Your Dog Barks At People When Out On A Walk
You’ve probably been there; you’re walking your dog and suddenly you spot someone else enjoying their time outside with their pooch. You get closer and your dog starts to bark at the other dog and then pulls on the lead.
You get embarrassed and frustrated, maybe even angry. You might tell them off or even shout at them to stop. It doesn’t seem to make any difference.
Firstly, try to understand what your dog is telling you by barking – are they scared, aggressive or frustrated?
I Want To Go Over There!
Your dog might be frustrated because they can’t get to the other dog or person and they really, really want to go over and check them out. The other dog might smell interesting or be a friend or a potential new friend.
This kind of barking is called frustration-related barking. Your dog just wants to go over and say Hi!
But how can you tell that’s all it is??
If your dog is pulling, barking, and wagging their tail, the chances are they are just frustrated and want to go over and investigate. They mean no harm.
There’s no snarling, no growling and no hackles raised. This is typical frustration-related barking.
You have a couple of choices in this instance:
Keep trying this on every walk, if it continues or escalates, please ask for professional help. The longer it goes on the worse it will get, and it may escalate into a worse problem, depending on what type of dog you meet on a walk.
But what if it’s not frustration? It could be fear-related barking instead.
Go Away!
If your dog has its hackles raised, is barking and maybe has their tail raised straight up, it may be fear-related barking. Your dog might also walk forward to pull, then circle round your legs, zigzag or even try to hide behind you.
By doing this, they are telling the other dog to stay away, that they are scared and are no threat to the other dog. They are also trying to move away from the other dog to show submission but staying by you to show you belong to them.
In these cases, talk quietly and calmly to your dog, try to get their attention by calling their name and walking in the opposite direction. Get space between you and the other dog/person, keep going until your dog returns to their normal behaviour and feels safe.
Once they are calm, you can reward them and love them up. Don’t reward them or fuss over them while they are still in their frightened state, this encourages them to stay in that mindset and enforces that they have acted correctly when you don’t want that!
You need to make sure you aren’t accidently rewarding the unwanted behaviour.
How Do You Know If It’s Aggressive?
You will know if it’s aggressive barking.
Their hackles will be up, they will be pulling strongly on the lead. Also snarling, growling, snapping of the mouth and a different level of barking are all indicators of aggressive barking. Their tail may be raised upright, they might pace back and forth, they will pull and lunge on the lead and try and wriggle out of their collar or harness.
If your dog is an aggressive barker, or you aren’t sure whether it’s fear or aggression the best thing and safest thing you can do is get out of the situation.
Get your dog’s attention by calling their name and pull the lead to signal you’re going the opposite way. Don’t shout, definitely don’t scream! Try to appear calm and try to speak as calmly as you can even though I know it’s scary when it happens!
Lead your dog away, act calm and strong. The more nervous or fearful you are, the more heightened your dog will become, thinking they need to protect you because you are vulnerable.
Keep calling their name as you walk away try distracting them with a toy but only give them the toy if they stop barking. If you have another adult with you who your dog knows and trusts, ask them to help lead the dog away by walking slightly in front and calling their name.
Ask the other dog walker to put their dog on a lead, ask them to walk the opposite way so you can get control of your dog. The chances are that they are moving away from you already!
The most important thing is to diffuse the situation as soon as possible.
These situations are very scary for everyone involved, especially if it has never happened before and comes out of the blue.
Try your best to stay calm, try not to get angry or upset – although this is so much easier said than done.
Whether it was a one-off or not, I would always recommend you seeking help from a dog behaviourist and a vet before it happens again.
If your dog reacted by barking aggressively for the first time, try to remember any triggers that happened – a person, a certain place, noise, or dog. Try to avoid that on their next walk, take more treats and a special toy with you and if you can get another adult to come on the next walk.
Please don’t take children, even teenage children.
If you go for a walk again after it has only happened once, try to keep calm before you even go. If you are tense before you leave the house, your dog will sense it and be on the lookout for trouble. Fights will start easier.
Avoid the dog/person you saw before if you can. If you spot them in the distance before your dog does, move in the opposite direction to keep your distance.
Be alert but calm.
Try to find a time of day when your walk will have less people or dogs, try a different field or park to walk in. Keep your dog on the lead every walk until you can trust them again. Try using a muzzle. Don’t let them loose around children or other loose dogs until you are positive the aggressive barking was a one-off.
If your dog has barked aggressively on more than one walk, I seriously recommend asking for some help from a dog behaviourist and a muzzle temporarily.
You can find a trainer who specialises in aggressive dogs from your vet or on the Animal Behaviour and Training Council website.
Aggression is never anything to mess around with, it’s really not worth the risk.