We are developing a bit of a habit. How do I nip this in the bud. She either does it when I'm trying to get her to settle. She just looks at me and barks. She also does it when she hears a noise in the garden she goes burserk!
Betsy was a very noisy puppy - well, compared to Charlie who was silent (until he was about a year old then became a bit of a whiner ). I ignore all barking. Absolutely. Look away, completely ignore, even stop all movement to avoid reinforcement. When she was younger, and she barked in her crate etc. I left the room. I have a zero tolerance approach to anyone doing anything that reinforces barking. She has mainly stopped it - apart from she will bark in the back garden if she smells foxes. That's not wearing off. When she barks, I do nothing. Absolutely nothing. If she continues, I'll put barking and quiet on cue. So far, it's not bad enough to bother and is getting better. If that changes, I'll think again.
Perfect thanks @JulieT I can try that for the barking when I try and get her to settle. It's like a baby crying it makes me want to react. wrapped round her little claw! I have moved her crate to our bedroom, for a number of reasons. One being that she barks while we eat. She gets a stuffed kong which to be fair she is spending longer on but as soon as she is bored with it the barking will start again. Is it ok to leave her shut away like this, obviously just while we eat. She has actually managed two meals this week with no barking at all. However we had family round and she was not quiet. What about in the garden?! She is not trying to get my attention. I think she is just anxious. There are currently noisy workman next door.
It is useful to try to work out why she is barking. I don't think it changes what you do about the barking, but I do think you can work on the causes of her barking. Barking because she is watching something she finds frustrating needs to be ignored but you have to work on improving her ability to watch things. I think this is very important (I have this with my older dog but it's whining not barking). You have to build up her tolerance - slowly - to watching things that make her feel frustrated because she can't join in. Once she has started barking, you must ignore it. Any attention or activity will reinforce the barking. But you should think about what you do next time, and what you do generally to help her cope. Absolutely you can put her away while you eat. Although, unless this is going to be the solution forever, you'll have to work on her being able to be quiet while you eat. Just as an example, I watched a dog at training last week. Before the class started, the owner threw a ball for the dog again, and again and again. From a ball thrower. The dog chased the ball, brought back the ball, over and over. When the class started, that dog started barking when another dog got a ball thrown for it. And the owner said 'shush!' and walked the dog round. The dog barked more, and more. This dog expects to be able to chase balls that are moving. It is not normally asked to watch a ball moving that it can't chase. So it's frustrated at suddenly being asked to do that. The owner relieved the dog's attention (slightly) by talking to him, and allowing him to move round (which was better than being stood still). This dog is going to bark more and more at other dogs with balls. The solution would be to instead of repeatedly throwing a ball for the dog, to ask the dog to watch a moving ball. Maybe just a tiny bit at first, then a bit more, then more....then with another dog. And so on. Once the dog had started barking in class it was far too late to try to do anything about it. A dog barking because it is anxious, is different. You've got to try to do something about the underlying cause of the dog being anxious. My solution (at the moment) for Betsy being anxious about the foxes is for her whole pack to go with her when I know this is going to happen. Me, my OH, and Charlie all traipsed out to the garden with her tonight, because that helps her feel safe so she doesn't bark. I'm hoping that the more she smells foxes when she feel safe, the better she'll be able to cope with them....I'm a bit stuck for other ideas though!
I've never had a tolerance for barking but I am at a bit of a loss also as what to do about it. My neighbors dog barks constantly if we are outside thru the very tall tree line and it's always made Corona jumpy. Corona never barked at all until about a week ago. Now the second the door opens to go outside, she starts to bark whether the neighbor dog is outside or not. From what I can tell, she barks because she is scared. She will also bark if she hears a strange noise and can't see it. She will bark if someone comes home and she was sound asleep. And now she barks in the car if she sees a person outside. I try to treat her for quiet, and tell her no when she does bark. I also leash her mostly to go out for her business because I don't want her eating bark (or toxic berries) and I turn right around and go back in the house if she barks even once. I'm hoping that by consistently doing all these things, that she will learn it isn't acceptable. Just today, I was waiting for my daughter at work, and Corona didn't bark at all when she saw people going in and out. She was getting a lot of treats and praise!
I wouldn't do either of these things. If she is anxious, getting told off isn't going to improve matters. If she is anxious about going outside, you taking her inside will reinforce the barking. If a dog is barking because it is scared, it isn't a question of them 'learning it is unacceptable'. You've got to stop them feeling scared. Classical conditioning of feeding treats is really good though!
Not sure how to get her to "not feel scared". If only I could reason with her like a child... other than distract her in some moments with treats, I can't think of what else to do. I really can't see how ignoring her unacceptable barking that is disrupting neighbors, is going to get her to stop. My neighbors have been ignoring their dogs barking for years and it has only gotten worse.
Tatze likes to bark in the garden whenever she hears sounds. I have some strategies which work - 1. I never leave her in the garden, if she's in the garden I'm there too. 2. When she barks we both go and 'investigate' and I make reassuring, cheerful noises - 'ah, it's only Lisa doing the bins'. 3. I walk away from the sound giving her treats and talking to her. 4. We play a distracting game. 5. If she decides she wants to continue to react (she usually doesn't and is fine) we go back inside. The secret, I believe, is to remain calm and unconcerned yourself. ...
Telling a scared dog 'no!' is likely to make things worse not better. Removing a scared dog away from the thing she is scared of when she barking is likely to make it worse - I was anxious, I barked, I got to move to a place that made me feel better so barking was a very good thing to do. Completely understand that you feel her barking is unacceptable and you want her to stop, but that doesn't mean you can't very easily end up making it worse. You change the way a dog feel about something by giving the scary thing a positive association. The most convenient way to do this is by using food. In a nutshell, you start feeding the dog for approaching the scary thing, and feed before the dog reacts. Then next time you try get a bit closer etc. It is difficult if the thing is 'the garden'. Betsy gets fun, games and food in the garden - when she is not barking.
Just last evening, we began the "quiet" training and rewarding with food. This morning, I waited until she stopped barking, said quiet and she looked to me for a reward. Just now, we went out to the garden, neighbor dog was barking, I said quiet in quite a cheery voice before she even got a chance to bark. She looked to me for a treat, did her business, looked back for another treat and then went to the door! All the while the neighbor dog barked and barked. Corona didn't even seem to notice! This works as well as it's been working when she barks at people from the car! I will definitely be keeping up with this positive encouragement. Makes me laugh at how fast she caught on!
That's great Jeanine! We have little yappy Westies next door. They yap whenever they are outside. It's great training for the pups to ignore woofers ...
