Hello, Thought I asked you guys if you have any training suggestions for dog's barking to seek attention. Bowie doesn't bark in general except when there are unknown visitors coming to our house and the occasional bark to other dogs. It normally doesn't last long and it's not an aggressive bark - it's more him saying hello! He used to bark when we're on the phone and not paying him attention but he has stopped doing that. However we haven't managed to fully curb his barking when we talk to our friends/visitors and not paying him attention. It's like 'I want to join in as well!' but really it gets annoying and we feel bad to our friends as the conversations are often interrupted. Sometimes I would give him his toy stuffed with treat/bone to chew to keep him busy or when he's barking I'll tell everyone not to look or pay him attention and when he stops he gets the attention but he really tests us at times. He's got a loud, deep bark, it's hard not to automatically look So guys do you have any training suggestions to share?
Xena wasn't too much of a pest with attention barking, but she did used to sit next to us on the sofa and bark when she wanted a pat. We simply turned our backs to her and ignored the barking. Rewarded quiet with pats. It didn't last long. Now when she wants a pat she paws at us, and like the good monkey butlers that we are we comply If I'm not in the mood I turn away and she stops immediately.
I would proactively train for calmness. Teach him a "go to mat" behaviour and make it a wonderful place to be. Whenever you can throughout the day, if he's laying quietly, drop him a treat to reward that calmness. It might mean you have a few visits where you're feeding him constantly on his bed, but that will become less necessary with practice.
Joy and I are back again after some more problems with our internet connection. Joy is a (mostly) good, funny, clever little dog but she is also now an adolescent and has started to occasionally bark for attention. We have been ignoring this and rewarding quiet behaviour with good effect. However thismorning there was SNOW! She knew there was snow as she saw it when she came with me to help put the bird food out and she just couldn't wait for her morning walk, so started barking at me while I was eating breakfast. I ignored and ignored and eventually she gave a loud groaning noise that ended in a sort of a squeak and somehow up-ended herself on the hall floor next to the stairs. Her left shoulder was on the floor as was her left ear. Her right front paw was in the air, also her bum and both back paws, kind of leaning against the side of the stairs. This was combined with groaning and rolling her eyes at me. It really was one of the funniest things I've seen and happened to coincide with me finishing my breakfast. So now she's learned that if she makes me laugh she gets what she wants! Maybe not a bad thing.
Hehe, be careful with this. I have a dog who absolutely adores attention - it's one of her biggest reinforcers. Once she jumped on the bed in the morning and landed on my head, where she promptly laid down, smothering me. I laughed/spluttered from underneath her which she thought was fantastic so she repeated it Every. Single. Morning.
Ah! thanks for the warning snowbunny! Is it Willow, Shadow or Luna who does this? Does it still happen? A few weeks ago I slipped on some black ice and Joy jumped on my head then which made me laugh but also made getting off my bum and back onto my feet whilst still on the ice shall we say a little challenging. Eventually I crawled on my hands and knees to a non-icy patch (this with a small Labrador continuing to jump on my head) and managed to get back on my feet from there. Luckily I wasn't injured and there was no-one to watch this performance. I couldn't stop laughing though which is probably why Joy kept jumping (jumping for Joy?) I feel there may be a pattern emerging!
It's the Squidgy one, Luna. She can't do it at the moment because here in Andorra, she doesn't go in our bedroom. In Spain, we have no door so the dogs either sleep with (on) us or, in her case, normally downstairs until morning when she jumps on my head. I'll find out again in the Spring when we go back to Spain if she's still doing it
Homer will bark for attention. He had a walk, a poop, his dinner, we played find-it, treats, then all I wanted to do was sit for a moment so I ignored him and eventually off he went. A few minutes later he yapped again in the kitchen, I ignored him again and all went quiet, too quiet. He had stolen my glasses case off the kitchen table and completely chewed it up, fortunately not the glasses that were inside. I know there are various theories and opinions of dogs knowing good from bad behaviour. He most definitely knowingly stole my glasses case to get back at me for not giving him more treats and attention.
Our almost 15 week old pup barks for just three things: 1. if we haven't fed him on time, or he is out of water, AND he is really thirsty or hungry 2. if he really really has to go potty and somehow we forgot, or everything else he tries doesn't get out attention. 3. Only very very occasionally we are too busy with human events to to take him out for exercise or forget that he could chase a milk carton, he will bark at us. So if we feed on time, take out on time, and give exercise on time, we don't hear a peep out of him.
It might not be as simple as that with all dogs. Cassie is an "alert" barker, which is fine with me. She's never barked for attention, she's challenged me in other ways but not that way. And she doesn't have a strict routine, so there's no "on time" in her life.
Bowie barks when there are new visitors coming to our house. He's like 'Mum, dad someone's coming! You better have a look!' or it could be 'Oh, new people, I better say hello first!' I don't know which , but sometimes his deep bark can worry new visitors. I'd like to curb that but my husband actually doesn't mind as it warns us if there are any unwanted visitors/intruders
Hahaha....it also happened to me a numerous times with Bowie - doing cheeky things to get some/any reaction from me. I get paranoid when he's gone and suddenly goes quiet... it's like what he's up to now?? So now, it's all about timing, as soon as he stops barking, we acknowledge him (either good boy for being quiet or he gets attention). Hopefully he'll learn it in time... practice makes perfect
We have the same. Our boy isn’t a barker, except for my attention. It’s so darn loud - deafening actually - that I feel bad for people around if I ignore it. I must say, though, that he has got so much better in public places, we can sit at a cafe now! (About time - he’s 6 yo.) But interestingly with age, he’s got more vocal at home and talks to us in a variety of extremely cute voices (groans, grunts, squeaks, etc), and he even has an inside bark - a cute little bark. I praise him heavily for that. I don’t want to quiet him altogether, just can’t bear the deafening barks. So the cute inside bark is encouraged.
