2 hour bark fest at playtime....help
 

Today Wallee had the opportunity to go to a play group supervised by a trainer. There were all ages and sizes of dogs there. Well out of all the dogs there (probably around 15) he was the ONLY ONE who continually barked for the ball to be thrown. He was so loud that one of the bigger dogs tried to get him to stop on a few occasions. Wallee listened to this dog when she pinned him down and the trainer kept a close eye on them but soon as that dog backed off he barked again for the ball to be thrown obsessively. The trainer said the other dog was annoyed because that is unstable behaviour and it can upset the pack. None of the other dogs barked like that and I was a little embarrased but continued to let him play telling him NO and waiting for a glimpse of quiet before letting him have the ball again. He was the only one also who chased the balls for the whole 2 hours. Needless to say he has been wiped out since we got home. I really want him to be able to be with other dogs and have fun but am a little concerned with his excited barking. He is not like this on walks around other dogs.
I gave been thinking of taking him to
A----obedience school
B---doggy daycare
Anyone have any advice on how to fix this???? I worry he will really cause himself to get hurt if I can't get him to calm down. Oh and lately, he gets that excited when I take him to the pet stores as well.

Sounds normal to me... I'd keep taking him... eventually he'll calm down.

My Tink was ball obsessive, I would take away all the balls bc she was plain crazy. That didn't work so I gave her a few balls... finally it wore off a lot... like she can be in the room with a ball and not be nutso.

If he's not socialized enough or used to being around a large group of dogs, he was likely overexcited by all of the goings on. And he wanted that ball so he might be becoming very possessive of his things but more than likely he's just not very used to a large group would be my guess but since I don't have any other history, that's all it is.

I think you are right about he needs more socialization. There were lots of balls there, he was fine if a dog grabbed one meant for him he would just go grab another one. I am seriously thinking of taking him to daycare once or twice a week.

Yeah, just keep exposing him to dogs and lots of enrichment experiences - the more the better. He'll likely adjust over time.

I'm sure he was very excited being in a large group like that. Do you play ball with him at home? It sounds like he really likes it. Maybe try to play fetch more with him at home so he is not so obsessive about it?

If he is not a barker at home it is kind of hard to teach him not to bark. It seems like the trainer would have had some suggestions for you about how to help calm him down. What is the sense of having a trainer there if they are not helping you?

I would continue to take him out to places like that to see if he will get more comfortable with that kind of setting. I understand the dog being upset with him barking but I would be concerned about a bigger dog doing that to a small dog. You don't know how far a strange dog will go in trying to deal with an annoying barker. No one should allow a dog to do that to another dog. It is not the dog's job to keep things in order. That is the most disturbing thing to me. I question the trainers judgement.

I agree that the big dog scared me a lot. I am looking to get him out to a daycare that seperates the large and small dogs. There were many dogs there smaller than Wallee even but none of the dogs bothered them as they were not barking. We do play ball a lot with him at home and I think I also need to work harder on not letting him bark at us to get us to play. My husband thinks I am sometimes too protective and I saw the results of a dog who was too protected yesterday as the poor little thing just shook and tried to cling to its owner even when approached by puppies half his size. Wallee is definitely not like that and always rolls over submissive when he meets new dogs. I want him to have an enriched life and enjoy the company of other dogs however I do not ever want to put him in danger.