# Barking at other dogs and people walking



## papa6611 (Feb 23, 2009)

I recently acquired a 5 year old female Maltese, her name is Isabelle. She was raised with her sister and 3 other Maltese dogs. She appears to be very shy. I have completed obedience training with her and she did very well in a quiet inside environment with the trainer. I travelled with my wife and Isabelle to Florida, where I have begun exposing Isabelle to the outdoor noises, people walking as well as peolple walking their dogs. Isabelle does very well with heel, sit, stay, down and release when things are quite. However, when walkers, runners or people walking other dogs are within her sight, Isabelle barks and growls, she wants to charge the strange dogs and barks at the strangers. I quickly turn away to distract her and walk away. If Isabelle looks over her shouder and can see these distractions, her behavior turns to barking and growling and pulling get at the dogs. If we can get out of sight, she calms down and will heel again. Any adivise?? Thanks


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## princessre (Dec 23, 2008)

QUOTE (papa6611 @ Feb 23 2009, 09:23 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=732565


> I recently acquired a 5 year old female Maltese, her name is Isabelle. She was raised with her sister and 3 other Maltese dogs. She appears to be very shy. I have completed obedience training with her and she did very well in a quiet inside environment with the trainer. I travelled with my wife and Isabelle to Florida, where I have begun exposing Isabelle to the outdoor noises, people walking as well as peolple walking their dogs. Isabelle does very well with heel, sit, stay, down and release when things are quite. However, when walkers, runners or people walking other dogs are within her sight, Isabelle barks and growls, she wants to charge the strange dogs and barks at the strangers. I quickly turn away to distract her and walk away. If Isabelle looks over her shouder and can see these distractions, her behavior turns to barking and growling and pulling get at the dogs. If we can get out of sight, she calms down and will heel again. Any adivise?? Thanks[/B]



Do you think the barking is due to her getting excited and wanting to investigate and greet the strangers? Or does it seem more aggressive than that?


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## The A Team (Dec 1, 2005)

Hummmmm....  .....you seem to be describing my dogs..... :w00t: :new_shocked: 

Have you ever been walking when the UPS truck went by? :smstarz:


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## papa6611 (Feb 23, 2009)

QUOTE (princessre @ Feb 26 2009, 08:20 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=734535


> QUOTE (papa6611 @ Feb 23 2009, 09:23 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=732565





> I recently acquired a 5 year old female Maltese, her name is Isabelle. She was raised with her sister and 3 other Maltese dogs. She appears to be very shy. I have completed obedience training with her and she did very well in a quiet inside environment with the trainer. I travelled with my wife and Isabelle to Florida, where I have begun exposing Isabelle to the outdoor noises, people walking as well as peolple walking their dogs. Isabelle does very well with heel, sit, stay, down and release when things are quite. However, when walkers, runners or people walking other dogs are within her sight, Isabelle barks and growls, she wants to charge the strange dogs and barks at the strangers. I quickly turn away to distract her and walk away. If Isabelle looks over her shouder and can see these distractions, her behavior turns to barking and growling and pulling get at the dogs. If we can get out of sight, she calms down and will heel again. Any adivise?? Thanks[/B]



Do you think the barking is due to her getting excited and wanting to investigate and greet the strangers? Or does it seem more aggressive than that?
[/B][/QUOTE]


Isabelle has her tail wagging and is very excited. I have tried picking her up and holding her, this calms her down with people. I believe when she sees that the stranger is accepted by me, she accepts them and I can place her down and let her sniff the person. She does not accept petting at this point ... no touching. As far as other dogs go, she fights if I pick her up and wants to get down and engaged the dog, I am afraid she could bite (I am not sure she would ..... she has always been a very gentle and loving dog).


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## Moxie'smom (Dec 16, 2007)

It sounds like you need to do some distraction training. I would try to work with your fluff slowly outside of your home. Start with a place that it not too crazy with people and dogs etc. and just go back to the beginning and work on sit, down etc. if your pup is food motivated, you might need to choose treats of higher value to keep her attention. (always on a leash). 
And then once that is working for both of you, go to a place that is slightly more crowded and do the same thing. When you get the results your comfortable with then and only then move on. Don't move her to a crazy area too fast. Just get her use to listening to you and being relaxed in the environment until you more on to the next place. 

The other thing that you can try is using a gentle leader when you go for walks. It is a tool that rides high on the back of their neck and goes around their nose. It's hard to explain, but you can find a lot of info and see it ion action on You Tube. We actually used it for Moxie to teach him how to walk without pulling. This leader gives you control over their head and it also makes them feel more confident in the situations you mentioned. For training it works much better than a harness. 

Moxie started growling at other dogs and as soon as we used this leader, it helped us teach him to sit when other dogs would approach and only be released when he was calm. Fit is very important and usually when you buy it at the pet store someone can assist you. They also come in petite sizes. If you decide to get this leader, it's really important how you introduce it to her. You use a lot of treats and you go slowly. It comes with a CD that will explain everything. It helped us greatly when we had similar issues.

Since it sounds like you had so much success in obedience, You also might want to try going to a more intermediate GROUP class as well. Getting your pup to listen to you when in the company of other dogs is a challange sometimes. A group environment is the perfect place to go to correct this. We also did and still do this with Moxie. It will make an difference how she will start acting after a few classes with a good trainer. Sounds like your pup is really smart, but could use a little more training in the proper environments.


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## papa6611 (Feb 23, 2009)

QUOTE (2MaltMom @ Feb 26 2009, 08:22 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=734538


> Hummmmm....  .....you seem to be describing my dogs..... :w00t: :new_shocked:
> 
> Have you ever been walking when the UPS truck went by? :smstarz:[/B]



Yes, I have walked past many trucks and other vehicles, they do not bother Isabelle, are you having problems with UPS trucks or all vehicles?


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## 3malteseboyz (Feb 6, 2008)

QUOTE (papa6611 @ Feb 23 2009, 09:23 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=732565


> I recently acquired a 5 year old female Maltese, her name is Isabelle. She was raised with her sister and 3 other Maltese dogs. She appears to be very shy. I have completed obedience training with her and she did very well in a quiet inside environment with the trainer. I travelled with my wife and Isabelle to Florida, where I have begun exposing Isabelle to the outdoor noises, people walking as well as peolple walking their dogs. Isabelle does very well with heel, sit, stay, down and release when things are quite. However, when walkers, runners or people walking other dogs are within her sight, Isabelle barks and growls, she wants to charge the strange dogs and barks at the strangers. I quickly turn away to distract her and walk away. If Isabelle looks over her shouder and can see these distractions, her behavior turns to barking and growling and pulling get at the dogs. If we can get out of sight, she calms down and will heel again. Any adivise?? Thanks[/B]


You may want to try treat training. Hold a treat when you see people and/or pets coming your way. You can distract Isabella with small pieces of her favorite treat (have a treat(s) ready). With her leash on and in a sit position hold the treat up a little so that Isabelle's head will be looking up. Then hold the treat to her and let her nibble on it (not giving her the full treat all at once.) She should be nibbling on the treat when the people and/or pets pass her. When she does tell her good girl. Do this very time you know a person and/or pet is coming your way. This will distract her attention away from the people and/or pets. She should soon learn that treats are better then barking, etc. Hopefully after a time the treats will not be necessary. Also you s/b standing in front of her.


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