Barking!

up for anything

I have a 3.5 year old Lab/Collie cross male dog (not neutered) who is a complete darling. However, he drives us and now the neighbours mad with his barking. He's been like this since puppyhood. All it takes is the least sign of life outside the window and he's up and barking like a dog gone mad at the window. The postman is terrified that some day he will get out to him. He isn't allowed outside except on a lead because the one other command I could never teach him was the 'come back' one.

He is a very nervous dog and will bark at any one coming to the door but then when they come in he is fine with them. So fine he gets up on his hind legs and wraps his two paws around their neck and nuzzles into the space under their ear and always alert for the possibility of a quick french kiss when they forget to guard themselves.

We may have to move house soon and he is a problem on two levels as landlords don't believe that a dog his size/breed will not destroy their property and most likely we would move to some place where there is more passing foot traffic closer to him than where we are at present.

I've gone down the treats and newspaper sabre rattling route trying to get him to stop barking. He is very biddable in other areas. I could hold out the nicest of juicy bones and he'll sit for an hour waiting for permission to take it and anybody can then come along and take it from him without a problem.


I don't want to go down the route of bark collars as, for me, they seem to be a cruel way of teaching an animal but I have to find something that works and soon.

Shazanne

Please don't get excited when you see that you have a reply as I have absolutely no advice to offer:o
In fact, I may as well have written your post myself! So now I'm just hoping and praying that someone will give us both the advice we need;)

piperh

We had a similar issue with our lad who then set off the girl. What we did was teach him the quiet command by getting someone to ring the doorbell i would say quiet and when they were they'd get a treat. We did this for weeks until they'd got a good idea of what quiet meant we then moved on to walking past the window and used the same command. Its not perfect because occassionally they can be so distracted by whats outside that a bomb going off couldn't get their attention but if i catch them quick enough i can get them quiet again.

Vince32

This Lady is Great, I'm not sure the situation fits the bill, but she has dozens if not 100's of episodes and she always gets results, If this doesn't help there are lots of sites with helpful info, just type the question into google and see what you get

In the mean time, heres a nice video to watch:
http://animal.discovery.com/videos/its-me-or-the-dog-bark-no-more.html

enjoy

Graces7

Just realised that our collie is a lot quieter these days as she used to bark half the night for no reason...

We get very few folk near the house as we are way out in the country and I need the dogs to let me know then. That is their job

Laughed re the postman;we had to give An Post a verba; assurancde they were safe fom the dogs.

Is the dog getting enough exercise? Collie here gets fratchy and jumpy if she gets no good run. Both these breeds need a lot of walking and running.

I am getting more and more results with her by simply getting in her eyeline when she barks and saying NO then. Shouting even gets little result if I am not in her eyes.

Camomile tea in her drinking water may help too.

spur

A method I find good is water.

Have a water bottle (or childs water gun) with you, or near to where he barks most. When he barks, squirt him quickly with the water - into the face if you can and then say "quiet" - or whatever command you want.

This does work and it will work best if you can manage for him not to really see the bottle/gun - I can't quite manage that!!!

But if realises that every time I bark, I get this water into my face, he'll soon stop - unless of course he is one of those dogs that love water being squirted at them - know one that does!!! He should also learn in time that the "quiet" command means he has to stop barking.

I have 2 collies, both of whom love the sound of their own voice!! This works very well with them. (

up for anything

Thanks for all the replies.

The water pistol definitely wouldn't work as one of his favourite games is being sprayed by the hose or Super Soakers.

When he was a pup I did all the treats and eye line business but it never worked. If I hold him either side of his collar and block his view of whoever is passing on the road he simply growls, trembles and gets very distressed.

Thanks for the video link - I'll watch them and see is there anything I can utilise.

Shazanne, I hope one of the solutions here works for you. It's very wearing trying to keep them from winding up the neighbours too much. My main defence used to be that no one would get half way down the road without him kicking up a fuss and that we were all safe from being robbed but the little fecker slept through the neighbour's house across the road being robbed recently.

