Unnecessary (and sometimes aggressive) barking

[gymangel812]

my aussie has developed a habit over the past month or two of excessive barking, especially around other dogs. she does agility (and has for 6+ months) and the barking is particularly bad there. she can sound aggressive when she barks also. it's worse with certain dogs. it's hard to get her attention after she starts. i try to keep her attention with various tricks and "watch me's". but it only works so much and gets frustrating for both of us. i'm afraid (and the instructors are too) that if she is off leash and her attention is somewhere else, that she will attack another dog. she didn't use to do this when we first started. i've also noticed the same behavior on walks. when on walks, she also barks (sometimes aggressively) at kids and men. it seems that when she barks at people, it may be more fear based.

i fear if she doesn't get over this soon, we won't be able to continue with agility, something that both she & i love.

 

[Zoom]

My Aussie has a big issue with "control barking" when at agility as well. It's part of the herding behavior; there is a lot of high-energy commotion going on and it's Aussie instinct to make everything quiet and orderly! It seemed like the more I tried to calm Sawyer down, the more frustrated he sounded. I don't know your dog, but I would be willing to wager that "attack" is not what is on her mind.

The books "Control Unleashed" and "Click to Calm" will be of great help to you. Just keep working with getting her attention and being consistant with your expectations. Dogs go through a second "fear period" around 7-8 months of age as well and she could be entering into the beginning stages of that. Again, stay constant with what you want out of her and don't let her get away with being a brat.

 

[adojrts]

I second the books that have been recommended, both are excellent.

You also need to teach her self control and train in an auto stop/down/sit before she starts to get over stimulated.

What skills have you learned in agility? I asked that question because it is important concerning the questions you have asked.

 

[gymangel812]

I second the books that have been recommended, both are excellent.

You also need to teach her self control and train in an auto stop/down/sit before she starts to get over stimulated.

What skills have you learned in agility? I asked that question because it is important concerning the questions you have asked.

how would i go about training the auto sits/downs?

we are doing all obstacles in agility. the session i am currently in focuses on crosses. we do mini courses, not full ones.

Zoom - that does sound exactly like what she is doing. she's seems to be getting *too* excited over the situation. most of her barking sounds like a frusterated bark (except when it sounds more aggression based).

 

[adojrts]

Auto sit and or down, is just working with them to sit/down the moment you ask for it and to not move. Even at a dead run, however it has to be taught away from agility first with no distractions or anything to get her over stimulated. Then you carefully introduce distractions at a distance, increase the distactions etc and always to high rewards.

For agility training, the second she started to bark at me, I would stop and leave the ring, training ends and she goes in her crate. The other thing you can do is tie her or put her in a very secure x-pen, let her go nuts watching the other dogs and when she stops reward and bring her out. She will learn that by being quiet gets her what she wants. BUT don't speak to her or even look at her while she is bark and neither should anyone else. Only calm and quiet behaviours are rewarded.

While running agility, I would make sure that she absolutely knows her job, that you are delievering the information to her at the right time and not late. I would do a lot of backchaining of sequences and I would also work at improving my lateral and distance skills.

Video tape your lessons, see if you can pinpoint when she starts barking at you, is it when you are late or when you hesitate? Are you giving conflicting cues? Is she checking in with you too much? You may want to develope handler/obstacle focus skills. Is she confident enough doing the equipment that you can send her to it or recall her over it?

You said that you are working on Front Crosses, were they first taught on the flat or while running a short sequence?

 

[gymangel812]

Auto sit and or down, is just working with them to sit/down the moment you ask for it and to not move. Even at a dead run, however it has to be taught away from agility first with no distractions or anything to get her over stimulated. Then you carefully introduce distractions at a distance, increase the distactions etc and always to high rewards.

For agility training, the second she started to bark at me, I would stop and leave the ring, training ends and she goes in her crate. The other thing you can do is tie her or put her in a very secure x-pen, let her go nuts watching the other dogs and when she stops reward and bring her out. She will learn that by being quiet gets her what she wants. BUT don't speak to her or even look at her while she is bark and neither should anyone else. Only calm and quiet behaviours are rewarded.

While running agility, I would make sure that she absolutely knows her job, that you are delievering the information to her at the right time and not late. I would do a lot of backchaining of sequences and I would also work at improving my lateral and distance skills.

Video tape your lessons, see if you can pinpoint when she starts barking at you, is it when you are late or when you hesitate? Are you giving conflicting cues? Is she checking in with you too much? You may want to develope handler/obstacle focus skills. Is she confident enough doing the equipment that you can send her to it or recall her over it?

You said that you are working on Front Crosses, were they first taught on the flat or while running a short sequence?

she doesn't do the barking thing when she's actively on the course doing agility. perhaps i'll try ignoring and leaving when she starts barking. both are very good ideas, thanks.

i will also start training the auto sits and downs. the problem with her doing sits is she can do them fine without distractions but she sometimes decides she just doesn't want to do sit or down and will stare blankly at me. what should i do about that? she obivously knows how to do it, she just doesn't want to. also, i've tried having her sit or down when i notice she might start her barking fits but she often just gets up and starts barking. what would i do in this situation?

 

[corgipower]

Ares used to get very worked up barking and lunging at other dogs in agility when they were running and he wasn't. It was a frustration/herdy/chase bark.

Taking him out of class at the first sign of him starting to work himself up helped a lot. I'd bring him back in when it was his turn to run -- I didn't see any point in not running him. Also time, maturity and obedience and self-control training helped.

i will also start training the auto sits and downs. the problem with her doing sits is she can do them fine without distractions but she sometimes decides she just doesn't want to do sit or down and will stare blankly at me. what should i do about that? she obivously knows how to do it, she just doesn't want to. also, i've tried having her sit or down when i notice she might start her barking fits but she often just gets up and starts barking. what would i do in this situation?

What are the circumstances when she "decides she just doesn't want to do sit or down and will stare blankly"? Is it when distractions are present? Training a dog under distraction initially requires pretty much starting over - each distraction is a new exercise - until they get enough variants that they generalize the behavior. She might not know what you're asking for or she might not be sufficiently motivated to do it.

When you say "i've tried having her sit or down when i notice she might start her barking fits but she often just gets up and starts barking", are you talking about in agility class or outside of class? If it's outside of class, what's she barking about? If it's in class, remove her from class.