Barking

Hi everyone,

I posted a while ago about us getting a dog trainer out to deal with Stanley's barking when he was left alone, and it worked. Now I can pop him in his crate and leave him for a while.. Or so I thought.

We did the training with us in the house, and now I never hear a peep out of him anymore (except sometimes on a morning when I don't get up and he needs the loo). So we thought we'd cracked it.

But then our neighbour mentioned he still barks when we go out. This came as a bit of a shock as whenever I leave him he's quiet and whenever I return he's quiet, so I filmed him a few times when we went out.

We were gone for 1.5hours and he played with his Kong for about 10 minutes then barked for a few minutes then went to sleep. Then a few times he'd wake up, bark again for a little bit then go back to sleep. In total he barked for about 7 minutes of the 90 we were gone. The next time we were gone about an hour and he did 3 barks and settled down until we got back.

Considering how much he used to bark I think that's a real improvement but ideally I'd like no barking. However, my friend said she still thinks that's a lot of barking.

We still reward quiet behaviour and try and implement the training, but I'm unsure how to correct it as he's so quiet when we're in.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated ☺️

 

Well I think you are making great progress! He does settle which is important, evidenced by his snoozing, playing and (eating?) his kong. Is he being disturbed by noises do you think? Eg postman, people walking past the window?
Maybe having a quiet, calming CD on in the background might help if it is noises distracting him, plus maybe checking he is not reacting to sounds when you are around? At this stage I would go back a couple of steps in training, just to help him get relaxed and confident again. Maybe another visit with the same trainer?

 

Talk radio in the background may help.


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I think that's really good progress
I leave the tv on, on a low volume when I'm out and it helped settle Harley quicker. Might be worth a try?

 

@JenBainbridge I wish you were my neighbour instead of the ones I have.

 

You've made fantastic progress, very well done! You must be so chuffed.

I also leave talk radio on when I go out. No idea if it helps but I like to think that the background noise is comforting and drowns out any sudden loud noises outside.

 

That is really good. The best part is, it's not a constant bark so I would be really proud.

 

I agree with the others, I would say that is pretty good! He sounds pretty settled to me, but perhaps a word with the trainer would be helpful. As you say, it's hard to deal with this when he only does it when you are not home.

 

Thanks everyone!

I'm going to speak to the trainer this week and show them the videos. He goes to doggy day care with them so hopefully they'll be able to give some further advice, as they know him quite well now.

Thanks for the encouragement, he's a good little lad and he is a completely different dog. Just going to keep on with the training and hopefully the barking will keep improving, considering I couldn't even nip to the loo without all hell breaking loose I'm really pleased with his progress.

I'll defs try the radio, I leave the tv on for him but it's in the next room so I'll try the radio in his room