[rachelianlexi]

Hi I am new to this site and come begging for advice!
We have had our dog for a few months now. she is now about 16 months old.
she has obvious behavious issues to do with barking and aggression.
she barks at anything she sees move outside the window, she also barks fixated in the car expecially at other dogs, bikes and motorbikes.
she is sometime uncontrollable on the lead and will go crazy at cars, bikes especially and most of all any other animal or human.
she does not growl and snarl but she barks and lunges.
i used to think this was nervousness, and think it partly is but could this be possessive behaviour too?
we have observed her in the car before when she hasnt seen us and she didnt bark at anything going past.
we do clicker training with her and she is great indoors but outside with distractions she forgets everything.
sorry to be so long but it gets upsetting and stressful trying to handle her!
what i have noticed lately also is if poeple knock on the door she does no bark at all, then we will let them in and she will (usually) be great with them. but if they walk straight in without us realising they are coming in she goes mad at them. she has never attacked but will go close and bark!

please help me!
thankyou

[lange]

Hi. It does sound like she's unsure & nervous. If she only acts out when you're around could it be she is feeding off your own anxiety? When she lunges & barks what do you do exactly?

It may help to go somewhere more isolated & physically wear both yourself & your dog down some before you tackle re-socializing her to cars & people. The hope would be that you would both then be calmer & she may be more willing to walk past the distractions with less frustration on both your part. If all else fails you can try getting some help with a dog trainer.

Originally Posted by rachelianlexi

what i have noticed lately also is if poeple knock on the door she does no bark at all, then we will let them in and she will (usually) be great with them. but if they walk straight in without us realising they are coming in she goes mad at them. she has never attacked but will go close and bark!

thankyou

This would be something I would actually want from my dog. Some guard dogs are known for this. Depending on your dog this may just be what it was bred to do.

[rachelianlexi]

Hi thanks for your reply.

When we are in the car, which is unfortunately unavoidable due to where I live, if she barks we ignore the behaviour. when she is not barking I will click and treat her, this does appear to slowly be having a positive effect.

When we are out walking, whenever possible if she fixates on something we turn back around and carry on walking in the other direction, we do not treat as she is uninterested or if she has a biscuit she can choke as she is so agitated. i have however thought of getting a big syringe and filling it with tripe or something similar to give her when we are out.

if we have no option of turning round we just walk on as normally as possible trying to avoid what she is barking at.

yes i am not so worried about her barking at people who walk in, i just thought it may help someone understand the roots of her behaviour, she is a doberman after all!

[Deafdogsrule]

I'm glad you're clicker training. aggression is better dealt with positively. I find that using a front clip harness (rather than a collar) on my reactive dog lessens the stimulation when he's already over stimulated. I have him on a head halter as well, and have a double ended leash, one end on the head halter, one on the front clip harness. he's not able to get as much power behind a lunge, and I have some stearing control as well. so I can turn his head away from what he's fixated on.

Have you read "Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog" by Emma Parsons? it's a fantastic resource for people with aggressive and fear aggressive dogs.

keep it positive, you're on the right track. your dog is improving in the car, even small improvements are much to celebrate!

[rachelianlexi]

thankyou for your positive response. sometimes just hearing that makes you feel all the better!
we have her on a harness, the type that tightens round the legs when she pulls as she is quite strong and would not be able to take her out on just a collar.
Yes I do have the book! it is a while since i read it and will reread it again as i have probably forgotten alot of what it said.
we do have a head halti for her but do not use this as she wears a muzzle (more for other peoples reassurance as she looks quite scary!)
thank you for your comments, it is easy to get disheartened when dealing with such a handful! although i would not part with her for the world!

[lange]

Originally Posted by Deafdogsrule

I'm glad you're clicker training. aggression is better dealt with positively. I find that using a front clip harness (rather than a collar) on my reactive dog lessens the stimulation when he's already over stimulated. I have him on a head halter as well, and have a double ended leash, one end on the head halter, one on the front clip harness. he's not able to get as much power behind a lunge, and I have some stearing control as well. so I can turn his head away from what he's fixated on.

Have you read "Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog" by Emma Parsons? it's a fantastic resource for people with aggressive and fear aggressive dogs.

keep it positive, you're on the right track. your dog is improving in the car, even small improvements are much to celebrate!

I was hoping you would pop in. I seriously don't know why but I still can't completely wrap my head around clicker training. I get the shaping but then get lost after that. Anyway, I'm glad you could help!

[Deafdogsrule]

Ha ha! thanks Lange!

here's a tad bit of insight I got from Emma Parsons about using clicker training to lessen reactivity, and how it works.

Basically, you ARE still shaping, even when using the clicker to help with aggression, you're shaping for calm behaviour, instead of movements.

To a dog who's been conditioned to the clicker, a click is analogous to taking a picture of the exact moment a dog (or any animal) is doing what you want. So in dealing with reactive dogs, it starts with the owner clicking for a breath between snarls, then for longer and longer breaks between snarls. You always reward the dog, even though the dog likely wont take the treat at first. the dog will know he's being rewarded, even though he is too anxious to take the treat. eventually he will (could take months, even years for some dogs) take the treat (and that is huge cause for celebration)

Ollie's at the point now that he will lunge and snarl, but calms almost immediately, and will look to me for his click and treat. so now I'm not just rewarding quiet, but eye contact. though he rarely gets above threshold any more. I'm also able to ask for a sit, and work on calming signals with him. he's worse with some dogs, and I have to ask the other dog's owners to move away, as I dont want to pull Oliver away (unless it's an emergency) as any force when he's over threshold is a bad idea.

The book that I recommended is an amazing book, and though you dont have an aggressive dog, Lange, you may want to read it. You'll understand Clicker Training (for reasons other than teaching tricks) alot better.

[lange]

Funny that that was the book that FIRST peeked my curiosity towards clicker training!! I should have picked it up first! I really want to try it but I won't jump into it until I feel confident I understand what I'm doing. Once I get things cleared up w/kuma I can get back to concentrating on training again. I fell off the wagon when she started getting sick. Now it's skin & coat I read about. (sorry I didn't intend to go off topic rachelianlexi)

[rachelianlexi]

no problem
that is also the major reason why training with Lexi got put on hold, she was unwell since we got her and and one point we were told it could be really serious.
in the end we found out she just had food allergies which was why she was under weight, shaky, had bad skin and eyes and had digestive problems. she is doing alot better now though

[rachelianlexi]

I was also thinking about starting some doggy agility with hjer at home.
I thought this may tire her out physically aswell as stimulate her mentally.
I was hoping this could also help with her confidence. Do you think this is a good idea?

[Deafdogsrule]

Yes, it does help build confidence! Oliver is at his most confident when we're doing trick training. And if he's in a situation that he feels uncomfortable in, I break out the clicker and work on a trick or 2. he transformes from a nervous wreck, into a dog who's happy, bouncy and wiggly, happy to do his favorite tricks! I find that any sort of training, as long as the dog enjoys it, will boost confidence.