If your dog is barking at people, other animals, or objects, we want to manage them in a way that reduces exposure to the things that are causing fear or stress.
This may mean driving to a quieter walking location instead of walking around busy streets, reducing walks from two per day to one, and replacing the second walk with enrichment or training activities at home. Our goal is to prevent your dog from repeatedly practising the barking behaviour while we work on building new coping skills through training.
If you do encounter a trigger, create as much distance as possible and calmly leave the situation. You can help them by providing them a safe space, such as a calm room or pop back to the car.
Never force your dog to approach something they are scared of, as this can increase fear and potentially make the behaviour worse over time.
You can work on training alternative behaviours such as “Look at That” (scary thing) and work on counterconditioning and desensitisation to help your dog feel better about the things they’re scared of.
