We have a beautiful 23 week old lab. He’s calmed down considerably over the past few weeks but had started to whine and bark at us sometimes. He’s always used the toilet, eaten and played/been walked when this happens. The other night we heard him whimpering in his crate about 5am which he’s never done before (he’s always been crated and always been really good and quiet). He will also look at me sometimes and bark - when this happens I ignore him and it stops although he may try again a bit later. He’s very healthy although did have a slight eye infection a couple of weeks ago. Just wondered if this behaviour is normal for his age? Any advice greatly received.
There are probably 2 separate issues, both of which we are working on as well. My pup starts to wake up with the sun and whines a little in his crate (in our room) when he hears us stirring. Its possible that now that your pup is a little older and not sleeping as deeply as when he was a baby that something is waking him. We are ignoring it and teaching him that he gets out of the crate when my alarm goes off and he is quiet. Seems to be working, the whining is decreasing and he mostly relaxes in his crate chewing a toy if he is up before us. You could try the alarm training? It involves setting your alarm early, to pre empt his waking, then gradually making it later and later. Barking for attention is definitely something Chewie did. We ignored and rewarded when he was quiet. It didnt seem to be working at the time, buy he is now much, much better. I get a couple of yips a day, but you can see his little face trying to keep it in... then all of a sudden his self control is overwhelmed and "yip!" I think you need to be consistent and stick with it and then his maturity will kick in and it will all come together.
Thank you so much, that’s reassuring that he’ll grow out of it. I reacted to his barking at first but that just made it worse so now I ignore it and he stops. Hopefully he’ll soon learn!!
In the case of barking, I have found it useful to place barking and quiet on cues. Instead of waiting for the dog's barking to extinguish by ignoring it, you are using the power of positive reinforcement to teach the dog to be quiet. Here is an explanation Teach your dog the "quiet" cue The first step of the exercise is to teach your dog to bark or speak on cue. Bark 1. Stand near your dog when she starts to bark. 2. While the dog barks, say “Yes” and give a treat. 3. Repeat each time the dog barks. 4. Try to anticipate the next bark by watching her body language. Say “Bark” or “Speak” just before she barks. 5. If she barks, “Yes” and Treat. 6. Repeat 4 and 5 until your dog becomes conditioned to your cue. Quiet Once you have speak reliably on cue, you can start to teach her to be quiet. It is important to initially teach this part of the exercise in a low-distraction and familiar environment. 7. Give your dog the command to "speak," wait for her to bark two or three times, and then stick a tasty treat directly in front of her nose. 8. The instant she stops barking to sniff the treat, say “Quiet” followed by “Yes” and give her the treat. 9. Repeat 7 and 8 until she stops barking as soon as you say "Quiet".
What's your advice if the dog never barks when your present? One of my pups has some seperation anxiety and it doesn't really manifest till I'm gone for some time. I have a camera and audio and it is this high pitched alert bark and it's frequent. If i even start the door lock she is immediately silent, foot steps in the hall, etc so i've had difficulty teaching speak. I try outside or when we're alone but she's not really a barker. I'm just working on crate training in the living room daily and the anxiety is getting better but any other ideas on teaching speak would be helpful.
Hi @Ryan Murphy It's unusual for separation anxiety to manifest itself a long time after you've been good. It usually startsduring your departure or shortly after. How many hours does she start barking after you have departed? Boredom will manifest itself in barking too and that comes usually hours after your departure. Consequently it is tricky to diagnose separation anxiety.you need to look for a range of different symptoms. Speak is not a cure for separation anxiety, if that is indeed what is the problem. I wrote those instruction in reply to @RobbieD1506 who said the dog was barking at him while he was standing looking at the dog. As you've discovered you need a trigger in order to capture the behaviour. Some dogs bark when they hear a harmonica being played.
All noise when you are gone is not automatically 'separation anxiety'. There are many reasons a dog might make noise when left. One of mine likes to protest-bark occasionally - to 'demand' we return(!). I am watching this via a camera and am very content it is not separation anxiety and so I safely ignore it and it generally stops after a few barks don't get responded to. You can usually tell this type of bark because it's one noise, usually with the head thrown back, and then a pause...and then another...and a pause. The other reason a dog might bark after some time alone, could be that they have heard something outside. In which case, leave the radio on, or white noise playing, can help mask external noises.
