bark, bark, bark

Question
My 16 month old male cocker spaniel seems to bark all the time whilst he is in the garden.  If I am walking him and we meet another dog he is aggressive towards them.  Generally it is his barking whilst in the garden.  He will not come in once he is out, however, he does for my husband who is a lot stricter with him.  I do love and fuss him as much as I can and I know that he adores me.  He sits at the door when I am out waiting until I return.  What can I do.  I have tried the anti bark collars, please help me my neighbours are starting to complain.

Answer
Well, Caron..you've answered your own question :)   He comes in for your husband (who's a lot stricter) because it's your husband he adores.

Dogs love & adore the "pack leader" not those who fawn over them.
You can however, have it both ways as long as you realize there are times when you must exert calm authority.  As on his walks.

The trick on walks is to "anticipate" and when you see the signals of coming aggressive behavior THAT is when you correct.  On his walks when you see another dog coming, make him "sit and wait" until the other dog has passed by.

The message for him is "I know your nonsense and it's a no-go".
And once you've given a command - make it happen.  Never give up.

Now - the barking in the garden.  There are several approaches.
One is just to get a plastic spray bottle, fill it with water and when he starts to bark say NO and spritz him in the face.
A "spray" not a stream of water.  Or a can of citronella spray.(PetSmart) But this means it has to happen EVERY time.  There is a remote control collar that gives a snort of citronella which dogs just hate and usually it only takes a very short time to stop a behavior.


Another is to put a soft muzzle on him when he's out there but that's a pain to be putting on and taking off all the time.  To really train him properly will involve you being out there with him on leash and correcting when he barks.  It's never a good idea to leave a dog outside when you're not home, so I hope you're not doing that?

I think your boy needs some professional training.  If budget allows, having a trainer come to your house wouldn't involve too many sessions and may definitely be worth it.

In general, he knows to obey your husband and that he can obey you if he feels like it.  That isn't going to change until you make it change.  So here's a few suggestions:

1.  When feeding, make him sit before you feed. And never feed him before you.  He waits.
2.  Never let him walk out the door in front of you.
3.  Don't allow him on furniture without permission.
4.  Never allow pulling on walks.  Train him to heel until you give permission to do otherwise.
5.  Upon coming home - ignore him for a couple of minutes.

The message is you're the leader.  Nothing good happens until you decide it does.  Not food - not walks - not attention.  And NOT paying attention to you has to have a downside for him because right now, he's getting away with it - so it's working for him.  Nobody stops behavior that's working for them.
Delores