Rescued dog had a barking meltdown today

[Shakila Dee]

I adopted a female Chi/Terrier mix about a month ago who's about a yr. old. All I know about her history is that she came from a backyard breeder situation although it's obvious she was never socialized. I recently started obedience classes with her and they seem to be great for her confidence as she had a serious barking fit today at the dog park !

I have never heard her bark so viciously before at a bunch of other dogs playing so nice and quietly and minding their own business. She was the only dog there that was causing a problem and try as I might to get her to settle down and be quiet she just kept getting louder and louder until finally I had to take her back home again all in the space of about 5 minutes. People kept looking at me like, “What the hell’s wrong with your dog?”

This is the same dog that went to obedience classes yesterday and played with the little dogs there so nicely not barking at all and the same dog that came to the beach with me after class and was really well behaved around all the other dogs there, including some bigger ones even though she's still somewhat scared of them. She also pulled me quickly towards a tiny Chihuahua puppy while I had her on her leash and not only did she scare the puppy but she terrified the owner too. She also did that to a small dog at the dog park earlier too who came up to greet her. Can’t figure out why she’s fairly normal one day (as in sweet, although still somewhat fearful or reserved/submissive when meeting new dogs one on one) and then the next day she’s a wild out of control pit bull. She even had a large dog slowly approach her and then high tail it out of there when he realized she meant business with her barking :confused:. *Sigh*

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.}

[Justine Archuleta]

Blackie will do the same(have a barking fit) when he sees dogs smaller than him. This may be the case with you dog. Blackie also was not socialized very well. Are the dogs that she barked at, at the dog park bigger or smaller than her. I know some dogs will be submissive when they are near dogs bigger than them. If you can give a little more details about what the other dogs behavior was like at the dog park, that would be helpful. The only other thing I can think of is that maybe on of the dogs did a behavior that your dog thought as a threat. Good luck with this.

[Renee]

Shakila

It sounds like your might be a little overwhelmed by going to the dog park....you might want to consider putting the dog park on hold for a little while. Since she has had little to no socialization, this might explain why she is fine one minute, then scared and barking the next. So you might just want to slow things down a little bit.

Also, try not to let her pull you to "greet" any other dogs. If this is happening in obedience class, you should not be allowing her to greet on lead while class is going on. Hopefully you have a wonderful obedience instructor and they can help you with this.

What does she do right before a barking fit? Do you see her "scanning" all the other dogs first, then go into a barking fit? This might be a situation where you want to teach her a "watch" command. If she is watching you (and is being rewarded with high value treats), she will not be barking at other dogs.

Good luck,