I did a lot of research but found that in reality it wasn't as recommended by many, as written or as it appeared when we visited. Thanks to this forum I'm armed with so many more questions that I'd ask too if I ever use a dog service again. I'd also come here to get info on anything I might miss too
I've got to the point of only considering trainers from possibly 2 organisations as the trainer is fully assessed before being accredited, membership is not dependent on a few references and the payment of a fee. There are associations for trainers in the UK who in their Code of Ethics make no mention of their stance on aversive training so I just work on that is not the sort of doubt I want to work from
@charlie Ive been a long time thinking about this I know and this plan might not work as I'm not exactly sure of your set up re gate etc but you never know it might. When you used to send charlie on his bed if he barked at the door did you have a cue word other than bed ? If not let's go with Thank You because your thanking him for letting you know of possible danger. This idea will work inside and out. When charlie barks can you get him to come to you or look at you with a cue ? This is what I would try. Charlie barks at gate. Go to him, say thank you, if pos get him to look at you then, if necessary lead on, and walk him away out of sight of the gate even indoors. Keep doing this but once he looks at you quickly start increasing the distance between you and him until eventually when charlie barks at the gate you can stick your head out of the back door shout thank you charlie here/look at me and he comes running. You might even get to a point were he barks a warning then comes to find you without the cues. The same principle will work for window barking. Bark, thank you, take charlie out of the room until calm. Eventually you can stay sat in your seat and just saying thank you will stop him and come to you. Obviously as with everything this is not a quick fix. Boy I wish I had some of those You might also think it will never work but if you make sure you hammer home the first step, bark, thank you, looks at you, it will because the behaviour of barking at danger will automatically make him want to look at you and therefore find you if your not by him. Hope that makes sense. PS. Sorry should've added reward him when he stops barking and looks at you.
Can you message me the 2 organisations details please? So that I can take a look, better to armed with info for the future from forum members than making a bad choice again. Thank you, appreciate any help
@Jen, No I didn't have another cue just "bed". What I have done is, put a mat in the hall when the door bell rings I send him to it, so far not too bad. Even when David arrives home there is much excitement and barking, I sent him to the 'mat' really good last night he kept his focus on me, no barking and treat streaming for quiet. Had good success when the bin men arrived and Charlie was in the yard, he barked I stood at the back door and said "mat" and he looked at me and came in and went to the mat I have been doing the same thing today as I have had the back door open and not bad at all. He is brilliant going to the mat when I am cooking and don't want them in the kitchen, he sits whilst I throw treats to him, Hattie on the other hand is not so good I like your idea of "thank you" and him coming to find me. Oh now I don't know whether to keep going with the mat or adopt your approach which sounds good, decisions, decisions Help!
KEEP GOING WITH THE MAT it's working. It's not far off the same thing just your cue is mat not thank you and he goes to his mat rather than you. It will have the same result. Sounds like you and more importantly charlie are doing brilliantly the bin men coming then on the mat when told is fantastic.
I have a look and say "thank you", just to show Dex that I've acknowledged it, C&T if I have my clicker on me, if not I just say the thank you and treat. I don't mind a bark for letting me know there is someone about, if he persists I ignore or do distraction things. If it is someone coming in, I open the front door, after closing the dining room door, then before we enter the dining room, I send him to his mat and go and treat him. He's not barking when I open the door. I stopped sending him to the mat first as I couldn't reinforce it once I shut the door, I could if I use the treat & train but I don't keep it permanently down, it would be in the way. I'd go for whatever is working for you.
Stick with what's working Sounds as if you and Charlie are doing really well, even when confronted with bin men
Our older Lab, Tilly has always barked at passers by and people coming to the door. Our previous Lab did the same thing, and I actually like it. Keeps the bad guys away, since she has a great deep bark and sounds huge. I'll go to the door and tell her it's allright, and she will quiet down. Almost any time Tilly barks we know what she wants and it is normally for a good reason. Cooper is much the same, except for one really annoying thing. Sometimes at home, and occasionally in the car, she will start a high pitched almost continuous bark and will not stop on command. Most of the time Uh Unh will stop unwanted behavior with either of our dogs, but it has zero impact on Cooper when she is doing the high pitched bark. We have never figured out what she wants, or is trying to tell us. Our Samoyed owning friends have the same issue, and some times use a muzzle. Actually after using it a few times they mostly just pick it up and say "Muzzletoff" I would like to hear suggestions about stopping unwanted barking using rewards based training. I'm quite happy to have a dog bark to tell us something, (I need to go out, There is someone outside, There is a dog out there, or even I want to play) but this sharp, high pitched bark doesn't mean anything to us. She is likely to do it while lying down on her dog bed when we are eating or watching the news. It is not her typical I want to play or go for a walk bark.
There is an article here that might help: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/click-for-quiet/ I successfully used this with my dog in the car, but had to invest in a remote control treat dispenser to do so!
There are 4 main causes for dogs barking - watchdog barking, request barking, spooky (fearful/uncomfortable) barking and boredom barking. There are different approaches according to what sort of barking is happening with Cooper. One of the courses of action with excessive barking is to actually train a bark and quiet cue. I trained my last dog to 'speak' on cue and apart from when asked he rarely barked.
@charlie Helen, how's the training going with Charlie? I've recently read some interesting training advice on 'Watchdog barking' and thought of you If you're interested I can scan the pages and send to you. Just let me know
Because Cooper normally does not bark much, the Clicker training would be difficult. I would be handing out treats most all of the time. I think it is boredom barking, but I'm really not sure. I really think she is trying to tell us something, but we are too dense to pick up on exactly what it is. She really doesn't bark much and most of the time when she does, the reason is obvious., but with this one case, we still have not figured out what she wants or wants us to do. We did train Tilly and Ginger (our previous Lab) to bark on command, but both would still bark when they had a reason. Cooper is similar except for this occasional high pitched bark (we think she learned it from her (our) Sammy friends. We think that part of Tilly's and my hearing loss may be from having her ride with one of the Sammies in the way-back in our car, barking to complain about my driving. When one of our neighbor's dogs barks Cooper may bark back for a minute but she may ignore it completely and if she does bark, she will stop and come back in the house on command.
My dog is silent most of the time. It works well though when you have a specific time or event in which your dog makes a noise and for quite a long time eg the car, or when on a mat - as you describe. You don't have to C&T at other times when your dog is quiet.
