Re: Benson has never barked... [quote author=Oberon link=topic=4752.msg59050#msg59050 date=1394140883] I'd better get ready for work now. At least it's Friday!!!!! [/quote] You get Friday before us! Not fair! (I suppose you get Monday before us too though.)
Re: Benson has never barked... My previous dog barked at everything, no matter how hard I tried to change it. And the "teach bark and then teach stop" doesn't work, I agree. I am totally enjoying my mainly quiet Lab, he barks at things that freak him out, or at big trucks outside, or occasionally at people approaching the door, but, really, it's definitely less than once a day. But I am totally in agreement with Rachel, definitely not smug about it at all. Some dogs are barkers, no matter how hard you try to train them out of it.
Re: Benson has never barked... I think I'm right in thinking most noisy dogs would have been bred out of most working lines. No point having a dog at a peg, telling all the birds he's there . I did have one Woofless Wonder, but she was a Lurcher (also bred to be quiet dogs). One of my Labs doesn't bark much, but my yellow girl is a gobby cow and barks at the drop of a hat. She doesn't bark for attention, but as soon as she hears something outside, she's off, shouting her lungs out. I know her mother is the same, but I wasn't put off by this, as burglary is rife around here, so I wanted a dog to warn off potential naughty people and she does that job very well indeed. 8)
Re: Benson has never barked... Noise is an issue in working dogs but I rarely hear them bark it's generally a whine or squeak due to excitement. Even so this is seen as undesirable and if you want to compete it's a disaster as it's a disqualifying fault.
Re: Benson has never barked... Titan rarely barks too. He is a year and three months today and rarely will you hear him bark. He will whine once in a long while. It's a little odd when we hear him bark because we forget he actually can lol. Usually his barks are because he wants to get to another dog and will do a high pitch bark/cry lol.
