Barking at Other Dogs on Walks

Let's talk about barking at other dogs on the walk. First, see your vet, because pain and leash reactivity can mimic dog-aggression. Get a clean baseline before you train.

Once the vet clears the dog, the rule is distance. You cannot train a dog to be calm at five feet when he is reactive at five feet. Step one: cross the street the second you see another dog.

Step two: the look-at-that game. Treats delivered the second the other dog appears and the dog chooses not to bark. Step three: parallel-set walks with a known calm dog, ten feet apart, shrinking the distance over weeks.

Step four: never punish the bark. Punishment at threshold makes the next dog worse. Match the dog to the family, and match the family to a calm, structured leash protocol.

Now, the deeper fix: distance is the secret ingredient. You cannot fix threshold behavior at threshold. Move away, get paid, shrink the gap.

Now here's Steve's notes.