[cooper]

Hi, My labradoodle Bryn is 16 months old, he is very affectionate and is so lovely natured. However, a couple of months ago when he was being walked on the lead, an other dog went to attack him. Since then Bryn goes crazy barking and jumping up when he sees another dog whilst he is on the lead. He is fine if he is off the lead, which is ok if he is on the park but when walking in the street and on the lead he goes crazy. I am getting to the stage where I dread taking him out for walks as it gets quite stressful. I am thinking of getting a dog trainer to visit, but wondered if anybody has any suggestions to his problem. Also he gets quite stressed when going in the car and droules quite a lot. We have tried calming drops, DAP spray and stress tablets but they dont seem to have much effect. Please Please help.

 

[K9Summer]

Hello! I do think Bryn can be cured! It is going to take some patience because this is one of those habits that is NOT going to be cured overnight. Take him out on a short leash and bring a treat bag filled with lots of really yummy treats- like cheese or liver- something he doesn't normally get. As soon as he sees another dog, get his attention with the treats and when he looks at you, give him treats. You need to distract him away from making eye contact with that other dog. Don't yell at him, because you will just add to his excited energy. If you know any friends or neighbors with dogs, you can ask them to help you practice this by walking past them. Also, don't expect him to be able to walk right past a dog. Put yourself and at least 10 feet in between Bryn and the other dog.

As far as the car sickness goes, he needs to become more comfortable in the car. Start out slow and take short, 5 minute drives around the block. Don't drive until he starts to drool or get sick. If he is really stressed, I would just get him used to being in the car without even driving anywhere. The more he gets used to the car, the more comfortable he will be and he won't get sick. Don't just take him for car rides once every 2 weeks. Take him every day to get him used to it. Take him for rides to parks to go on walks. Take him when you run errands, etc.
I hope this helps some

Bridget, Summer, and Duke

 

[Jac]

Hello, Bridgit has given you some great advice.

I'd like to add that it is possible that your dog is "fear barking" which can be troublesome to correct. (I have a fear barker too.)
What happens is that they bark to get the "scary thing" (in this case other dogs) away and when the "scary thing" actually goes away, they think that their barking caused it. Therefore, they bark, they succeed in getting the bad guy to leave...so it reinforces the barking.

This is why so many dogs bark at postal workers. They think that the bark makes the guy leave so it empowers them to do it every time...and every time the "bad guy" leaves.

Here is an article with some good advice (although the question is not extremely similar to your situation, the answer may be.)

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Conten ... C=0&A=1010

And here is an excellent article about car sickness:

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Conten ... C=0&A=1422

 

[cooper]

Barking at other dogs

Hi, I have decided to get help in to help Bryn overcome his barking at dogs whilst on the lead. We have a dog therapist coming to our house on Saturday hopefully to cure him and also help with his problem of stress when going in the car. Thanks for you ideas.

 

[NurseLeslie]

My doodle hates riding in the car, too. Let us know what the therapist says about that. Leslie

 

[tpurser]

When I walk Max, he doesn't ever get comfortable..Is tail is always down. He doesn't bark at all. If another dog barks, he gets scared. He seems to be gatting better as we walk more often.

 

[cooper]

barking at other dogs when on the lead

Hi,
Well, we had the dog therapist come round on Saturday and we certainly now have a lot to practice. We have been told that Bryn is trying to protect us when he see's other dogs and also that he is being the leader in our house. When we arrive home and Bryn has been left, we have to ignore him for 5 minutes. Then we can ask him to sit and if he does, we can give him a treat. Bryn always comes up to us and brushes against us and we automatically stroke him and give him fuss. Wev'e been told to ignore him and only give him fuss on our terms. eg. Praise him only when he has worked for it. We are also not allowed to let him go through the door before us. All of this is teaching him that we are the leader and not him, therefore he will learn he does not have to protect us from dogs. With his barking at other dogs I have had a fantastic result in just 2 days. We have to take an empty coke can filled with pebbles out on his walk. If he starts jumping up and barking at dogs we say NO firmly and shake can once. I didn't think it would work, but it has been amazing. We have also been told to change Bryns food. He was on BETA Puppy which has high protein and preservatives, but now we have been advised to change him to Supadog sensitive, it only has 20% protein and no additives and preservatives. Apparantly this should help with his car sickness.

 

[cooper]

car sickness

Hi,

The therapist has also told me to try the following for Bryn's car sickness:
To each of Bryn's feeds add Vitamin B6 (1mg/1kg - dog)
3 hours after feed give small saucer of pure carbohydrate eg. pasta or potato. You should then see a result in 2-3 weeks. Iv'e also got to keep taking him on short rides in the car, even if its only round the corner to the park and when doing the front garden we can just sit him in the car cage with the back up. Hope this helps.

We are going over to the therapists place soon and Bryn is going to get one to one training. He is going to meet the therapists dogs to do more socialising and then we are hoping to follow on with more advanced training.