Excitement / Frustration barking

twomaddogs

I've a 1yr old Springer cross (think she's a Springer / Jack Russell but she's a rescue so not sure) who has a frantic bark when we get up in a morning or come home if we've been out.

She's a great dog, very well trained, but we're due a baby in a couple of weeks so we want to try and train her out of this as we don't want her waking or scaring the baby when we come home.

She does it first thing in the morning, as soon as she hears us get up, it's kind of a frantic high pitched bark, the same bark she does if she's wanting you to throw her ball or something.

If we go out and leave them she also does the same bark as soon as she sees the car pull up and doesn't stop until we're in the door. We've another 1yr old dog, a yorkie cross who doesn't do this. I work from home so they're not on their own a lot at all, they're both very well behaved when they are.

Any tips on training her out of it? Up to now, we've tried teaching her speak, then teaching her quiet (speak she got, but not quiet!), we've tried waiting at the door until there's a gap in the barking and only then going in etc, but nothing seems to work, and to be honest most of the time we just try to get to her quickly so she stops.

Any ideas - really want to work on this before the baby comes!!

kerrysgold

maybe it's separation anxiety?
also, how much exercise do they get?

twomaddogs

Definitely not, we had a pup with seperation anxiety before, she's absolutely fine if we're out, it's only when we get back she barks, and its definitely an excited bark (as opposed to a anxious bark, which is what you tend to hear with seperation anxiety).

She gets loads of excercise, walks and playing in the garden (she's addicted to fetch)

It's purely when she's excited to see us...she even does it when my OH comes back from work, even though I'm in (I work from home)

Glowing

I'm no expert in dog training, but I wonder would ignoring her completely until she stops barking work, or waiting outside the door for her to stop barking and only coming in when she stops?

kerrysgold

yeah that's a good idea about waiting outside for her to stay quiet until you come in. that's what I do with my fella who starts barking when I get his lead out for his walk, everytime he starts barking I just stand there and won't put his lead on or open the door/gate or whatever until he stops barking.

peasant

Glowing wrote: »

I'm no expert in dog training, but I wonder would ignoring her completely until she stops barking work, or waiting outside the door for her to stop barking and only coming in when she stops?

That is the best approach, theoretically.

However, there are dogs (we have one) that just get themselves into a frenzy and just don't stop. We'll ..they may stop eventually ...but long after your nerves have given up.

And then there is the factor of having a life and having to get on with it and not being able to hang around outside doors for hours

So ...if the patient approach doesn't work with your dog, you have to "shock" them out of their frenzy, interrupt the madness and give them something else to do.



A simple way to do this, is to clap your hands really sharply (you know, the kind of clap that really stings), just the once ...that should be enough to interrupt the bark for just a split second.

Now you have to be quick and use that moment while you have the dog's attention and give it something else to do. Something really, really simple that it can perform without any trouble ..."Sit" usually works best.

Then praise to high heavens when the "sit" is done, call the dog, say hello and then send it away to be quiet.


Should work ...and after a few repeats the incessive barking will hopefully die down a bit.


In the situation where she wants the ball thrown you obviously have a bit more time, so in that case, as soon as the bark starts, you and the ball disappear, only to emerge again when she is quiet.
Try that a few times when you have time (and possibly no neighbours around who might get upset) and it should sink in fairly quickly that barking does not yield the desired result. Just be consequent afterwards and don't ever throw a ball again when she's barking.

These kind of habits take a long time to get rid of and are (unfortunately) re-introduced with one transgression from the rules.


When working on this, try to give her solitary lessons ...it is easier to get the message across when you can concentrate on one dog only. (also there is no risk of confusing the other dog with rules he doesn't need anyway)

Sigma Force

In the mean time after a short time the baby will be well used to the barking the baby can prob hear the barking as it is. Babies get well used to noises around them if you have a silent household with a baby then the child ends up waking up when ever you make the slightest noise.
Saying that the barking can be more annoying for you so it's best to nip it the bud.

Rewarding the dog for being quiet, ignoring the barking, don't even tell the dog to shush because that's attention in itself.