8 month black lab, generally great and very friendly and happy. This last few weeks she's started barking at everything that goes by our yard (cars, the neighbours, other people etc...). The barking is deep and continuous, definitely sounds like protective/warning barks. Prior to this shes been totally fine in the yard with no barking at all. Im trying to praise and tell her 'ok, thanks, now leave it' after the first bark, then say 'quiet' once she stops, but its doesn't seem to be catching on at all. Anyone have any experience/suggestions for helping her to understand its not ok to just bark at everything at all times of the day? Also if anyone knows, let me know if I'm doing wrong with my above tactics so far! Thanks!
Hi @Andrew Hemsley I would be inclined to do a number of things. Try LAT training https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/look-at-that.22184/ to counter condition the dog's attitude to the passers by. The need for this is based on your observation that the dog's bark is very deep, a potential indicator of fear aggression--although it could just mean I am warning you of a potential intruder. The LAT training will also encourage the dog to alert you to the objects rather than feeling the need to bark at them. Practise the LAT training in a low distraction environment before attempting it in the highly distracting garden/yard. I can't find the post, but Jo Laurens had an interesting suggestion that caught my attention. From memory it goes something like the following: When the dog is barking, get the dog to run a bit. The moment the dog closes her mouth to catch her breath (and as a result ceases barking), say "quiet" and give a treat. Praise is an insufficient reward. Increase the value of the reinforcer. If that method does not work for you, then try adding a reward to your method of cueing quiet.
The problem with 'Close Your Mouth', is you need to be present, right next to the dog, to train that behaviour - and it will only last as long as you are there. Plus it is really about calming the dog down from panting or slight whining due to frustration or impatience or slight arousal - it's not for full-on barking or reactivity. Instead, this is usually a 'dog given too much free-access to the yard' problem. Free access to yards results in: 1. Dogs rearranging flower beds and just dirt itself, digging holes and generally destroying yards. 2. Dogs eating things which are potentially harmful and hazardous, whether they be toxic plants (of which there are an awful lot) or pieces of fencing, sticks, gravel etc etc etc - the owner doesn't even know what it is which the dog has eaten. 3. Dogs teaching themselves to eat their own poop (coprophagia), because it isn't cleaned up immediately and lies around near them all day - and hey, there's not much else to do in this under-stimulating environment... 4. Dogs are able to interact with anything passing by in some way - be that people, other dogs, critters or wildlife, birds etc etc - and often develop defensive guarding behaviours as a result - teaching themselves that this is their job. So really, if this is something which is occurring whilst you are in the yard with your dog - then by all means, counter-conditioning through her name/recall and a load of treats at the first sign of anything, will probably work great. You can continue to dispense treats the whole time anything is near the yard to cause this display and pretty soon you will have a dog turning to you in expectation for treats at the first sign of hearing anything outside. But if this is something which is occurring any other time or if your dog has free access to the yard, then that is really what needs to be addressed. Ideally through the access being stopped when someone is not with the dog and, if necessary, a pet carer coming to pay a visit to toilet or play with the dog during the day to break the day up. It is very stressful for a dog to believe it is their 'job' and duty to guard a property 24/7 (or even 8 hours a day or whatever).... Since you can't stop other dogs or people being immediately the other side of your property (it is their right to walk there) you need to control your side of things - how far away the dog is, from the other side of the barrier.... by keeping the dog indoors or at least contained away from the road etc, when unsupervised....