Vince32

Just don't quit to early, it can take up to 50 attempts at training before the lesson starts to sink in, be patient and if you feel like doing some barking yourself make sure the dog doesn't see

up for anything

Ha! Just read this except from an article on this link. It made me laugh.

What I'm saying is that, if you're not going to train your watchdog what to bark at and what not to bark at, and respond to him when he sounds the alarm, then he's going to be worthless to you as a sentry. Worse yet, while you are in the kitchen, the noise of your dog's constant barking from the other side of the house is likely to drown out the sound of breaking glass as Jack the Ripper helps Ted Bundy climb in your bedroom window. If you're not committed to training your watchdog properly, and responding to his every bark for the entirety of his life, then you'd better break out the brochure from that alarm company again.

LucyBliss

I have one of those dogs. If he sees anyone passing by the window, he's off barking a mile a minute or he boots it up the stairs to bark out the landing window. He's adorable, great company, very smart but he can be a hearscald! I'm not sure if I can entirely get him to realise that people walking past is okay but he is a lot better on the recall now. I use treats, I either tell him to find the treat or find the toy and he will go looking.

I've also gotten him a Thundershirt and it does make a big difference to his general state of mind. Case in point: the bad storm we had a few months ago had the letterbox squeaking and making all sorts of noise and he was going bonkers barking at it. I put on the thundershirt and after that, he was lying in his bed not at all bothered. I bought mine from Holistic Pet Products, an Irish company, and I was very impressed with the service and the speed of delivery.

Shazanne

up for anything wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies.

The water pistol definitely wouldn't work as one of his favourite games is being sprayed by the hose or Super Soakers.

When he was a pup I did all the treats and eye line business but it never worked. If I hold him either side of his collar and block his view of whoever is passing on the road he simply growls, trembles and gets very distressed.

Thanks for the video link - I'll watch them and see is there anything I can utilise.

Shazanne, I hope one of the solutions here works for you. It's very wearing trying to keep them from winding up the neighbours too much. My main defence used to be that no one would get half way down the road without him kicking up a fuss and that we were all safe from being robbed but the little fecker slept through the neighbour's house across the road being robbed recently.

Ha ha! Mine would probably do the same:o And I would get the same reaction if I tried to block the view - she'd just push me out of the way and do what she wants anyway. I will watch the video links as well and see if I can get any likely tips. Wonder would hypnotism work???!!!:D

Shazanne

LucyBliss wrote: »

I have one of those dogs. If he sees anyone passing by the window, he's off barking a mile a minute or he boots it up the stairs to bark out the landing window. He's adorable, great company, very smart but he can be a hearscald! I'm not sure if I can entirely get him to realise that people walking past is okay but he is a lot better on the recall now. I use treats, I either tell him to find the treat or find the toy and he will go looking.

I've also gotten him a Thundershirt and it does make a big difference to his general state of mind. Case in point: the bad storm we had a few months ago had the letterbox squeaking and making all sorts of noise and he was going bonkers barking at it. I put on the thundershirt and after that, he was lying in his bed not at all bothered. I bought mine from Holistic Pet Products, an Irish company, and I was very impressed with the service and the speed of delivery.

I'm intrigued! What's a Thundershirt?? Never heard if that before!! Off I go now to check it out. Probably get weak with the price of it though???

LucyBliss

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of taking their collar when they're barking like that because it tends to make them - and by 'them', I mean mine - amped up even more and they start to see you as the source of their discontent and can get frustrated. I did it once, by accident, and while he didn't go for me, he got even louder and there was no dealing with him for a few minutes.
Of course, this is the dog that when out for a walk, when he stops to pee, he starts to bark because we're stopped. But we're stopped because he stopped, a fact that he doesn't recognise at all.
He's a grand dog but very highly strung at times. However, you could practically sit on him and lie on him and he doesn't give a hoot so he has his good points too.

The Thundershirt is 42 euro. I looked at it more as an investment when I got it.

Graces7

Camomile tea and more exercise!