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Barks At Other Dogs


Guest rmljw

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Hello!

 

We are new to greyhounds and this forum. Excited to join you all:)

 

We adopted Molly in March and she has been settling in great. She will be three in October and only had about 19 races. She is very playful and sweet--seems to be reliving her puppy years:) One issue we are still working on, however, is her barking at other dogs when we take walks. After talking to a trainer she suggested it was just Molly becoming familiar with other types of dogs as she only really knew about greyhounds up until now. That made sense. Recently, however, we have noticed that her barking is different depending on who walks her. When my husband is there she does not bark. When our children (ages 10 & 12) or I walk her she does--even at the same dogs. My husband is clearly the alpha dog at home and Molly will do anything for him. Could she be trying to alert the rest of us to these other dogs for some reason--protection or something else?

 

Would love any advice about this. We hate having to always cross the street and avoid other people with dogs but are unsure how to handle this.

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

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I think you need to distract her from barking by getting her attention with a treat so that she is too busy concentrating on that to think about barking. Chris (Greysmom) is the one who can describe that technique.

 

I would be wary of allowing your children to walk her without an adult with them, if a greyhound decides to take off at speed I doubt a child could hold it. When I first got her, my Chancey used to jump up to my head height whilst screaming at dogs other than greyhounds and it was all I could do to hang on to her with my lead held tight against her neck, on a longer lead she would have had me flat on my face. Walking out in the forest I taught her to stand still and let other dogs walk past, on the street I would cross to the other side of the road and stand still. Four and a half years later she has her Kennel Club Good Citizen Silver Award and could probably get the Gold but she refuses to lie down until she is ready!

Miss "England" Carol with whippet lurcher Nutmeg & Zavvi the Chihuahua.

R.I.P. Chancey (Goosetree Chance). 24.1.2009 - 14.4.2022. Bluegrass Banjoman. 25.1.2004 - 25.5.2015 and Ch. Sleepyhollow Aida. 30.9.2000 - 10.1.2014.

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I have the same intermittent problem. Most of the time, Percy just looks very interested but doesn't do anything. If the other dog reacts (even from across the street), he is more likely to react. If I'm walking both my dogs and Lulu (little dog) reacts, Percy is more likely to react. But even sometimes just by himself, he'll react, and I kind of never know how he'll be. We routinely cross the street or go the other way, and other people with dogs do the same. There are a couple little dogs he met early on when we got him and he poked at them with his pointy nose, so we don't let him near them anymore, but he still reacts to them when he sees them. There are other dogs he knows (got to run around off leash with them once) and he's fine with them. With random unknown dogs, it's unpredictable. I just give a wide berth, keep saying "easy, good boy" and keep walking. I think there is a technique with giving treats at your side so his attention is on you and he decides that being at your side is good.

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I had the same problem when we first got Phoebe (coming up on five years ago already!).

 

One thing to try and teach is "LOOK". This is looking at YOU. Some dogs master it really fast, others take longer. Phoebe got it pretty quickly with the help of itty bitty milkbones, as she will do anything for food. :lol I used to carry a pocket full of them when I'd walk her, then when a dog was approaching I'd tell her "LOOK", and when she looked at me she got a treat. Great distraction from the other dog, which is not nearly as interesting as FOOD.

 

If it got bad, I would instantly stop, and we would not move an inch until she stopped paying attention to the other dog. Or we'd turn and go the other way. In any case, the walk would stop, or reverse, and sometimes that's all it took for her to realize that carrying on about another dog just wasn't worth it.

 

SHe was only two when we got her, and now she's seven--so she's settled in to home life and calmed down a lot. She will even now give the occasional whine when a dog passes on the other side of the street, but it's waaaaay better than it used to be.

Phoebe (Belle's Sweetpea) adopted 9/2/13.

Jack (BTR Captain Jack) 9/28/05--11/2/12
Always missing Buddy, Ruby, and Rascal.

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There are different techniques you can try. I prefer the LOOK technique. Teach her to look at you by holding a super tasty treat in front of your nose. She has to learn to look into your eyes.

Start practising without distraction. When she looks at you, even for a second, give her a treat. She will get it real fast.

After she knows what to do wait a little longer and longer until you reward her. Try different situations (at home, on walks).

When you encounter a dog distract her attention by turning the other way and than the LOOK command. You need her to focus on you before she will react to the command in the beginning.

 

My first boy Colin used to look at me when we met other dogs (unknown, not his friends) like Hey Woman, there is s dog. Give the command and let the treats coming.

Sorry for butchering the english language. I try to keep the mistakes to a minimum.

 

Nadine with Paddy (Zippy Mullane), Saoirse (Lizzie Be Nice), Abu (Cillowen Abu) and bridge angels Colin (Dessies Hero) and Andy (Riot Officer).

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Guest Avisher224

I'm having the same issue with my newest spitfire of a boy! He was quite well behaved the first couple months but as he started to feel more comfortable, he started adding barking at other dogs to our walk repertoire- NOT appreciated LOL. Also, he doesn't just bark, he jumps around like a total spaz and has actually fallen down due to getting tangled in the leash. In the past few weeks, he's escalated to now barking at people as well (super threatening people like old men and lady joggers!) Obviously, he needs to cut this out so I've started taking treats and making him watch me and/or sit (sit seems to work the best for containing his jumping- if you just have a barker, I'm sure watch would be sufficient). For me, the key is to try and catch him before he gets really wound up and actually starts barking or jumping- once I see him looking at something, I grab a treat and get him watch and sit and this generally prevents the bad behavior. We've only been doing it a couple weeks and he's already starting to catch on- sometimes I can even just say him name and he'll look back and focus on me instead.

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Yours sits? I've never seen Percy in a sitting position. He's getting better. It's harder when my little one is around because she barks and pulls more and that can get him wound up. But we just encountered this this morning and she was good even while she was being a pain.

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Guest Avisher224

Oh yeah- should have mentioned- my guy was a prison dog, so he came to me already knowing basic obedience- sit, stay, wait, etc. Granted, you'd THINK that would include better leash etiquette but, like i said, he's a spitfire and a very unique personality, I think he just needs some extra work here. I never had any luck teaching my non-prison greys to sit but I also didn't put a lot of time or effort into it. If you want to, I don't think it's hard- they are smart dogs that are so eager to please, just takes a lot of practice and repetition.

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I had the same problem when we first got Phoebe (coming up on five years ago already!).

 

One thing to try and teach is "LOOK". This is looking at YOU. Some dogs master it really fast, others take longer. Phoebe got it pretty quickly with the help of itty bitty milkbones, as she will do anything for food. :lol I used to carry a pocket full of them when I'd walk her, then when a dog was approaching I'd tell her "LOOK", and when she looked at me she got a treat. Great distraction from the other dog, which is not nearly as interesting as FOOD.

 

If it got bad, I would instantly stop, and we would not move an inch until she stopped paying attention to the other dog. Or we'd turn and go the other way. In any case, the walk would stop, or reverse, and sometimes that's all it took for her to realize that carrying on about another dog just wasn't worth it.

 

SHe was only two when we got her, and now she's seven--so she's settled in to home life and calmed down a lot. She will even now give the occasional whine when a dog passes on the other side of the street, but it's waaaaay better than it used to be.

This is really good advice!

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