the road in a yard barking at us.

 

DH thinks that he's barking to protect me but that seems sort like a bit of a stretch to me.

 

Does anyone have any idea what might be going on or what this bark might mean? Has anyone experienced something similar? It's starting to drive me a little crazy.

Edited March 6, 2010 by happygrey

[Batmom]

From the behavior you describe, he likely wants to play!

 

If you want to discourage him without squelching his spirit, could do a search for Training & Behavior forum posts from GT member Giselle about "LAT training" or "look at that." She even has some videos. It's a positive training method often useful for fear-reactive dogs but could work very nicely for your situation too.

[Guest happygrey]

Thanks, Batmom. That's what I thought but I'm afraid the other dog owners don't. They usually hurriedly hustle their pups away (which I understand, I mean it does get tiresome listening to a dog barking nonstop).

 

I will look for the Look at That training info.

 

I definitely don't want to squelch his (great!) spirit but do want to avoid becoming the pariah of the dog world.

[Guest EllaTheGreyt]

I agree with Batmom in that he is just trying to play! Ella barks constantly if our other 2 dogs are outside playing. She just stands next to them and barks, and I honestly think it's because she doesn't know how to play like the other 2 do. It does get annoying, I agree with you on that. So far, I just have to say "Ella, enough!" and that usually helps, for a bit anyway. Greys are just strange dogs sometimes