Would I look stupid?
 

Smokey has a major barking problem and only does it at the sight of other dogs. Would I look stupid if I took him somewhere like PetSmart or PetCo and had a squirt bottle with me for when he starts getting out of control?

Oh well.. you ga the do what you ga the do...;)

True... very true.

I just have to do something about this behavior and the squirt bottle worked when teaching him to play nice with kitty.

Good luck! If you didn't want to do it at the store, a dog park might provide you with the opportunity to work on it too.

I'd love to go to a dog park, but the closest one is 30-45 minutes away lol

What if you took a handfull or pocket full of treat instead and reinforced what you wanted by every time he took a breath say yes and hand him a treat.

Therefore catching him doing and being good rather then reinforcing the not so good. Dogs and human alike tend to do more of anything that is noticed more even if it nocied by being punished.
so ignore the barking and listen for an intact of air and reinforce that and you will see more of it... it will take time.

JL

Petsmart would think nothing of it! As a matter of fact they teach that method of training in their classes!;)

I've actually tried the treat thing with him. His problem isn't just a little yipping... he really makes a scene. One time I had him in there and I drug him away and a few minutes later this lady was playing with Smokey and Chip and was like "Did you hear all the rukus?!" and I said "Yea, that was him"

If he's barking at dogs there's a really good chance it's anxiety and taking him to Petsmart probably won't help. My dogs (even Sam who doesn't have anxiety) don't like it there. You'd be much better off outside, where you have more control and can walk away. Sometimes people at petsmart just assume your dog is friendly and come right over even if you ask for some space. We have tons of dogs in our neighborhood so when I work with Loki I just sit in the front lawn and wait for dogs to walk by. Everyone walks their dog when they get home at 5pm.

The treat method works better for anxiety/reactive barking. The spray bottle really only works if the dog is barking to get attention. If they are already on edge spraying them isn't going to help. ;)

He's actually very friendly. I don't think he barks out of anxiety, to be honest... I think he just gets so excited and wants to play so bad that he just goes nuts... he does the same thing when he sees our cat and he starts playing really rough. He actually loves going to PetSmart. He puts his head up real high and just prances through that store like he owns the place. I just think he's never been trained (and it's partly my fault). We got him at 6 months old and because of this behavior, I don't take him out much, because he gets really obnoxious and a simple treat won't distract him for anything. I'm going to try and take him out tonight and get a video so everyone can see what I mean.

The squirt bottle could add to the anxiety. I found that redirecting them works really well. You're not always going to have a water bottle handy, and I have found that if Joey comes upon a dog and starts barking, I say no, and turn him in the other direction, sometimes he'll turn his head to bark, but again I go in a place where he can't see the dog. He learns that barking doesn't really accomplish much, and if he's quite, he's allowed to sit there and smell the other dog. Joey was a terror at age 1 with other dogs, now at two; he's a real pussycat.

OK so plan b and a half..... up the level you reinforce to the point you are at rapid fire..... also up the level from OK treats to stunning. find stunning what ever it is. Mine like vanilla drops or I even toss out a sniff at a coffee.
There was one dog that worked for sheep poop.... OK even for me that pushing it but he was one bad boy.

Now hang in... if you must pull out the squirt.. I not happy using a interrupter.. hat is proper name but... if it the only way to get to the quite do it. Now your goal is to up the treats and lesson the squirt. and you have to teach what do do instead of barking which is quiet and not just stop the action or it will pop up in a different behavior.
I agree with Erin and had hoped someone else would say it pet smart is to intense to start with go find bate dogs on the street and work this just before he get all hot and bothered as if he running hot no good learning going to stick.

Make sense.. if your scare of something you personally is your brain going to retain anything??? lower the stress and you will see it work.
Remeber just when you think your dogs got it it will all fall apart as it goes from short term memory to long and you have to hang in and stay focus so you gain ground.

JL

Well you might look silly but I do it sometimes on our walks...

We have a coffee shop downtown, and often people sit at the outdoor tables with their dogs. Thee were three of us outside with our dogs one day. Coby was very good, although at that time a jumpy (but quiet) puppy.

There was a couple with two large dogs that were being trained with attentiveness using treats each time a dog walked by. Each time a dog or person would walk by, they stood up and got their dogs attention using treats and kept the attention until the passer-by was gone.

And the third table had a an elderly lady and her beautiful big dog. She had a squirt bottle right on her table and when dogs and people would pass and the dog would begin to bark, she would use the squirt bottle and speak gently to her dog.

So I think everyone tries things until they find what works. If I saw you in Petsmart with a squirt bottle, I would be proud of you for trying something to control the behavior (I feel that way about parents who try to make their kids behave too. ;) ) .... but if you squirt in the store, be sure to wipe up any spray - you wouldn't want someone to slip in a "puddle" .... which reminds me of my REAL pet peeve with people not cleaning up after their dogs in the pet store. LOL

Just a question and not an attack but just how many things do you say the word No to that which your dogs does? How many times a day do you say it to them?

Take some time to add that up in a day and stop to think just how clear
No ( do not bark)
No (do not touch that)
No (stop beating on your sibling)
No ( get off the couch)
No (running out the door)
No ( peeing in the house)...........

No losses a lot of it ability when it only No.. Poor dogs left to wonder what that No means this time. They do really well most times but it be easier on them if things got clearfied. Yes???

Why not off ,leave it, down, quiet,
No is just a word that unlike we humans can translate from No to what ever fast... remember dogs language is not ours.

I had to educate the gang here when we moved to stop Noing the creatures.

NO what ???? finally I hearing out, back, sit, stay, off, not a NO!!!!!
I had to make sure that I did not catch the Nos from them. That was tough I just about cracked.

I have critters that are functioning on a whole other level again and are listening and doing as ask cause it an action word given not a NO stop word.
Just a thought.. yes a differnt way to look at it.
No it does not make what you do wrong it is a differnt train of thought to look at.

JL