Woofing and Charging ???

[Pastor Dave]

I am working on this with Mr. Cheevers. He tends to bark at any person or dog he sees out the car window, and when I am outside with him, he will kind of run at kids crossing on the sidewalk and scare them. No hurting is involved, but I'm sure that these kids go another way besides where Chev lives. I say "No" firmly and I think it is catching on with him......any others have a quick fix for the "Woofing and charging??"

 

[TylerDurden]

I am working on this with Mr. Cheevers. He tends to bark at any person or dog he sees out the car window, and when I am outside with him, he will kind of run at kids crossing on the sidewalk and scare them. No hurting is involved, but I'm sure that these kids go another way besides where Chev lives. I say "No" firmly and I think it is catching on with him......any others have a quick fix for the "Woofing and charging??"

We used to have the charging too a few months ago with Bane (no woofing). He has always been curious and interested in his surroundings. Consistent training has helped us to stop the charging. We allow him to watch people pass by, but he needs to be in a sit or down. Treats have been a tremendous help along the way. There are more experienced Mastiff owners on here, but I believe it‘s all about training, consistency, and impulse control. Nothing that cannot be resolved.

 

[Sheila Braund]

Yes We have issues with Bella charging and big aggressive barking with some passing by.....sometimes it's not an aggressive bark but a playful one.

This is how I deal with it. I catch her before she sees the by-passer. I ingage her with play, treats, attention. If her attention goes towards the passer l use my aaa aaa or sssshhhhh sounds.... I never ever use her name when her behaviour is undesired.

Now when she's outside with Percy my husband....he will yell at her....yelling BELLA NO! Or BELLA ENOUGH! So Bella is continuing to charge and bark until the passer is out of sight or until Percy catches her and drags her into the house.....
Or if I'm at home and able.... I'll go out and do my aaaa aaa like you would with a baby or my sssshhhh ssshhhh sounds and she will stop and look for me then with a happy voice I'll say things like " what's my puppy doing.....come here puppy! As she comes towards me happy wagging her tail I then will say her name...like oooh my baby Bella....Bella...what a good Bellla....

When I started this every time I got her attention away from the by passer I would give her MVT ....every time....some days I felt like a candy dispensers...lol
Now I don't give her treats every time now...some times but I do give her praise...and use her name lots and lots....now she knows what I want she does listen to me.....not so much for my husband.....I'm working on training him as well

 

[glen]

You need to stop them being fixed on the upcoming target, depending on what motivates your dog either treat or toy, with ours we use a ball, if we see they were paying too much attention we would get them to carry the ball and tell them to watch me, we could carry on walking when the person or dog passes and theyve done well we praised and treat, after a while when i say watch me nothing was needed just praise. We trained this with them all, i couldnt have 3 ccs pulling if they wanted to pull, i wouldnt have stood a chance on being on my feet lol

 

[Boxergirl]

What Tyler and Glen said. You'll want to start working on focus and impulse control. You want to start in the house working on getting his attention/focus and then you move to where there are more distractions. Always set him up to succeed. That means keeping him at a distance where you are positive that you can keep his focus on you. If you can't, then take a step back because there are too many distractions. Here's one link for you. I will see what else I have. It's a clicker training link, as most of mine are, but you can use a marker word. I just think a clicker is more precise than a word if you have good timing.

https://www.clickertraining.com/node/925

I'm not telling you anything you don't know Pastor, but our big guys charging anyone - particularly children - is never a good thing and puts your boy (and you) at risk. Our big guys just can't get away with what the little ones can.

 

[Pastor Dave]

Thanks, Boxergirl....you are certainly correct.

 

[CeeCee]

Sorry, a little late to the party - okay a lot late, but when I went to that 4 day seminar on Understanding K9 Behavior, I learned a great technique. It goes like this...

At the first sign of focus or arousal, step in front of your dog and tell them "no" on a deep voice, serious voice and here is the important part...use your body to pressure them to move AWAY FROM the thing they were focusing on. You may need to keep the pressure or add pressure (by continuing to move into their space). When they move away, release your body pressure. If they are really aroused or if your timing is off and your didn't catch them at the first alert, you may need to add a sound or event to startle them so that they break their focus on the object/person and look at you.

Prior to me using this technique, whenever someone would come to my door or even walk past the house, with over 300 lbs of dog, you would think that Armageddon had arrived and all hell would break loose at my front window. After using this technique for about a week, I could STOP (and I mean stop ALL barking and all charging) with the "No."

Now the window is open so that they watch the person approach or pass and I can praise them for remaining quiet and calm and there are no reactions! If someone forgets, a simple, "no" stops them.

I have found it to be incredibly powerful!

 

[Pastor Dave]

Thank you , Cee Cee, the well-known member. I will put this into practice. I am appreciative.

 

[Pastor Dave]

Mr. Chev is about 155 lbs, not huge, but pretty big. He does want to please. One difficulty I have is riding him and Coal to our walking place, and when he sees another person he "sometimes" not always, decides to make the woof woof !! I will use your idea for the door. He's funny that way....neat you mentioned Armageddon by the way......he will go to the door without "woofing" if there is a doorbell ringing on TV
Have a great weekend.