DeLaney has developed quite the "Stranger Danger" fear. When people enter the house, we have started the "Go to Your Bed" command, so she isn't at the door barking someones ears off. So she goes to her bed, stays (still barks), and the guest gives her wonderful treats like bits of chicken breast or string cheese. We ask them to toss it her way every now and then, but basically ignore her so she calms down. We've realized though, we don't have many visitors. So we are going to have to begin asking neighbors to come visit. We have so many dog neighbors who are understanding, so I'm sure we can find a few willing participates!
On leash, Laney does well on walks. She ignores people, generally. Since I always have treats in hand to keep her attention on me. But when someone wants to meet her, she becomes rather panicked. At the vet, she gets into quite the frenzy of fear. Poor thing. The vet does well with her by ignoring, treating silence, etc. Gets her to eventually get out of the frenzy mode, but Laney doesn't ever snap out of her fear completely.
She is great at the dog park though. She get so excited and is a little yappie at first. But she then ignores all the humans and plays with the dogs. And Daycare is the same way. Daycare is actually even better since she knows the people. So she does extremely well and enjoys her time...And since we know that we don't want her to have to ignore people all the time but get used to them wanting to interact with her -- we are starting a few classes this next month in the hopes that this fear situation can be overcome, at least a little bit. I'm sure age will help it immensely as time goes on. But practice doesn't hurt!
First, we are going to do an Intermediate Dog Training Class at Animal Sounds with Jeff Tinsley. I'm somewhat nervous. I went back and forth thinking we should probably trying Basic Training again...but she is really good at the basic commands. Her only issue is her unsocialization, freak outs -- which take less than 5 minutes to overcome. And when there is chicken, there will eventually be calmness. ;)
Intermediate Dog Training Class with Jeff begins March 6, until April 10th. Every Tuesday. We are very excited to get her enrolled in another class. We haven't since September and she really needs the training/socialization atmosphere.
The second class we are doing, is just a 1-hour session at Fuzzy Buddy's Daycare.
We love Dana. We have taken Puppy Good Start and Basic Training with her. I adore her attitude. She's super helpful. We also have been taking DeLaney to the daycare again, off and on. She seems to really enjoy it. I think I might do a half/half situation, between Fuzzy Buddy's & Barking Lounge. We shall see.
Anyway, hopefully we can figure out this barking situation. I refuse to get a barking collar; Dean wants one. But that's abuse in my opinion and doesn't resolve the underlining issues as to why she is barking. She is fearful and under socialized. We need to work on the root cause, and with time and effort it will get better. And besides, it can always be worse!
