A brill example of this today. I was out in the garden and Red was with me. In the garden backing onto ours, the two dogs there starting to bark very aggressively (it’s horrible the noise they make sometimes). Anyway, I said very quickly ‘Listen to that, Red, dogs barking’ - she looked straight at me and just stood listening to their horrible noise. I was so impressed. I gave her lots of praise and we came in for a treat. I know if I hadn’t said anything, she would have barked.
Well done Red I heard about this behaviour training a while ago, I too have been trying it out on my two. Charlie goes balistic when someone rings the doorbell so I have been saying "who's there" or "it's the postman", sometimes it works so I am going to continue and hope for the best x
I need to do Listen to that training with Homer. We’ve sort of done it, a bit here and there, but do need to work through a more systematic programme. Are there any recommended books, websites or training guides?
I do listen to that with Inky in the garden too. Gradually he's ignoring the dogs that periodically bark around us. I also seem to remember from last summer that the more we're out there the more he ignores them so probably nothing to do with my training!
I think it’s useful having a strategy even if it doesn’t always work - yesterday Red managed to look at me every time a dog barked (we were out in the garden all day) and she stayed quiet but then early evening every sound around here she barked at. She did stop when I said ‘listen to that’ but I really want her to not bark in the first place. Like all things, it’s a work in progress and the more time we spend out here, hopefully the more she won’t react to every noise.
Its so encouraging when a bit of training comes together tell me about it. Mason 9 months starting to do alright on recall
I’ve started this with Tatze as she’s a terror for alert barking in the house. It’s started to work. Today there was a man hammering the roof next door, after one ‘Listen to that’ shes Now snoozing at my feet.
Absolutely and now that the nice weather is here we can get more training in. I was doing some work in our front drive so I had my treats in my pocket and everytime someone walked past and they were quiet = treat. I got to a good stage with Charlie when a big dog walked past that he would normally bark at, he just stood and watched, YES a big treat came his way every opportunity is a training opportunity. x
Hahaha I have a funny story, I did this and kept saying "who's there", fast forward a few days to a family lunch i was attending, I see my cousin coming and say "Look Lexi, who's there!" (the phrase makes more sense in my native language) and she started barking. So now, I have a puppy who's 'command' for barking is "Who's there"