I have a question about our dog in the dog park. Baxter does not have
"excessive" barking by any means. He only seems to bark when he gets
excited and is chasing another dog. It seems almost like frustration
while he's trying to catch up.

However, he also seems to be the only one in the park that barks. Is
this something to be concerned about? It is not aggressive barking
(his tail is up and wagging the whole time). After the dog that is
being chased stops, Baxter acts like a normal dog - he stops barking
and starts wagging his tail.

My other question is how can I stop this behavior - or can I stop this
behavior? We yell at him to stop and he usually does after he is done
chasing, but I wonder if he understands why we are yelling at him.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 19:13:18 -0700, Keith wrote:

I have a question about our dog in the dog park. Baxter does not have
"excessive" barking by any means. He only seems to bark when he gets
excited and is chasing another dog. It seems almost like frustration
while he's trying to catch up.

However, he also seems to be the only one in the park that barks. Is
this something to be concerned about?

It really depends on how the other dogs and people in the dog park
take the barking. It sounds like Baxter is one of those dogs that
likes to bark as part of his invitation to play. He barks to get the
attention of those he wants to play chase with and barks while he
chases. There's nothing wrong with that. If it seems like it is
something other than just part of the play, that's a different
situation.

If it's just play, how do the other dog owners and dogs take it? Do
the dogs understand it as play and just play with him or do they take
it as aggressive or annoying? Do the other owners dislike the
barking? If they are okay with it, why not let him have his fun? My
dogs bark and growl and make a racket while playing chase and wrestle.
While I don't want that noise level in the house, I don't mind if they
do it outside. It certainly wouldn't bother me to have dogs be
noisily joyful in a dog park. If it doesn't bother them, why does it
bother you?

If you decide you do want to stop it, either for others or yourself,
yelling isn't going to help. How does Baxter know what you want from
him? Maybe you are just barking along in fun or maybe he understands
you're upset, but how is he to know whether you don't want him to bark
or don't want him to chase or don't want him to do something else that
happens to be going on at the time? You'll probably be better off
working on having him be quiet on command at home first rather than in
the hubub of the dog park. Wherever you decide to try, though, you
need to start by figuring out how you are going to let the dog know
what it is you want and don't want from him. The best way to do this
depends on how you have trained him in the past. Does he know any
commands like no or stop? If so, you can say no or stop the minute he
barks and then praise/treat him the minute he stops barking, even for
a minute, for example. If you haven't trained him to any commands
yet, start by going to obedience classes and building up a
relationship and repertoire before diving into something like curbing
play barking that only occurs in special circumstances and at the dog
park.

--
Paula
"Anyway, other people are weird, but sometimes they have candy,
so it's best to try to get along with them." Joe Bay