Craziness before walks

My group gets crazy when they know they are going for a walk or for a ride in the car. The first to realize that something is happening starts to bark and then they all join in. It gets really deafening! I've tried just standing calmly and quietly by the door and waiting until they stop barking, but as soon as I move, they start up again. Even if I take them out two at a time (instead of all together), they are so noisy. Although, when I bring the first two back and get ready to take the other two, they are usually quiet. Once we get going on the walk, or in the car, they are fine and quiet. Any suggestions?

Bev
Oliver (7 yr old blenheim), Riley (6 yr old black & tan), Madison
(5 yr old ruby), and Oz (14 month old tri-color)

I just have one little jumping bean, but she does the same thing when it is time to go out. She gets so excited that she can hardly contain herself. As soon as I put on her harness she grabs her leash and runs toward the door with the crazies.

What has worked well for me, is to stay calm, don't speak and then if she is too agitated, I just go sit down and pick up a book or look like I have changed my mind. She will pick up on this and then come sit on the floor and look up and wait until we try again. If she gets over excited again, I just repeat the excercise. She now is able to settle down just a bit so we can get out the door without all the hoopla. I am not sure how I would handle a group though. I would think there would always be one in the pack that just eggs the others on.

If they are good with "sit" and "wait" you can make them perform these before you snap the leash on. Have them remain in the door until you walk out and tell them "okay". Use a food reward if you need to for extra incentive. I won't snap on the leash unless mine are sitting and waiting. It works pretty well, even though you can see they are bursting at the seams to go. Maybe you can work with one of them at a time with this for a while.

Victoria Stilwell used a bicycle type horn to get attention of a couple rowdies at the door-didn't quite do it so she went to a can of compressed air (not pointed at them) to get their attention and that worked. Keep thinking I need to get a can to keep them on track. Might be worth a try and won't hurt them in any way and you can always use it on your computer :cffee:

brotymo said:

If they are good with "sit" and "wait" you can make them perform these before you snap the leash on. Have them remain in the door until you walk out and tell them "okay". Use a food reward if you need to for extra incentive. I won't snap on the leash unless mine are sitting and waiting. It works pretty well, even though you can see they are bursting at the seams to go. Maybe you can work with one of them at a time with this for a while.

Click to expand...

They're all really good with sit and stay, but still create the ruckus even when sitting! I might try the compressed air that Frecklesmom suggested. Thanks everyone,
Bev

Believe me using compressed air or a horn will work nicely for a TV show and a few times after and then they will ignore the noise. The point is that you need to actually train your dogs to do what you want -- not just try and interrupt them and distract them. How long would a loud noise work to distract you? Not many times once you get used to it -- and if anything the noise will simply start to actually set them off as it will be the new cue for 'going for a walk'.

Getting control over dogs is largely a function of how much time an owner puts into training each dog *individually* before you can expect them to behave and respond in a group.

Barking: If they bark, they need to be taught 'quiet' or 'shush'. Otherwise how do they know they are not supposed to bark? They need to be so well trained that they will all shush as soon as you ask. That takes *time and training*, each one on its own, then try two, then three etc.

Sitting: If you want dogs that sit quietly while you get each dog ready for a walk, then you need to train each one to do so on its own, then try having two, then three.

People want solutions to work quickly -- but this will take probably weeks to months of training to get a group to be this responsive. And you should CONSTANTLY be reinforcing group behaviour and responsiveness. That means if you take out treats they all need to sit quietly to wait and the others must wait as you say each dog's name and give that one dog its treat. I do this a few times a day. Lots of other things to do as well.