Expert: Alan J Turner, SATS LL1 - 2/17/2008

Question
We have a six-year-old beagle that we rescued two years ago. Whenever she
hears or sees another dog, she (surprise) barks and howls like a lunatic. In
the house, we say “quiet”, sometimes shake a penny can, and occasionally
hurl a penny can near her. This will usually get her to knock it off, but she
has never learned not to start to begin with. The biggest problem is outside
on walks. When she sees/hears/smells another dog, she lets loose howling to
the point that the other dog walkers will look at us in horror and turn the
other way. Early morning walks are the worst, as we wake the entire
neighborhood.  We always correct her with the leash and say quiet but she is
lost in her lunacy and doesn’t feel the correction or hear our command.
We’re sure the barking is social as opposed to aggressive. If the other dog is
very close and she can just say hello, she’s fine.  What do we do? And if
training her with treats is the answer, we’re unclear as to how to do so
without feeling like we’re rewarding her “bad” barking behavior. (When
outside, she never stops when we tell her to, so we’re unsure when to give
the reward!)  Thank you.

Answer
Hi Lee,
Thanks for the question. Forget about stopping the bark :), the answer lies in teaching her the meaning of bark and quiet. First practice inside the house when there are no dogs around. Once she learns that she will get rewarded for quiet, you can start practicing with small distractions at first and then work your way up to distractions like other dogs nearby.  Since she may only be quiet for one second, it's helpful to have a way to tell her the instant she succeeds. A clicker works good for this.

There are several books and probably some good trainers in your area that can help. Visit http://apdt.com and look for a trainer nearby OR visit http://dogwise.com or amazon.com and perform a search on clicker training books. Good luck!

Alan J Turner
http://howsbentley.com