Hi folks, I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions: Tatti (now 8 months) has recently started barking a lot more than usual, seemingly at every noise she hears outside the house (and sometimes inside) and at people who walk past (when she is in the garden). To clarify the last point, its the front garden so one of us is always there and the wall out is quite low, but even when neighbours who she has previously loved come out of their houses, she thinks she needs to wan me or yell at them (I'm not sure which). I have tried saying very calmly 'thank you', I have tried giving her something to think about 'a simple sit or down' but this doesn't always work. In terms of people coming into the garden, I try to throw treats on her cushion but as I am usually at my desk or in the kitchen, by the time I get there, she is already barking. I recently read a paper on barking recently (I think by Pat Miller but I might have made that up) and from what I can figure - it is alert barking (there is no yap) and occasionally suspicion barking (which I used to call her lazy bark). So I think she is trying to tell me about whats going on. I wonder if it is linked to her new 'caution' with new things and people. Despite A LOT of socialisation, she seems to be a bit jumpy with quit a few things at the moment. She has also lost her recall (again) and runs off in the park like she owns it. I have a three week plan from our training to help with the recall, and she also gave us some pointers for recognising if she (tatti) is stressed or anxious and giving her an out to the situation or making the situation less bothersome. BUT - at that point, the barking wasn't such a big problem. Can anyone tell me if this is likely to be another one of those growing up phases and does anyone have a good method for stopping the barking once it has started? For context, I live on a fairly quiet street but it is in a small city so there are quite a few dogs in the neighbourhood you hear barking throughout the day (this doesn't usually start her off but I don't know if this is teaching her about being noisy). Also, while I work from home with her 4 days a week, she does go to a daycare one day a week. It is very good with excellent reviews and you only have to spend some time there to know its run well BUT there are some barky dogs there too and obviously I cant be 100% sure of how the other humans that come to drop off and pick up their dogs react to mine. In ALL other respects, our pup is amazing. She is exceptionally soft in nature, is well mannered, really clever, generally very calm (no 'crazies' as I think you call them) and our vet and trainer both say they'd be proud to have her as a dog. So I think we're pretty lucky really. It would just be nice if I could reduce the barking a little - for my sanity if nothing else
I say 'thank you' then if Dexter barks again, I calmly and quietly go and have a look, looking side to side without talking, then I say 'thank you' again as I calmly walk away and tell him good boy. Unless I need to answer the door or deal with anything. This is working at the moment for us.
You may find some helpful information on this recent forum thread http://thelabradorforum.com/threads/barking-problem.13944/
I just open a new tab for the forum and find the page/thread I want and copy and paste it into a post in much the same way as you would add a link to say another website like Amazon .... Of course that's from my tablet, too much of a faff from my mobile
Oh, I learnt how to do the Amazon link share not long ago, never thought of using it like that for the forum Thank you
I've just realised something that might be relevant- very often the barking will start when tatti is finishing her food or if she wakes up suddenly. This accounts for about 75% of her barking. The rest seems to be reactive to noise next door or outside. Is this significant? I also noticed today that all the dogs in the area seemed to be at it- is it a spring thing?
