# Guarding getting extreme



## Gingernutter (Dec 4, 2011)

Hi all, Mylo is 6 months today and in the last two weeks has become very vocal at anything and everyone. He has no aggression and is more likely to lick someone to death than attack however he does bark at everyone who approaches me or the house or the car....infact if he is unsure he barks. Although it's reassuring that he has a protective streak he is now getting a little bigger and barks a bit deeper and I have now noticed people who dont know him ask me if he is "OK" to approach, this really is not the behaviour I want as he barked at two young girls the other day and scared them and I have two girls myself and know they would have been scared too had it been an unfamiliar dog to them. 

Any thoughts on this and how to curb it would be great. He really is the kindest and safe dog and I just don't want people to be scared of such a lovable puppy.


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## born36 (Jun 28, 2011)

What you need to do is if you are walking him pay very close attention to his body language and correct him by a direct touch to his neck. You might have seen this before if you watch The Dog Whisperer. I don't agree with everything that Ceasar Milan does like the kicking touch but this one works good. Wait for the right moment and as soon as he barks use three fingers to do a sharp touch to his neck. Not a punch or grab just a sharp nudge. It should be a way that will snap him out of the habit. The other thing you can try in the house is pet corrector spray which is air in a can. If he barks spray the air it makes a hiss noise that should snap him out of it.


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## polkan (Dec 29, 2011)

Gingernutter, I would suggest you observe him very very closely before and during this behavior before you attempt any corrective training. 

Barking can be triggered by either possessiveness _or_ anxiety/fearfulness. Unfortunately, mistaking one for the other and correcting "aggression" in a nervous dog makes everything worse.

Watch if he sniffs the ground when he sees someone approaching, if he licks his lips, yawns, what he does with his tail, posture, and so on. 

Turid Rugaas is a world renowned trainer specializing in canine body language and there is a lot of information out there that you could use to understand what's causing this behavior. Look on YouTube and Amazon.


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

:-[ German Shepherds do that all the time, if allowed. They have to be secure and feel the handler is making choices not them. 
Most of the time they simply announce someone unknown is approaching. People interpret it wrong and feel the dog has aggression issues. Quite embarrassing. 

I agree with *Born36* Caesar Millan kicking special is not possible with my V. The dog will start to anticipate.

Redirecting the dog's attention just at the moment it makes contact by popping the leash. A prong collar makes this much more effective. 

However, usually Vizsla dogs are quiet. Usually a condioned response, but preexisting medical conditions may also be the reason. 

And Turid Rugaas is excellent as an academic exercise, but in the heat the moment nothing replaces the correction a dog gets from the prong collar. 
As suggested, please check out Rugaas on Dogwise and buy her ebooks on barking and dog language.


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

I had a Bluetick Coonhound who used to "announce". Any time someone came into the house, she would tell the people who were already there. If you were the first one home, entering the empty (except for the dog) house, no announcement would be made. It really had absolutely nothing to do with aggression.


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## Linescreamer (Sep 28, 2010)

This will take allot of time and focus on your part to correct. He is unsure or a bit fearfull, which causes the bark. There maybe other things that are happening in his home that encourage the bark. If this is a big issue for you, I would suggest getting some professional help if you can't curtail the barking in short order. I would start with a spray bottle and water. Every time he barks, shoot him in the nose. If that doesn't work try the air horn. An e/bark-collar will also work. These activities in conjunction with training the dog to bark and be quiet together will help significantly. *The dog needs to understand what quiet means*. Yelling "BE QUIET" is the absolute worst thing you can say. Using an e/bark-collar to inflict pain without the "be quiet" training is also not good. It may take a month or so of constantly being on top of him. If he is left alone and given the opportunity to bark without recourse, it will be an uphill battle. Good luck. Let us know which direction you choose and your success.


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## jjohnson (Nov 9, 2011)

Our Gus is 8 months and does the exact same thing! Except for he will snap if he gets cornered, and sometimes his barking turns to a not-so-nice growling. I bet your puppy is scared or has some anxiety about the things he is barking at. We felt like we had a bit more of a problem so we met with a trainer/behaviorist in our home. See my most recent post on "fear aggression in new puppy" if you want to see a summary of our meeting! 

The way he recommended to deal with similar behavior is called "counter conditiong". Basically, watch your dog, and if you see signs he is getting nervous, you say his name (click if doing clicker training) and give him treats. Lots of treats. The point is to take his focus off of the scary thing and onto you. Eventually, scary things=treats, and hopefully the barking/anxiety eases up. Of course, that is my lame summary...if you want, I would happy to try to scan and send you some handouts he gave us about ways to work on this. The problem with any sort of punishment is that it may increase his anxiety level because then scary things=mom being mad, and it may get worse, based on our trainer's experience.


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## Linescreamer (Sep 28, 2010)

jjohnson said:


> Of course, that is my lame summary...if you want, I would happy to try to scan and send you some handouts he gave us about ways to work on this. The problem with any sort of punishment is that it may increase his anxiety level because then scary things=mom being mad, and it may get worse, based on our trainer's experience.


