The last few days I am really struggling with my pup. Almost 5 months old, we had to go back to basics on house training (setting an alarm for every 30 minutes to take her out). She and the cats still do not get along (there is a lot of barking at cats). She still jumps on people like crazy, and seems more and more hyper. None of which is completely atypical for a puppy, but enough to make me crazy. The biggest concern is a new propensity for barking. She has been barking in the morning in her pen (instead of just whining), and barking at people and other dogs when I take her outside (mostly at night). She never was much of a barker, but now I am getting more and more barking. My last lab never barked (literally barked about 5 times in his 12 years of existence). She has done obedience training and I am taking her to a new class that focuses on impulse control this weekend. We work with her, try to get her lots of exercise, but I feel like I am going backwards. Could this be the adolescent thing I read about starting early? Don't worry, I still love her tons. Just feel like I am failing as a puppy Daddy at the moment.
First thing is to figure out why she is barking. My initial thought is that it sounds like frustration - is she on lead and unable to get too the people/dogs when she barks? Or could it be from nervousness?
Yes, she is on a lead and can't run to check out the other dogs/people. What is odd is that this barking is new. She doesn't seem nervous, but concerned. Maybe she is just more protective than my last lab (he wasn't any kind of guard dog at all). I know dogs bark, but I was highly hopeful that she was one of the dogs that bark less. Trying to figure out if I can find options to minimize the barking.
Well, dogs can start to get a bit more jumpy as they start becoming more independent. They become less reliant on you making all the decisions for them and start working out for themselves whether something is a threat or not. It's part of the journey into adulthood but can mean they suddenly start reacting to things that they were quite fine with before. If this is the stage she's going through, then it's important not to expose her to things that can actually scare her - for example, if she's wary of people, it's very important that she doesn't have that affirmed by them approaching her in what she may perceive as a threatening way during this time. On the other hand, things that are of no consequence she has to learn are nothing of interest, so you can be a bit offhand and just jolly her on her way. As she becomes habituated to these normal things, she will stop reacting. The balance is making sure that she doesn't accidentally become sensitised to them - so you need to make sure she is kept at a place where she isn't actually becoming scared. If this happens, then she will become more concerned/anxious as time goes on.
Thanks snowbunny. She barked at some people walking by and a jogger last night. Nothing that would have frightened her (we just went out to the yard to go potty) but I think maybe she is "feeling her oats" a little. We try and do lots of careful socialization so she won't be scared, but I'll keep that advice in mind. I swear that puppies are harder than kids sometimes.
But at least they don't nick cash from your wallet... ... although we did have an incident with a baby Willow and a €10 note...
Our almost 4 month old is starting to "talk back". We think he is just communicating with us, but his shrill barks can be UN-nerving. He just wants unending attention. This morning, I had to get him up at 7:15 instead of him getting me up at 6:20. And so he goes to bed at 10 PM, harassing me to take him out to potty and get him up to bed. This morning, he went potty, got fed, waited fairly patiently while I did my 90 minutes of morning devotions, and then we went for a 20 minute walk in the woods. When we came back he started barking at me, and son we went potty(pee). We had done all the baby things, including another potty. and he started barking again. I just figured that like a baby human, he needed to go down for a nap, and sure enough when I put him in his crate(10 feet from me), I got a couple of barks, and then he went right off to sleep. Puppies, just like baby humans, can get over tired from activity, and need a nap.
Also like an adolescent, they like to back talk I had read, if you put a bunch of change(or whatever you have that makes a lot of noise) in a plastic jar and rattle it very loud whenever they bark, they’ll stop so I tried it. Yes he did stop for the first few times when I did it but then he was like” give me it” And made a grab for it. So it did sort of work, maybe when yours stops barking , you can give him a treat when he’s quiet if you try it
We try to promote only positive training methods on this forum, rather than using tools designed to shock or scare our dogs. It may seem benign to use a rattle bottle but it can cause other behavioural and emotional issues, such as a fear of unfamiliar or loud noises, which are far harder to fix. Here is more information on the topic of rattle bottles: https://thehappypuppysite.com/dog-training-discs-rattle-bottles-and-pet-correctors/
whoops sorry, if it helps any, i ended up ditching that quickly and he used it as a toy, lol. It kept him very busy
Was this late in the evening so dark? Or earlier at dusk? Just wondering whether the light level is playing a role in her reacting. We're there voices/noise before she saw them.
I just use a very short period of time out. He's right in front of me. And he gets this look on his face like: "Oh alright."
