I wonder if this should be here or on behaviour? Let me know if I need to post it there...
Luca is 10 months old now (where has the time gone?!) and he's utterly gorgeous. However, in the last couple of weeks, some walks have started to be a little stressful. He is usually great when meeting with other dogs, he's got an annoying habit of laying down and waiting for the dog to approach and it can take a while to get anywhere, but he's always said hello and been friendly enough. Just recently though he will really bark at other dogs, and there seems to be no rhyme or reason for it. For example this evening, we saw another cocker and Luca lay waiting for him to say hello, he came over and they sniffed and then Luca just barked and barked. I feel so sad as people think he's aggressive and he's the complete opposite! Then we saw another little dog and Luca barked at him. Then we saw another dog and I thought "oh here we go" and Luca was happy to say hello and they had a little play.
Luca has also started barking at random people. We were out the other night walking him and a lady was waiting at a bus stop and Luca just barked at her as we walked past. She hadn't even looked at him! And sometimes he'll let our next door neighbour say hello, and other days he'll bark at her.
Any ideas anyone?? If it was all the time then I'd had a better idea of a course of action, but as it's random I have no idea. He goes to doggy daycare every morning and we go to a class every week, so he's used to other dogs. We also walk him off the lead on longer walks and with our friend's dog. Is it just teenager stuff? Will he grow out of it? Or should we be doing something different on walks?
Thanks in advance for any help!!!
