Why Your Dog Is Barking and Lunging on Walks (And How To Help)
Raise your hand if you had the dream that you’d be able to go on a nice walk in the park, an outdoor dog friendly event, or restaurant patio with your dog. Keep your hand up if that dream has been crushed because your dog spends the entire time barking and lunging at EVERYONE!
It’s so hard-when we want to go out and be social with our best friends, both furry and not furry, but our dog has other opinions. We feel bad about leaving them home alone but taking them is embarrassing, and sometimes even dangerous.
This type of behavior is known as leash reactivity. It’s more common than most people realize. I’m here to tell you that out there, it’s not only you having a bad time. Your dog is too.
But before we talk about fixing it, we need to understand what’s actually happening.
Why Dogs Bark and Lunge on Walks
In this context, barking and lunging are signals that the dog is having some big feelings. These feelings can either be fear (they want the scary thing to go away) or they’re frustrated (they want to go investigate the thing but are being restricted). What is important to remember is that we may see it as an OVER-reaction. To the dog, they are reacting to their environment in the only way they know how.
It can be difficult to decipher between the two because what you and the people around you might only see is the big outward behaviors of lots of barking and lunging at the end of the tight leash you’re holding. But by learning your dog’s body language signals, you’ll start to notice the smaller signals leading up to the explosive behaviors that can give you more insight into what they are thinking and feeling.
So what does this mean for you and your dog? It means that we need to stop putting them into situations they aren’t ready for, and start building some skills that make walks and outings fun for everyone.
Step 1: How to Manage Barking and Lunging on Walks
Exposing your dog to the things that make them afraid or frustrated isn’t going to help, and sometimes can make it worse. To reduce exposure, we use management.
Management strategies prevent our dogs from doing the behaviors we don’t want, like barking and lunging. Every time your dog barks and lunges and it “works” for them, the behavior gets stronger. We want to set up situations where your dog doesn’t feel like they HAVE to bark and lunge. This will help prevent them from doing those behaviors. A few management options to try:
Pause walks altogether and find alternative physical activities to try
Walk at less busy times
Walk in less busy areas
Look for barriers to move behind to block your dog from seeing a trigger (the thing that causes your dog to bark and lunge)
Keep your distance from your dogs triggers if they are unavoidable
Step 2: Reducing Stress to Improve Leash Reactivity
Dogs who have big feelings about the world carry a lot of stress. It’s exhausting to constantly feel on edge. If they are never able to destress from hard things, that can make their behavior seem more explosive or more frequent.
To help dogs decompress from the stress they’re feeling, we find ways to meet all of their needs (medically, physically, emotionally) by using enrichment. My Top Enrichment Recommendations:
Make sure your dog has a clean bill of health
Look for alternatives to physical exercise, especially if stopping walks
Also mental exercises are important! Sniffing is one of my favorite activities to do with dogs
Calming projects and good rest
Sleep is important and calming projects (sniffing, chewing, and licking) help lower stress levels
Step 3: Training Skills to Stop Barking and Lunging
Skills for you, because you are half of the team!
Before your dog’s behavior can change, you need to feel prepared and confident! To do that start working on the following things:
Observations of your dog’s body language
So you know what they are feeling
Learn your dogs reinforcers and triggers
That way you know what to avoid and what things make your dog happy
Awareness of things happening around you on walks
To steer clear of those triggers
Proper leash handling
Safety is highest priority
Skills for your dog. The other half of the team!
Connection Skills
You’re a team and need to work together
Regulation Skills
Helping your dog calm down after a stressful event
Movement Skills
Polite leash walking to keep everyone safe
Exposure Skills
Being able to move away, observe, and investigate in a safe way
Is It Possible to Enjoy Walks with a Reactive Dog?
Barking and lunging can be scary for everyone involved. It’s important to remember that your dog isn’t broken and you’re doing the best you can with the knowledge and experience that you have.
There are a lot of moving parts in order to have successful walks. But with patience and practice, over time you’ll be able to enjoy going out with your dog again.
If you want help getting off on the right foot (and paw) then reach out for 1-1 private coaching with me. We’ll figure out what is causing your dog to bark and lunge, and start building the skills together for those dream outings you've been having.
Hi! I’m Beccy and I’m a professional dog trainer with almost 15 years of animal training experience. I use positive reinforcement and fear-free methods to help dogs and their humans build skills, confidence, and lasting behavior change. My goal is to create a stress free life for you and your dog. I offer in-home training in Maryville, TN and surrounding cities throughout Blount, Sevier, Knox, and Loudon Counties. Online training is available for clients outside of East TN.
