Excited barking/ turns a bit aggressive

[jvand44]

Hi, I have a 2.5 year old Aussie/border collie/Bernese mix ( I think). He has been socialized a ton and 90% well behaved and awesome! In the last few months he has started being reactive on a leash to other dogs and if a dog is submissive he gets even more barky. ( most of his exercise is off leash) I am trying distractions with heal and with treats sometimes it works unless I am to late getting the treats. It starts as an excited bark but obviously can wind up the other dogs and mine Gibson as well. My goal is to be able to walk by another dog with out getting wound up??? Do you think it’s a bit of an age thing? Like checking out his dominance? He never really barked till after he turned 2? Thanks in advance Jamie

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello and welcome to the forums!

It's great to hear that your dog has been socialized so much and is awesome, kudos to you for doing such a great job! There is barking and barking when dogs are on leash. We have on one hand dogs who bark because they wish to decrease distance and dogs who bark because they wish to increase distance due to fear/aggression. Telling the two apart can be a challenge sometimes.

 

Dogs who bark to decrease distance are often displaying signs of what is known as "barrier frustration." Since you mention your dog starts with excited barking then, this may be what you are dealing with. I am not sure if you read the article on barrier frustration yet, but in case you haven't, the link is here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/barrier-frustration/ You may need to login as a member in order to access that.

 

One thing that dogs displaying barrier frustration share is this common element: the dog acts "reactive" when on leash, but then once off leash. he plays well with other dogs without any incidents. If this would be truly a case of pure barrier frustration barking a good way to tackle this would be by training an alternate behavior such as heeling/attention heeling, which it sounds like it's what you are already doing. A dog barking due to frustration is often a dog who simply needs to better learn impulse control and frustration tolerance .

 

It's always a good idea to start training the alternate behavior in a quiet area at first (at home) until you obtain a fluent response and reward it generously. Then, practice in the yard, then on walks with no triggers and then at a distance from triggers gradually reducing distance. Setbacks are always possible, and in those cases, they are a signs that you have gone too fast in the process or your dog wasn't ready for encounters with stimuli of a certain intensity. In those cases, a few steps back in the process are needed always paying attention to not send the dog "over threshold." Here's a read on threshold levels:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

 

Now, you mention being too late getting the treats. This is understandable and can be due to dogs popping out of nowhere or not having treats handy or perhaps a combo of the two. One way I remedy this is by keeping the treats in my pocket and holding some in my hand so that treat delivery is flawless and delivered on time every few steps.

 

Also, I do what I call "defensive dog walking" which is the doggy version of "defensive driving." In other words, I am always constantly scanning the environment on walks. No talking on the phone, window shopping or having a conversation with others. I am always readily looking around and watching the dog's body language as sometimes the dog tells me there is another dog before I can even see it (this happens often in crowds, the dog sees the other dog before me or hears the tags jingling before I do).

 

In any case, if you see a dog at a distance coming your way and you are not ready, you can always use what's known as "the emergency u-turn:"https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/

 

Now, as mentioned, some dogs bark on walks because they are fearful/aggressive rather than excited. While these cases benefit too from learning to heel in presence of other dogs, before doing that I prefer using counterconditioning and desensitization. In other words, I just deliver treats at the sight of the dog without asking a particular behavior. This is because dogs who are on a fearful state are often too over threshold due to chemicals in their brains activating the fight or flight response to be able to cognitively function (they can't focus well) until their emotional state is more responsive. Once they are more responsive, then we gradually switch more into operant mode and ask for behaviors.

 

You can read more about counterconditioning and desensitization here if interested.

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/

 

To answer your question, thinking in terms of "dominant" or "submissive" can sometimes blur what we are really seeing. What exactly are the other dogs doing to suggest they are being submissive? What does your dog seem to be react to exactly? Are they avoiding eye contact? Tucking their tails and folding their ears back? Are they tentative to approach? Lowering their bodies? Rolling over their backs? Perhaps he is barking in hopes of getting more "engagement" from these dogs who are trying to avoid him or maybe are inhibited by his exuberance. Or perhaps, he understood that barking at dogs displaying a certain body language makes them more likely withdraw.

 

It is not unusual for many dogs to reach the adolescent stage and start becoming a bit less tolerant of other dogs or downright standoffish. On the other hand, some dogs around this age may just be testing how other dogs react to their barking. So perhaps your dog is seeing that when he barks certain dogs respond in a certain way and their response reinforces his barking. Or perhaps, the body language of certain dogs may stimulate him to bark. Of course, hard to say what may be really going on their mind, so until dogs can talk, we may just be making assumptions.

 

Hope this helps! Let me know if you need any further assistance!

Best,

Adrienne

Edited June 5, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli