Bella at almost 11 months has started attention barking at me , I've done the ignoring and rewarding instantly when calm but sometimes she ups the ante and jumps and nibbles me so hard to ignore. Time out for 2 minutes works , rinse and repeat when necessary, she does this long whine during as well as if she's seriously hacked off with me. Always when I'm wanting to sit snd chill on the sofa she wants me entertaining her , alls ok when I'm washing up, cooking, doing jobs!!! Tonight she had another walk when I got home, tea and yet she still started barking , this seems to be on the increase which is worrying, she was doing it a lot last week too whilst we were away both to my family and my mums dog at times when she didn't want to play with her ( they played a lot) a couple of times Rosie responded by telling her 'no' which led to her backing off. It's not at all aggressive just a 'it's all about me' and very loud and annoying!!! Just wondering why this has just started ( it's never been rewarded either) is this adolescence kicking in ?!....... Any other tips? If I leave the room she stops and sits and waits for me , if only she was clever enough to realise I go upstairs to escape the barking so don't bark and I don't leave you!!!
I feel your pain as Obi was exactly like this when we got him at 9 months. Anytime we sat still and appeared to be doing 'nothing' (reading, on computer, on iPad, watching TV) he'd bark bark bark at us. We did a lot of time-outs...any barking and he was led by the collar to the study for a minute. Over time he stopped. We also did 5-10 min training sessions before 'peak barking risk periods' to wear out his brain a bit. He also used to bark at us if we stopped on a walk to sit down or talk to anyone, so we'd just wait till he lay down (it did eventually happen) and rewarded that by continuing the walk. We practised that a lot in places without people so the barking wasn't annoying others. On top of that we taught a cue for 'quiet' (teaching barking on cue doesn't work). I'd say you're doing the right things and it's just a matter of keeping at it. You will outlast her!
I'm worried/annoyed that my old dog might be getting a bit like this, not sure why she's started to bark like this when I'm walking her and I stop to talk or do a bit training with my young dog. She's not allowed to run after balls and run about too much now. She's always been the sort of dog who really likes and needs my attention and I think she's feeling a bit left out sometimes. I used to embarsingly for me go to a class which some dancing with dogs training was taught it made me squirm but the dogs loved it. They were very enthusiastic they really found it fun. So like Rachael when she starts the barkiness i get her to go through her "dance moves". she feels so special and loves it I just want to disappear into the ground, but it does work and they are not to hard on her now shes older. My younger dog sometimes try to get my attention in different ways like shoving toys at me but is he gets too OTT I pretend to go to sleep. sounds silly but If I lie down the other dogs ( I have 3) lie down too. They recognise its down time and now the young chap does it too(most of the time). I also use things like khongs to encourage him to lie on his bed an relax when I want to be able to do things like reading or sewing or just watch TV. I know what im doing is really obvious and you probabley do all those things anyway but I think we've all been through this sort of thing. We teach them to sit stay etc but we do need to teach the that sometimes they need to relax. Sorry my spellings a bit crap today I had a very hard day yesterday and my brain is fried this morning Hope everything goes well with your pup she sounds like she's really bright
One other thing I remember reading (in fact I seem to recall it was Oberon Rachael who said it, many moons ago) was that, if the dog gets more hyper when you ignore her, it's a sign you're doing the right thing and she's just upping the ante to try to get your attention, because what she was doing isn't working, so she's trying a different behaviour. It's a case of riding it out, continuing to ignore her and she'll eventually work out that calming down gets her the attention. Of course, you have to be careful you don't end up with her working out that barking followed by calm gets attention, so try to reward her for calm behaviour whenever you see it - just quietly pop a treat by her head when she's on her bed etc.
Yes, the 'extinction burst' When they start to escalate the behaviour that's definitely not the time to give in - it's a sign that you're getting somewhere!
It's hard when she starts play biting me too... so that's when I leave the room! I will keep going with the time out and maybe click for quiet like you suggest. Thanks On a positive note she had her first sleep over on the sofa last night not in her pen so hopefully the pen can come down in a few months and I can get a dining table!! (but will still need a time out zone!!)
you have my sympathy Obi spaniel was an attention barker too (must be something in the name!) hang in there, don't give in, you'll come out the other side