Can you scan and post all to benefit. Any info on the trainers credentials would also be beneficial. Thanks


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## jjohnson (Nov 9, 2011)

Here is a brief summary that we have in PDF form already. Additional details that exapand on these concepts need to be scanned, so I will have to do that later. I also included some of the description of our dog's behavior so you can judge if it is similar to your dog's. Our behaviorist is Dr. Jim Ha, PhD, CAAB who works for Companion Animal Solutions here in Seattle and is a professor at the University of Washington. He was really nice, extremely knowledgable, interesting to talk to, and seemed genuinly interested in helping us! He also will provide us with ongoing support via phone and email. I would definietly recommend him if you are near the Seattle area. That being said, it was pretty expensive, so hopefully more Vizsla owners can benefit from this! The company also has a blog, which I find fun to read: http://companionanimalsolutions.com/blogs/


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## jjohnson (Nov 9, 2011)

PS-sorry for so many posts about this; I just find it extremely interesting! I am super-jealous of Dr. Ha; if I had known I could make a career out of studying animal behavior, I totally would have! Working with and studying dogs all day sounds like the best job ever


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

Lots of good advice on the previous posts for dealing with the pup.

For dealing with people…call out as they approach. Something to the effect of ‘please excuse us, we are still a puppy and are working on manners’. When the barking starts, usually they will smile tolerantly rather than back off fearfully. Removing the tension from the people may actually help you calm your pup down, too.


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## laurita (Jun 12, 2011)

Hi Gingernutter,
I personally am not a fan of using corrections during fear based behaviors. To me, this is more a question of socializing your pup to be used to a variety of different strangers rather than possession over you. Obviously, you know Mylo best... I think vizslas are less likely to act possessive and a little more likely to act skittish around strangers. Assuming this is the case (disregard this message if you think it's not), what you want to try to achieve is getting your vizsla to think that strangers mean great things. Unfortunately, my V loves strangers a little too much. He loves people, and I think it's partially his personality, and partially because he's been raised to believe that approaching strangers lead to good scratchings, love, and treats. I agree with the PDF that jjohnson attached. These things take time, unfortunately, so what I would do is simultaneously keep Mylo away from strangers or "types of strangers" who may set him off, while staging conditioning exercises with strangers (to him) who can help you out. If you can, check out the Cautious Canine by Patricia McConnell to help counter-condition or train your dog to replace those fearful emotions when around strangers to becoming more confident. http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/product/cautious-canine-dog-training-book. Puppies go through many fear stages, and he may grow out of this completely if you work on it, or you might just see improvement but still have to manage it.

A few tips:
-try not to allow strangers to approach your dog. if there is someone coming over to your house, etc, try to have treats waiting for them outside to give to your dog. Have them not look, talk to, or touch Mylo and just toss treats from far away.
-do some counterconditioning exercises as jjohnson's trainer suggests. when you do, start small, don't expect too much, and if your dog reacts, you've gone too far and need to reduce the intensity of the stimuli (distance of stranger, for instance)

Good luck and if you need any more help, please let me know!

Laura


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## Linescreamer (Sep 28, 2010)

jjohnson said:


> Our behaviorist is Dr. Jim Ha, PhD, CAAB who works for Companion Animal Solutions here in Seattle and is a professor at the University of Washington. He was really nice.


Not just nice, but really knows what he is doing!


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## Gingernutter (Dec 4, 2011)

Hi all, firstly thanks to all of you for taking the time to reply, there is so much good advice it's hard to know where to start.I'll mention a few things as answers to a few different responses.

Aggression is definitely something I am not concerned with with Mylo, I would trust him 100% in any situation as he really is so gentle and this is so obvious with how tolerant he is with my 2.5 year old daughter that often has him in a head lock with whilst trying to fight him licking her ears for the 100th time! 

I have also socialised Mylo from the 1st day he was clear of his vaccinations. I am in the military and take him to work with me every day where he meets many many people and other dogs. Although I must admit this is one of the places I noticed he got a bit funny when he saw guys with big back packs on (which to be fair I didn't blame him as they do look a bit odd). 

In reference to one post Mylo never barks when I or anyone comes home to him and a empty house only when someone knocks the door.

Its hard in some ways as I do sometimes work away for long periods and it will be reassuring for my wife to have a vocal dog at the right times but if only this could be controlled to be at hers or my request. 

I will definitely try and spot the signs and try to distract him and also look into some of the other techniques that have been mentioned. 

I really think it's all about the early warning with him. When he does stand there barking at a soldier in a back pack as soon as they walk upto him his tale starts to wag and he is fine. 

Sorry if I have been a bit random in this reply?


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## Lincolns Parents (Aug 6, 2011)

@ jjohnson....... thats great info thanks! 

Lincoln has a fear reaction to strangers that come to the house....we have been working on that and have had good progress.

We got Lincoln at a breeder in Arlington WA.... where did you get Gus? I guess Lincoln just turned 9 months so im sure its not the same breeder. :
Lol


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## jjohnson (Nov 9, 2011)

We got Gus from a breeder in Idaho...He only has two brothers, one lives in Las Vegas now and one stayed with the breeder!


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