This may be the stupidest question ever.

My 5-month-old female, Willow, has been on crate rest for a month due to a leg injury. We recently got the OK to start taking her on walks.

She did not do this before, but she barks/roos at every dog we encounter. It's not an aggressive or protective bark. I think it is an "I want to play bark."

But do I correct the bark? If so, how?

We've kept her as socialized as we can during her crate rest, by taking her to her weekly obedience class. But before crate rest, she was around other dogs all the time without barking: on walks, weekly doggie daycare/playtime, puppy classes.

Thanks!

Valerie

Willow is showing enthusiasm and excitement. This behavior should subside and return to normal.
To correct - a small leash tug with a no, leave it will surfice. You do not want to make a "big deal" or create a situation whereby Willow associates to. Sometimes "ignoring behavior" (esp when it is not a 'bad' behavior will allow the behavior to extinguish itself (esp when it never was present before). By fussing over Willow by correcting this, Willow will learn the behavior (barking/rooing) gets attention. (yes dogs view negative corrections as still getting attention).

On walks, if the other dogs Willow barks at do not respond with fear, aggressiveness, or hostility, and merely view/react as another barking dog, small corrections (tug/no) will be all that is needed. If the other dogs do not react to Willow, ignore Willows' behavior. Eventually it will extinguish and you will be back to normal/past behaviors.

Charlie

Valerie, I would not correct her but divert her attention back to you by asking her to sit, down, or do some easy heeling turns to keep her focused on you and reward her for the good behavior. It's not really fair to correct a dog who is exhibiting happy behavior even if it is annoying. So get her attention and start doing little drills with lots of reward before she goes into the barking/rooing routine as this type of diversion over time should stop the barking behavior.

Kathy Miller