Oscar seems to bark a lot he barks when excited, when startled, when wanting attention, in response to other dogs and probably more things too. I'm trying to ignore the attention seeking ie I don't go back to him or look at him if he's barking. For the "startled" barking I try to wait for a quiet moment, or quickly get in before he gets going, and try to start some training with treats so he focuses on me not the trigger. This seems to be helping. I'm struggling with how to deal with barking at the door and barking when we go places he likes - eg puppy training/ vets/ groomers.... Any helpful thoughts on how to manage it. Also, the groomer said he was "very noisy" today - is this something I can train out of him? Thanks - Lucy
I would teach him the speak command - so you put that behaviour on a word, then you can teach to be quiet. So have someone hold his lead, stand in front of him and be giddy with a toy/treat...he will bark eventually through frustration/excitement (or sooner if he is very barky like you say) - when he does say "speak" or whatever you want the command to be and reward. Do this a few times until he will speak on command. Then once he is doing this reliably, wait for a tint pause in the barking and say "quiet" or whatever you want to say (If there is absolutely no quiet spell then hidewhatever you have behind your back as a distraction and he should stop) - say quiet and reward. Make time to practice loads, and st up time to do it (so get someone to knock on the door - wait for the pause, say quiet reward and open the door) - hope that helps!
I like this video, which, as mentioned above, teaches your dog to bark and then teaches a quiet cue. I've not done this myself - I have a long list of "to do"s, but when I get around to it, it will be using this method. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vtn8NhofOw It's difficult to train for quiet without training the bark first, because you have to reward the absence of something - which could be an infinite number of things, so it's hard for the dog to understand. Apparently, once a behaviour is properly on cue, the dog is less likely to do it uncued. This is because you teach him that he gets a tasty treat when he barks because you've asked him, whereas he gets nothing if he barks without you asking first. By the way, Oscar is a very peculiar looking Labrador That's OK, though, we love all dogs here!
I haven't had a problem with a barking dog but the key is not to reward the barking so, get someone to help you and practice with the door first. get them to knock/ring the bell. If Oscar barks don't open the door until he is quiet. When quiet open the door. Amazingly it doesn't usually take me attempts before they learn that barking doesn't bring a reward. Some people also train for their pup to sit on a mat or a specific spot when there is a knock on the door - if they don't sit there the doesn't isn't opened. You can also reward Oscar for when he is lying quiet and say quiet (or whatever you want to use) at the same time. When visiting vets, puppy training etc. I would work on if Oscar barks turn round and leave the vets etc. when he is quiet outside try again the aim being that he remains quiet when you enter the vets or wherever. Not sure how helpful your vets are but it is not unusual for them to be quite happy for you to be in and out several times over numerous days while training Oscar not to bark (it's for their benefit as well). as a spaniel/poodle cross I reckon he's going to be pretty intelligent and will catch on with the training very quickly. As with all training the key is consistency and repetition. Good luck and let us know how you get on....
Thank you all so much... Lots of things to try and train - brilliant Errrm, yes, Oscar is hoping to become a Labrador when he grows up.... We like that he has high aspirations
Not sure if that's something you should encourage him in - you obviously haven't read some of our posts about our pups behaviour
I have a spaniel......a very noisy spaniel But he's getting better as he grows up. He's coming up to a year old now. When we first got him lordy! If he wasn't involved and he wanted to be you definitely knew about it. I tried to stay very calm (he's pretty excitable) and consistent and tried never to reward noise with attention or whatever it was he was shouting about. I've tried to teach him to settle when nothing's happening and that's definitely been worthwhile it makes him less of a pest. Best of luck!
Do you use a command for "settle" or just reward him when he is settled? I think I've read bits about this before, but I felt it was too advanced for us then.... Maybe we could try now...
I read When Pigs Fly which talks about free shaping relaxed behaviour and rewarding calmness with calm attention from you and I also read Helen Phillips Clicker Gundog which has a section called "park the dog" and I basically used one or other of those techniques and added a command of "settle down". So whenever Obi offered a relaxed behaviour I would give him a little tickly under the chin and say "settle down". I had to be really careful though as too much attention raised the excitement levels again so sometimes just a verbal "good boy, settle down" was enough. So I suppose I didn't really teach it I just captured when it happened naturally
