| Re: Fear barking?
Gary really doesn't have as big of an issue with people coming into the house as he does with weird things going on outside. Like I have said before, our house is busy and people are coming in and out all the time. He is friendly with strangers too and loves attention. So if someone knocks on the door to come in, that is what he will bark at because it is weird (our door is always open during the day and people come in without knocking and are always unannounced lol) But if something seems out of the ordinary, I swear he gets afraid and thats what makes him bark. He doesn't do an alert bark, it is an "I'm afraid, keep that away from me, BARK!" And I can tell because he tucks his tail, and doesn't stand his ground, ears are back, and he looks away and back at the object. A confident alert bark would be where the dog stands his ground and usually tail and head up high with ears forward, maintaining eye contact. *Sigh* I think Gary is a weak nerved dog.
Anyways, when he was afraid of the garbage can I did walk him over to the area the noise came from and let him investigate it. My concern though is when I was tryirng to get him to stop barking that I made him even more fearful - he was barking, I was mad that he was barking, so he got more afraid and barked more.
I usually don't bring treats out with me when he is out to potty - as he gets a treat for coming back inside after doing his business. If I started to, that I could be prepared if I see something occuring that could potentially make him bark...but really those things only happen less than once a week.
Lately I have been working more on leave-it by teaching Gary that after I have said leave it he is to ignore the object and come to me and make eye contact. He is good at it now when I am practicing with home made distractions, but the other night I was out walking him practicing heeling and the neighbors drove up to their house and were unloading groceries, and of course he started doing his little grunts and was afraid of what was going on. No matter how many times I told him leave it and watch me, he just wouldn't do it. I had to stand infront of him to get him to look at me, and after he did for a second he went around me to stare at them again.
ARRGG  |