# Barking at other dogs /bullying behaviour



## Hisnameisarchie (Jul 7, 2019)

Hello! 

So we adopted our V about 10 months ago when he was 18 months old. His previous owners weren't able to handle him and his needs/energy. 
He had excellent basic skills when we got him (sit, wait etc) but could not be walked on leash for longer than 10 minutes, had zero recall and was OBSESSED with other dogs. 
We've done a lot of work with him and now he is perfectly leash trained, has a really good recall (not yet perfect when around certain distractions) and will even walk through our neighbourhood off lead and stay to heel. 
However! His behaviour around other dogs hasn't had such a strong improvement. I don't think his previous owners socialised him very well and we are struggling massively with it. When it comes to play with other dogs he becomes such a bully, barking incessantly in their face trying to get them to play and he won't take no for an answer. It is the one time that he actively ignores us and even runs away from us. We take him to parks nearby for off leash time to get energy out and will always leash him when we see other dogs and let him say hello if we can. However sometimes off leash dogs come along unexpectedly and that's when all **** breaks loose. Nothing we do can get him to listen to us unless we walk away and he will hopefully eventually follow(which you can't always do, especially if the other dog isn't enjoying the interaction). 
Is there anything we can do to help stop this behaviour? Or is this just the way he is? It's so frustrating and annoying! We don't have any friends with dogs to allow him to learn how to behave around other dogs. 
We've worked to try to get his attention when we are close to other dogs and that has definitely improved. It's just those situations where he gets way way too excited and is so wound up that he can't actually hear us calling him back and/or is having too much fun barking at the other dog to come to us. 

Hopefully someone has some advice!


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## Huggytree (Apr 21, 2020)

All he is doing is barking?

no attacks or viscous behavior?

I don’t know if I’d worry about just a bark. Take him to the dog park daily


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I've known plenty of Vizslas that like to bark, and leap around when they play. Your problem is still recall. As you need to get him out of those situations, if the other dog does not care for that type of play. 

My dogs are all ecollar conditioned on recall.. Your going to need a checkcord, and tons of repetition to get him to respond on voice alone. It can be done, but just know your in for a long haul with some dogs.


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## Hisnameisarchie (Jul 7, 2019)

Huggytree said:


> All he is doing is barking?
> 
> no attacks or viscous behavior?
> 
> I don’t know if I’d worry about just a bark. Take him to the dog park daily


It's more than just friendly barking! It's pestering. A couple of inches from the other dog's face and the other dog is clearly anxious or scared, and sometimes the owner too! 
We tried the dog park regularly but it seemed to make him worse unfortunately!


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## Hisnameisarchie (Jul 7, 2019)

texasred said:


> I've known plenty of Vizslas that like to bark, and leap around when they play. Your problem is still recall. As you need to get him out of those situations, if the other dog does not care for that type of play.
> 
> My dogs are all ecollar conditioned on recall.. Your going to need a checkcord, and tons of repetition to get him to respond on voice alone. It can be done, but just know your in for a long haul with some dogs.


Thanks for the advice! I know at the end of the day that it's recall. Its tough, he definitely responds better to my (male) partner's voice as it's louder than mine. 
I've read that you should get professional training for the use of ecollars. They're pretty much non exist any where I live so I don't think I could find a trainer and worry about hurting him or doing it wrong if we do it alone. We did just by a gundog whistle to train recall and we are having some progress. Hopefully it will work. But as you say, yes I think we're in for the long haul!


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