Question:
I am still reading on this topic but I'd like to get some opinions or experiences from members here.
I have some experience with Jack Russell temperament and I am starting to see that temperament showing in Keesha and Ally. The difference between Keesha and Ally, and Lavander is that Lavander is a very dominant dog. K and A are very submissive in general. They do 'mouth' each other when they are play fighting and Keesha can be quite dominant with Ally (knocking into her while playing, nipping at her).
K and A can also be big barkers. Here are the situations when they bark: 1. if they see another dog walking by or across the street, they bark and lunge trying to get to the dog (sometimes they don't and it puzzles me why they pick specific dogs and not others) 2. when they are playing with big dogs (like Tanno the pit bull) or even just with each other they can bark a lot.
Since I live in an apartment building, I have to control their barking in some way or another, but I feel as though their barking is just a natural expression of their JRT side. I don't want to disturb neighbours but I don't want to take something fundamental away from my dogs' nature either.
Keesha is also protective of Ally and K has tried to nip bigger dogs that sniff at Ally or herself. I've always corrected her, hand over muzzle with a firm 'no' before it gets out of hand. They have played well with Milo (small chinese crested) and Tanno (bigger pit bull) but when they were alone with just Tanno they seemed more intimidated.
Now I know JRTs are rambunctious dogs, both Keesha and Ally are quite physical and vocal while playing but they are both very quite and laid back at home. They don't even bark when the mail comes thru the slot. So my guess is that they are afraid of bigger dogs, hence fear biting and barking while with smaller dogs they are just barking for fun.
So how can I socialise them with bigger dogs to get them used to it? I've tried making Keesha sit and give her a small treat then the big dog comes over to sniff and Keesha snaps at him (she has a treat in her mouth). There are no food guarding issues with them though, no toy guarding, never snapped at me or any other human being.


Answer:
Just to be a bit more clear, the girls don't bark at home, they are very quiet at home. Only when they meet other dogs or when they are playing and also (how could I forget this) when they spot a squirrel.


Answer:
My dog doesn't bark at ANYTHING, except he goes crazy over squirrels.
I think that it is probably natural that they are scared of dogs bigger than them. Perhaps they need more exposure to really friendly big dogs so that they will know that there is nothing to be scared of?


Answer:
I'm socializing them as much as I can with as many dogs as I can. Quite a few dog owners do get alarmed by their barking and try to keep their dogs away from mine even though I tell them that Keesha and Ally are friendly. But thank god there are also dog owners who are sensible enough to realise that barking doesn't always indicate an aggressive dog and still bring their dogs over to meet my girls. There's is another Woofstock-like event coming up for dogs on Sept 14, and I'm going to take them there to hang out with all the different dogs (they don't bark in big crowds of dogs).
Well, the way I see it, they bark to let me know about something or when they are playing, I'd hardly call that excessive barking, I hate it when people want quiet dogs (some resort to debarking them), barking is part of being a dog owner. Obviously, I'm not going to let them keep on barking for no reason after they've caught my attention.
I'm hoping to take them to an off-leash park soon, Josh has been so busy with his work and my friend has exams so I haven't been able to get transport.
What breed is your dog, Candice? It's slipped my mind at the moment Is he a Golden Retriever?


Answer:
One way to socialize is obedience class. I don't reccomend taking more than one dog from the same household to the same obedience class. We made that mistake with our two lab mixes. They have been together their whole lives (from the same litter) and are very close. Our dogs already knew most of the commands we covered in the obedience class because I trained them since they were tiny puppies. I wanted to go to the class more for socializing because we have no dog parks here and not too many places to socialize.
Anyway, my mom sarted out training Bear and I did Matty. Bear spent the entire class completely ignoring everything else and whining and barking trying to get to me and Matty. After the first two classes we switched dogs. It helped some, but Matty was distracted by Bear and Bear was just plain too worried about where Matty was to really get anything out of the class.
I have three dogs. They play with several other dogs that come to our house to play, but they have people social problems.
When we take them somewhere, they do okay around people.
Matty is very cautious around people she doesn't know so she moves away whenever someone tries to pet. I don't mind that much...I don't want her to just like anybody who walks up to her and moving away is much better than biting. After she smells someone and kind of gets a little familiar with them, she'll let them pet her.
Lucy is good with everyone...she always has been whichi is a little surprising since she was once a stray.
Bear is my troubled dog. He is terrified of small children. He has nipped two different kids on two different occasions. One of those times he broke the skin, but not bad. Both times, the kids were told to stay away and didn't and before they could be told to get away Bear had already panicked. Bear, being on a leash, couldn't escape them, so did what he thought he had to do. We're working on this, but its not an easy thing to get past. For now, whenever we go anywhere, Bear is an aggressive dog. I tell people he's mean and to stay away from him, unless it's someone I know, someone who knows dogs and how to "read" them. He's not really mean, but I'd rather not have him bite someones kid.
When we have all three dogs are out together though, they act very different. Bear wants nothing to do with other do with anyone else. Matty is more aggressive towards other dogs. Lucy is the boss and everyone must do as she says.
I wouldn't be too hard on the people who pull their dog away when yours bark. It may be that their dog is the one they're worried about. I know Matty and Bear get along pretty well with most dogs, but Lucy, while very sweet around people, is very dominant ands if the other dog doesn't give in, she'll start fighting.


Answer:
That is true, their dogs might be aggressive as well. Keesha and Ally love people and they will allow anyone to pet them, Ally will roll right over for a stranger to get belly rubs. They weren't at the humane society for long though, they were adopted pretty quick so I don't think they are too traumatised. Keesha is very good with commands, Ally follows her lead so if I take them to obedience class it will definately be seperate.


Answer:
My dogs bark at everything and anything. Sometimes they just stand there barking at nothing, LOL. But they hate other dogs which I don't like. They are not scared of any dogs, no matter how big it is. We have tried to interact them with other dogs but there just to crazy. They love people though. Jack is more aggressive and Rocky is more of a "princess." Jack is the dominate one.


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Spencer used to be dominate around other dogs. Then for a couple of days I was dog sitting Duke, a boxer and he became the boss. Spencer was running around being an idiot (as usual) and Duke was just standing there. All of a sudden Duke punched Spencer (literally) and Spencer went flying. Spence was sure to give Duke all the space he needed after that.


Answer:
Courtney, Lavander hates other dogs too, she's gone after a pit bull, german sheppard, rottie mixes etc in the park, thank god she is always on a leash. Keesha and Ally want to meet them, but start barking loudly from across the street which makes it difficult for me to communicate with the other owner which is what annoys me, lol!
They did meet a 10yr old poodle today and were very sedate. Maybe they can sense she is an old dog and behaved themselves