Dog Won't Stop Barking & Howling Until You Play Fetch! | It’s Me or The Dog

On the lead, he'll just launch in their face, barking viciously. He's growling, he's snarling, he's lunging towards the other dog. You can never trust him. This way, come on, yeah. Well, hello, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, I'm Frances. Nice to meet you, Victoria. I'm Ruby. Hi, Ruby, good to meet you. Okay, so now I see already one issue. Yes. And, oh. No, no, no, no, no. No, no. Okay. No, no. This way, this way. Bertie, no, here. Here, sit. Okay. Bertie likes other dogs. He does? Yeah. I think I see Bertie the problem. When did this reactivity on the lead start? One day, there was another dog that went for Bertie. Bertie literally leaped in the air and ended up bolting and into a huge bush of stinging nettles. And I would pretty much say ever since then. I mean, I totally understand where he's coming from. Yeah. Not only was he really startled by that German Shepherd, but then when he did leap, he ended up in stinging nettles. So now, walking him is a nightmare because of this experience he had with this dog. He is scanning his environment all the time. When he sees dogs, he's like, you freak me out a little bit. I don't think you feel safe outside. No. I'm going to show you some techniques you can use, all right, when you are walking him, just to make him feel a bit more comfortable outside. Victoria's kicking off Bertie's new lead reactivity training in the safety of the back garden. Right, well, we're starting his new walking experience in the back garden. The reason why I want to do this is I want to teach him a technique. Using tasty treats, Victoria's going to reward Bertie each time he chooses to look back at her. This is going to start him on this new journey of not being so reactive when he sees other dogs. In time, the training should put an end to his reactivity as spotting dogs becomes associated with treats and praise. All right, I'm going to put him on the lead. I'm just going to let him go around. I'm going to wait for him to look back at me. Yes, good boy. Throw it away from me. Just purely on when he wants to do it? Yes. Because so far, you've been making the decision for him. Yeah. I want him to make his own decision now. Victoria's technique empowers nervous Bertie to make his own decisions. Yes. Each time he decides to look at me, I get something. Yeah. Rewarding and reinforcing his non-reactive behavior. It's a skill that he needs to learn, but he also has to have the confidence to do it because it's scary out there. By giving him something when he does turn away, it's going to teach him to choose that rather than at another dog. Yeah. Bertie's passed step one, but will he keep his cool during step two when another dog is added to the training? Thanks for watching. If you love It's Me or the Dog and want more dog training tips and tricks, visit my official site, positively.com. And if you're interested in learning more about becoming a dog trainer, check out the Victoria Stilwell Academy. Links to both sites are in the description. I'll see you online.