Hi there Mario. This Forum, as well as The Labrador Site itself, promotes positive training methods, and what you have mentioned by using collars, newspaper and sprays are very much against the ethos of the site and Pippa the site's founder. Such methods you describe are called "aversives" and are to be avoided. Have you seen the main site? https://www.thelabradorsite.com/labrador-barking/ I would suggest reading this first, as there is a lot of information about barking and how to try stop it occuring. If you have any more questions after looking at this, please pop back and ask away. jac
Hi Mario. Dogs communicate with us in lots of different ways. Vocalising is one of them. I appreciate that it can be really irritating and disruptive, and a behaviour that we want to get rid of. My ethos is always, rather than punishing the symptomatic behaviour so that it diminishes, try to address the underlying cause of the behaviour. What is your dog trying to express with is barking? It could be a multitude of things, so there's no point guessing here. For example, my puppy used to bark from frustration. If she wanted some attention and I was being boring, she would bark. So, my approach was two-fold; firstly, never respond to the barking by giving any sort of attention at all - in fact, at its worst, I would turn my back and walk out of the room the second she barked. Secondly, I realised that I was asking to much of a young puppy and was ignoring her for too long. So, I had to address that and give her some interaction trough play, training or a walk, before the barking started. Over time, she has become better at managing her frustration and very rarely barks at all these days. There are many other reasons for dogs barking, though, and we couldn't guess what the reason is in your dog's case, so the above may not be an appropriate strategy. But, trying to understand the reasons your dog is barking and changing his emotional response to the trigger is absolutely key. Punishing a dog (even with "mild" methods) for communicating is very dangerous indeed, as it can lead to a dog who is afraid of expressing himself through normal communication (barking, growling, showing his teeth) and so will avoid these signals and escalate to more extreme behaviours far earlier. Of course, none of us want our dogs to growl and show their teeth, and most of us don't want them to bark, either, but, as I have said, addressing the dog's reasons for doing so will mean that they still have the option if they need it, down the line, to communicate they are uncomfortable with a situation.
