# Fear/Reactive barking



## Wykes (Jun 8, 2021)

So grateful for this forum ... I had no idea I would need to use it so much since getting out V puppy😂. After dealing with the sharkies for what seemed like an eternity we are experiencing some other behaviours that I would love some advice on. I have a 19 week puppy. She has suddenly started barking at everything. At first I thought it was territorial barking as mainly in our yard - but she also is now barking at people/ bikes etc when she is out and so many other things .. the noise of the fridge/ the garbage bin/ the salad bowl etc... With objects i usually introduce her to them slowly and then reward when she touches the object or stops barking . She is usually fine once she realizes there is no danger. My guess is that the barking is out of fear as once she is near object or person she wags her tail/ ears back and super friendly, I have taught her to " speak" - bark on command and also " quiet" however when she is in full barking mode it takes a lot to try and get her attention. We have pretty good neighbours and I have let them know we are working on it - but today our neighbours kids( who walk through our garden every day to get to their house ) were confronted by Ellie in a barking frenzy which freaked them out as she has never done that before. She has been pretty well socialized from a young age so I am wondering if this is a phase.

Also for the first time - when my husband was trying to get her to drop something from her mouth which she normally does she growled at him and barred her teeth which again is a new thing.

Neither of these behaviours are acceptable to me and I would like to nip them in the bud so any help / advice sincerely appreciated. Thank you in advance.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

At around that age, we went through a decent fear period. Ellie was afraid of a lot of things. Even just cars driving by , or a particularly louder than usual truck. She was afraid to walk by garbage cans for awhile. Even at almost 9 months she can get startled pretty easily, she'll even woof with me upstairs when my wife gets home. She has to hear and see my wife to realize its not a danger she hears stirring downstairs. Ellie will also bark at our neighbor's children on the other side of the fence occasionally. I let them meet her and it seemed to calm that down for now. Otherwise it seems you may be going through a fear phase. I suspect that as she matures and you continue with your socialization and fear desensitization (keep it up!) it will subside.

I haven't had to deal with snarling / growling at us or any humans with Ellie. She is about that age where that kind of behavior should be addressed. I would refocus training on preventing resource guarding which is what it sounds like. Practice training lessons like "leave it". Claim an object that you know she likes and not allow her near it. Demonstrate it is yours and she needs to leave it. Then you can release her with your release command or to "get it". This is demonstrating that you are the leader and can take away and give any object in her life, it is not her job to decide who gets what. I'm no professional but that's the training lessons that I would try first. There's a lot of videos out there on the web demonstrating these techniques.


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## Wykes (Jun 8, 2021)

Dan_A said:


> At around that age, we went through a decent fear period. Ellie was afraid of a lot of things. Even just cars driving by , or a particularly louder than usual truck. She was afraid to walk by garbage cans for awhile. Even at almost 9 months she can get startled pretty easily, she'll even woof with me upstairs when my wife gets home. She has to hear and see my wife to realize its not a danger she hears stirring downstairs. Ellie will also bark at our neighbor's children on the other side of the fence occasionally. I let them meet her and it seemed to calm that down for now. Otherwise it seems you may be going through a fear phase. I suspect that as she matures and you continue with your socialization and fear desensitization (keep it up!) it will subside.
> 
> I haven't had to deal with snarling / growling at us or any humans with Ellie. She is about that age where that kind of behavior should be addressed. I would refocus training on preventing resource guarding which is what it sounds like. Practice training lessons like "leave it". Claim an object that you know she likes and not allow her near it. Demonstrate it is yours and she needs to leave it. Then you can release her with your release command or to "get it". This is demonstrating that you are the leader and can take away and give any object in her life, it is not her job to decide who gets what. I'm no professional but that's the training lessons that I would try first. There's a lot of videos out there on the web demonstrating these techniques.


Thanks Dan - super helpful. We have been practicing the "leave it" command and also the "drop it" command - but sounds like we should make it more of a focus. Plus it's hard sometimes when she has it in her mouth to get her to drop it. Re barking , it's a struggle sometimes which kind of barking it is - it seems reactive/fear based most of the time - but i am certainly no expert and barking at strangers is such a new thing so I am hoping it is a phase - but will keep working with her! Jeez.. I feel it's one thing after the other ... and here I was thinking we'll get the perfect puppy 😂


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

Your welcome! I found doing lots of practice with leave it coupled with down - stay has really helped teach Ellie that we control the resources and her best bet at getting something is to behave. She also waits for the "go get it" command with her food bowl when we are feeding her. The drop command is very challenging as they already have it in their mouth and we are asking them to give it up. Ellie almost always hesitates to let go, but after some inflection and trying to make it a tug game, she usually does. This is on me and I have struggled to use treats to reward a quick drop since it seems she always knows when I have one or am going to grab one from a pocket resulting in anticipate which doesn't really help the command being learned.

I seriously doubt your pup is barking out of aggression, i would be very surprised at this age in particular. Most likely reactivity/fear as you suspect. She is going to start testing the world more and more, and right now barking at everything is her choice of interacting with things she doesn't understand or is apprehensive about.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I remember Shine almost flopping on the floor at a pet store, to guard a small bully stick at that age. There were unfamiliar people walking near her, and I’m sure she thought her prize must watched very carefully. I just had them ignore her, and I did the same. After a minute or two, she became more relaxed. I took that opportunity to call her name, and give a little tug on the leash. She carried her prize all the way to the car, and lifted her into the crate with it.

Everyone that knows Shine ( now 3 years old) knows she will gladly share any high value treat with people, and other dogs. But at that age in a unfamiliar place, with strangers near, she was just unsure. She just needed some time to be confident.
I cant take all the credit for Shine’s temperament. A lot of that has to do with her breeder. I can only take credit for raising her in a way that she is does not feel threatened about sharing high value items.


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## Wykes (Jun 8, 2021)

texasred said:


> I remember Shine almost flopping on the floor at a pet store, to guard a small bully stick at that age. There were unfamiliar people walking near her, and I’m sure she thought her prize must watched very carefully. I just had them ignore her, and I did the same. After a minute or two, she became more relaxed. I took that opportunity to call her name, and give a little tug on the leash. She carried her prize all the way to the car, and lifted her into the crate with it.
> 
> Everyone that knows Shine ( now 3 years old) knows she will gladly share any high value treat with people, and other dogs. But at that age in a unfamiliar place, with strangers near, she was just unsure. She just needed some time to be confident.
> I cant take all the credit for Shine’s temperament. A lot of that has to do with her breeder. I can only take credit for raising her in a way that she is does not feel threatened about sharing high value items.


Thanks very much for the response. I am still working out Ellie's temperament. I've had a few dogs and some of them hunting dogs, but none seemed quite as high strung as this little one as she is pretty reactive to a lot of things! Although I asked for a calm dog from the breeder just because I have a daughter with high anxiety, there were only 3 puppies in the litter so I'm not sure how much the guy actually did in assessing her - he was upfront in that he wasn't a hardcore/ professional breeder - just loved the dogs -but he had all the info re parents/ lineage etc and no aggression etc in parents. Anyway, we have what we have .. and I will work with her. Do you have any advice on the barking as that will drive me bonkers and my neighbours! Thank you again for taking the time to respond - you have no idea how much of a difference it makes!


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