My 15 week old bitch has found her voice and won't stop barking. It is driving us all mad. I work from home and I am find the noise really stressful. She is doing it when she wants something. For example, if she needs to go to the toilet she does a very gentle whine. Totally acceptable and easy to recognise. If she is behind the stairgate in the kitchen she sits and yelps for ages. We keep her there when we eat or when she won't stay off the furniture or needs rest/sleep. Food seems to be a real trigger for barking. If I am preparing food she really gets going. I have watched a training video using a clicker but I think it is making it worse because as soon as she knows I have treats to reward the training she barks more. It is a viscous cycle. Can anyone offer any advice?
Hullo and welcome to the forum! My puppy, Luna, was the same - she would bark from frustration. Immediately on waking, she would bark to alert me to the fact. If she was hungry, bark. Needed a wee, bark. Very annoying. The only thing you can really do is ignore it. It does get better in time, if you make sure she never gets rewarded for it. It's very difficult with a really young puppy, though, because that bark might mean she needs the toilet.... should I go, or not?? But, as she matures, and you know she can hold her bladder better, you can be certain it's something that can be ignored. Now, my puppy is seven months and doesn't bark at much at all. The only time she does is if she's downstairs, we're upstairs and she can't get up because my other girl is laying in the way. If your puppy is barking continuously, it's harder to remain patient, but it's really important you completely ignore her - that means not even making eye contact or shushing her. If you let it go on for a minute and then "break", she'll have learnt that she gets some acknowledgement eventually. Next time, you might make two minutes - shes just learnt to be more persistent. It may get worse before it gets better, as she tries as hard as she can to get you to react to her. But, by using this tactic, it will die out eventually, I promise! What's your girl's name?
Oh, something else I tried was, as soon as she barked, I would get up (without looking at her) and walk out of the room. I also work from home, so I couldn't always be consistent with this, unfortunately. It did click after a little while, though, that barking actually led to me leaving. I'd come back when she was quiet, even for a split second.
Tilly barks when she wants something, usually very specific. Like I want you to open the door to the upper deck. We pretty much can't ignore her, and it is usually easy enough to do what ever she wants. Cooper barks when she and Tilly are play fighting, and it is truly obnoxious. Loud high pitched bark that hurts your ears. We have never come up with a really good solution, though telling her to "Get a Toy" sometimes works. She also barks at our neighbor's son when he is out playing with his skate board. Seems she has a thing about skate boards.
