[Emu]

My Field Cocker Jack is two years old, he is a rather nervous dog anyway which has never really been an issue, until new neighbours moved in with three barking dogs. Since their arrival Jack will not walk down the alleyway between our house and the neighbours. How do I encourage Jack to walk down the alley? treats dont seem to work so I have resulted to carrying him which is making him worse and more nervous to walk he just depend on me. Help!?

[Marc]

You either convince the neighbors that they need to curtail their dogs' barking, or you don't go down the alley with Jack. Until Jack can deal with that, it's cruel to subject him to it. If he's always been a 'nervous' dog, then that's his personality. By carrying him down that alley, you're telling him that it's okay for those dogs to act like that and he can't do anything about it. If he (and you) are ever in a threatening situation, he may be trained to believe that the attackers are okay to act like that and he can't do anything about it. Don't force him into unnatural (for him) situations. Find an alternate route.

[Lunareclipse]

Do the neighbors leave their dogs out all the time? I think I would go and explain the situation to them. I have trained all of my dogs to bark once if someone approaches the house. They are allowed no more than one bark. We also have neighbors with dogs that bark every second they are out and it drives Sammie nuts to no end. I'd love to go and punt the neighbors for being able to control their dogs.

[Emu]

Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions.

I tried another approach yesterday and this morning which was to get Jack excited to get home. I higher my voice and I got Jack excited, I do a little skip, which increases his speed which has distracted him enough to work. His concentration went from the alleyway fears to me which was great.. I then rewarded him once in our gate. Hopefully this will work and gradually I can walk home rather than skip ( i do look rather silly!)

Thank you