[iditarod656]

I got some good advice on her reactivity, and have been working on it.

This morning a little old lady came down the sidewalk, talking on the cell phone, and pulling a suitcase on wheels behind her. The suitcase had stuff piled on top of it.

I guess this was just too many triggers for my dog. I had moved her off the sidewalk, and was feeding her dog cookies while we waited for the lady to pass by, and she still tried to lunge. We were in the bicycle lane, almost into the road.

So I guess I know what her limits still are, and I have to cross the street.
The little old lady was not fazed, and it was outside my apartment complex, thank goodness. But still, sigh......

PS: this dog just barks. She's not a crazy barker, but she will bark at things like an empty bus or car parked on the road. If the lights go out in the house for a minute, she will bark. If anything is out of place in the house, she will bark to let us know.

 

[dogcottage]

I could see how that could be quite a few triggers for a pup. The uniqueness of the suitcase being pulled behind (and possibly the sound of the wheels) in combination with being near the road would put a lot of dogs in a place where they felt confined.

The great thing is that you as the owner recognized the problem and now already knows how to avoid it (crossing the street). Also- great for stopping and pulling your dog to the side and giving them cookies.

A few questions? Did you get nervous upon the woman approaching (possibly anticipating that your dog would react negatively to her passing)? If so your dog may have picked up on that and felt a bit nervous themselves.

Did you continue feeding them the cookies as she was passing- or did you hold off until she passed? If you stopped feeding the cookies as she was passing perhaps your dog related her presence to the reward being taken away and got possessive over the treats? (Not sure- just throwing out random possibilities).

 

[iditarod656]

Hi, dogcottage, thankyou .

No I wasn't nervous, and I was feeding her cookies.

yesterday morning she barked at a young teenage boy, from inside the car, as we were driving by. He was walking towards the place where I park the car, but wasn't close to it yet. I kept going, turned left onto another street, did a u-turn, and on the way back we saw him again. And she' didn't bark!

Weird dog....