The Wheelie Bins Again!

Lily and Click are really the best authorities, but my experience is "it depends." Sometimes the dog is barking out of nervousness. Sometimes the dog is barking out of playfulness and over-excitement.

Complicating matters, now is around the time when puppies tend to have a fear period. Stuff that's no big deal at a normal time becomes a permanent trigger if mishandled during a fear period. Two of our dogs were permanently frightened by real estate signs, of all things, because we encountered a flappy banging sign while walking on a windy day. Every single time we walked past a House For Sale sign afterwards they would give it the stink eye, circle wide, and perhaps even bark at it.

I think a danger in trying to desensitize a dog during a fear period is you, by paying inordinate attention to something mundane like a real estate sign, may inadvertently confirm it is indeed A Big Deal. This is the logic behind my suggestion you take the bin out and do yardwork. Elroy will see your attention is focused on the leaves and yard debris. He will also see you interacting with the bin in a completely natural manner, paying it only as much attention as your task requires. You can reinforce the message that the bin is no big deal by doing other playful things in its presence, like playing tug with a stick or a rope toy.

It was very important to me that Annie be non-reactive to bicycles. Unfortunately, very few bicycles were to be found in my neighbourhood and never at convenient times for puppy training.

I tied her to the fence by her leash and got out my bike, rolling it around far enough she wasnt reacting to it. I set it down, walked back to her, praised. Then returned, rolled it a bit closer, hopped on and rode a bit. Hopped off, rolled over, encouraged her to sniff at it/investigate. Eventually, I rolled it down the street, with the bike on one side, Annie on the other.

Personally, if I had a dog attacking the wheels of a bin/yard cart, I would tie the dog to the fence, do my work with the puppy watching, and then work on desensitizing later. Particularly with puppies what is super exciting one week is normal the next so long as they don't get to practice the game.

Sometimes barking is fear, sometimes excitement, but what you want to get is a reaction of boredom. New things are normal, and not worth remarking on.

I have known a few dogs who, later in life (8 months, 10months) start reacting aggressively to things they were previously punished for reacting to with excitement.

At one point a previous puppy was terrified of trucks with ladders. Trucks were fine, ladders were fine, but put the two together? Alarm condition exists. Over maybe 20 min, my mom and I took turns walking nearer and nearer the truck with the puppy on leash keeping him at a distance he felt 'safe'. By the end, he went up, sniffed the tires, confirmed it was a truck, and trotted away, ignoring the truck for the next week (tradesperson working on the house).