My Hugo is now 19 weeks old and overall is a lovely puppy. However, lately he has developed this habit of barking to try and get what he wants. It is now getting to the point where it is nearly all the time and I am try to stop him y ignoring but he goes on and on and I am worried about the neighbours so have to give in. Anyone else experience this and how do you stop it!?
Ignore it, completely. Don't comment, don't say a thing, turn your back then give attention for quiet. It'll take a few weeks of this, but it will work ...
Try a water sprayer or a water pistol it sounds harsh but it usually stops them after a short while and completely harmless sounds as though mummy spoils Hugo lucky Hugo good luck
Thank you. We are trying the ignore option but we are worried it is driving our neighbours mad - plus we are in the middle of renovating our house so no carpet etc makes it very loud. I would try water but he loves it to a point where he puts his face directly under the tap so I am not sure it would work.
@S&S - Hugo , can you let your neighbours know that you are trying to resolve the barking problem, they may understand?
Explain to your neighbours what you're trying to do. A barking dog drives people mad, but if they know what you're doing to deal with it and that it'll be over soon (hopefully) your neighbours should be happy...ish. I have barking Rottie lunatics 3 doors up who don't bother me, but how their immediate neighbours cope I have no idea.
It is not completely harmless - or if it is, it won't work. Either, the dog thinks nothing of it, or even enjoys it - in which case it will do absolutely nothing to discouraging barking, and even encourage it. Or, the dog finds it aversive, a punishment, in which case it will stop barking but punishment is never without the risk of fallout. It can't be described as harmless. Here is an article that explains this in more detail: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/punishment-in-dog-training/
You giving in is the problem. So you have ignored him for a bit, then given in. Which has trained him that if he barks long enough, he get what he wants - attention, or whatever. So he'll just bark for longer, because that gets him what he wants. I agree that the best thing to do is go round to your neighbours (perhaps with a bottle of wine/flowers/chocolates) and explain that you are just going to have to ignore him, and then do just that. Perhaps return with more wine/flowers/chocolates at the end of it....
My dog barked really badly for attention for the first 6 or 7 weeks of having him! Like you I thought ignoring him didn't work because he would go on for hours. But I got a trainer out who told me it was learned crying because even if he barked for hours he would eventually get the attention we wanted. We had to ignore barking and reward quiet behaviour. Occasionally if he was really barking I would say sternly from the other room "enough!". It took a while and a lot of perseverance but we did get there eventually and now he rarely barks. We just explained to our neighbours that we were really working on it, luckily they have a golden retriever pup not much older than Stanley so they were pretty understanding. You'll get there ☺️ I agree, I've been told for a few different behaviours (barking, chewing, biting) to squirt Stanley in the face with water. And it didn't sit right with me, not only is it not actually resolving and correcting the problem, I wouldn't want someone to squirt me in the face.. So I wouldn't do it to my puppy.
i would just like to say I've trained a lot of top class dogs won numerous trials and competitions with a variety of breeds and never had a dog barking to get attention as I was learning my trade I came across someone whose dog did this and they were advised to use a water sprayer which they did and it stopped the barking I personally would try every other option first before using the sprayer but it did work on that occasion and on numerous other occasions I've heard of
We are going through a similar thing with our 6 month old boy....ignoring him until quiet....never sure what will win, him barking or my ears bleeding!
