Hello all! I'm looking for some suggestions for easing anxious/worried behaviours. In the past couple of weeks Jess has reverted back to being quite anxious. I'm not sure what the trigger has been. She's about 11 months now. The main issue is that if she hears something that catches her attention she will start furiously barking. Things that upset her include any repeated sound that's a bit like horses' hooves (you'd be surprised how many background sounds fall into this category!); any dogs barking that she can't see; and all sorts of things that I'm not aware of but seem to startle her. Many sounds on the radio and TV now make her bark frantically. She also hears things during the night and in her sleep and wakes up barking furiously. This doesn't happen all the time but certainly more than I would like. My question isn't so much about how to get her to stop barking once she's started - I can do this fairly quickly - but how to make her more calm and confident so that she is less reactive and worried by strange noises. I wondered if anyone here had any suggestions?
also - ps - It seems that this behaviour only happens when I'm at home. When I come home she is always calm and settled in her bed. My neighbour takes her out every 2-3 hours if I'm at work, and she also says Jess is always in her bed when she comes in. And my other neighbours say they don't hear barking when I'm out. So I think it only happens when I'm at home.
You can buy noise desensitisation CDs to help with this. Counter-conditioning is your friend. And you can set up scenarios where there's a noise outside (caused by a friend, for example) and she immediately gets a handful of roast chicken thrown on the floor. With enough reps, and enough generalising to different sounds, you will have a dog that hears a noise and starts looking for treats
Thanks for such a quick reply! Would it work if I try to give the treats when she first hears a noise that upsets her but before she starts actually barking? Or should I do it in an organised training set up?
I find it's easier to do it with set-ups because you can control the type of noise, the volume of it, the frequency etc and increase the difficulty gradually. You can also guarantee that you'll have the good treats on you. Of course, if you can do it every time there's an ad hoc noise, too, then all the better
