Hi, I am looking for some advice. I have a 3 and a half month old lab Colt. He is a really good boy generally and is a joy to have around. However recently he has started barking and growling at me whenever I am preparing food in the kitchen or we are eating. We have baby gates seperating the kitchen and the living room but the table where we eat is very close to the gate where we have been putting him at meal times. He will sit and bark and whine continuesly at us while we eat. We ignore him but we have tried a couple of different things like putting him in his crate which is out of site in the hallway with a kong or a raw hide chew but he still barks non stop. I am concious that I dont want to associste his safe space with negative feelings. So then we tried behind the stair gate with a chew or a toy but he isnt interested just sits and barks. This was made worse by recently taking him out where friends and my children were eating a picnic where he barked at them which was not plesant. I had to move him away eventually. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I dont want this to turn into a major issue. Thank you
Have you tried teaching him to lie down. Willow used to bark when we ate. She is told to go to her basket or to lie down. She only gets left overs in her food bowl in the kitchen not from our hands. She will sit happily now but you have to be persistent. I'm only going on my dog yours might be compleatly different.
At three and a half months, he is just a puppy and he isn't going to be able to deal with frustration very well at all. I would keep on ignoring him and never giving in. Where the ignoring approach goes wrong, is when people decide it 'isn't working' and finally go interact with the dog in some way (even telling the dog to be quiet, or putting him in a crate, involves contact). This only reinforces the noise the dog was making, and it will only continue in future. Ignoring does work, but you really need to do it 100% and imagine the dog is literally invisible the whole time he is making noise.
Thank you. Yes I think we will continue to ignore him and try to get past this as it may be a phase where is still so young. I just dont want it to turn into a long standing issue. I cant complain really he is very good most of the time. Its getting my two children to not make eye contact with him which is also the challenge!
Ignoring/rewarding alternate behaviour does definitely work. I spent weeks ignoring Chewie while I cooked and he barked at me. He also barked at us while we ate. Now he mostly lies in front of the baby gate that we have across the kitchen door when I cook, and doesn't even attempt to bother us for food. He just lies on his favourite armchair while we eat. We did a combination of ignoring and (while cooking) rewarding an alternate behaviour, in this case sitting or lying quietly.
Hi @Jo86 It is sometimes useful to film your interaction with your dog. Replay. It is often revealing. One thinks the dog is being ognored but the lens captures subtle glances.
