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Hmm, well, where do I start?!!!

Saturday's coffee morning/dog social group was a spectacular display of Barkley at his worst!!!

I thought maybe if I could distract him with his own ball, then he might not fixate/guard me so much .... which worked for a while.
I'm not sure if it was the mix of dogs, or because he didn't know many of them, or because he was too hot, or maybe a combination of all those factors ... who knows?!!
It started with him grumbling at another dog who grumbled at him, which was fair enough.
He then grumbled at a dog who was a bit too 'boisterous' when he didn't want to play, which was also fair enough.
Then a few of the other bigger dogs were running around & playing chase, which seemed to wind him up a bit (but they do it every week, so why this week was worse I don't know), so he was grumbling when they ran around me - which he hadn't been doing up until that point.

Because he started guarding & snarling at other dogs looking at his ball & he wasn't playing with it, I took it away.

Not sure what started it, but he then got into a 'dispute' with another dog, which I put a stop to, as it seemed to be getting out of hand - if it had been a calmer dog I'd have left them to sort themselves out, but according to the other dog's owner he 'needed telling', which Barkley did too, so it could have turned nasty.

After that point, he seemed to then blame everything on the puppies, & got really snappy & snarly with the 2 pups there (& another one that arrived later) - even to the point of chasing them & snarling at them.

I took him in for time out, which made no difference, as he was the same when he went back out, then got even stroppier when I put him on the lead, to keep him away from the pups, who he was upsetting!!

I'm going to keep him away from the saturday group for a while, & see if that helps, but other than that, any suggestions?

He's fine when I take him to Cott park, & other than grumbling if another dog seems interested in his ball, he's fine with other dogs, & he's ok if I take him onto County road park ... it just seems to be at Gill's.

When I took them on the field on sunday morning, & Lizz came on with 3 of hers, he was growling at Lilly again, although they'd come round to my house on saturday afternoon, & other than a grumble or 2 he was ok with her .... again, it seems to be just at Gill's!!

Sooo ..... any ideas anyone?
All suggestions welcome!

Hi Cheryl,

Don't forget at the centre you are in an enclosed space and whilst there is plenty of room the dogs know they are fenced in. He may feel threatened. Have you tried him on the outside of the fence?

Also what motivates him? If you know this then use removal of that motivation as a consequence for bad behaviour. i.e. his ball, remove it if he growls at other dogs but be careful if he is guarding the ball and you remove it it will only make his guarding worse over the long term as he will feel the need to guard it more if he knows it will be taken away. In this case rewarding him for not guarding is much better.

Have him on a long line and reward all good behaviour with your voice initially and also treats if he likes these.

Generally with dogs we always seem to focus on the things they do wrong rather than rewarding the things we want them to do i.e a dog comes near and he ignores tell him 'good boy' and fuss or treat.

Does this help at all?

Gill

It kind of helps ... I know what you're saying, but with Barkley what works normally doesn't always work!!

I removed his ball because of his behaviour, but it didn't seem to help at all, he then focused on guarding me ... and if I wasn't there, he'd then transfer his obsession to whoever he was with, eg Lizz.

I could try him on a long line, however, that it could either make him worse (he barks at other dogs when I walk him on his lead & sometimes he'll be distracted with food & sometimes he won't) or, with the number of dogs running around on the field just lately, he'd get wrapped round someone's legs, or around other dogs.
Also, sometimes there's no warning, & he just goes for it!!

The disadvantage of treats is that it attracts all the other dogs too, which then winds him up even more.

I'm not trying to be negative, & I do see the logic in what you're saying, I'm also looking at the probable pitfalls where Barkley is involved!!

I'm assuming his picking on puppies is because they are an easy target, & not likely to retaliate?
Unfortunately, he's now obsessing about this, & has real issues with Lilly ... we can discourage him at my house (water spray & 'NO'!!) as trying to reward him (ie stroking him & telling him he's a good boy for not reacting to her being there) doesn't work, as he then seems to interpret this as you supporting him in his 'madness', & he'll start staring at her & growling again!!!

I'll keep him away for another couple of weeks, then try him again.

..... I'll try Molly again maybe next week - she's not been the same since a young dog was harassing her a couple of months back (he was jumping up & chewing around her face) - ever since then, she's been really barky again, and jumping up at me, & chasing other dogs away .... also, not too sure how she'll be with there being lots of new dogs now since she was last there!!

And as for Roly .... how do I discourage his 'amorous' advances towards small attractive lady dachshunds?!! ... he's got a real obsession going there, & just wouldn't leave her alone ... he even tried it on when he was on his lead!!!