Discouraging dog barking in the back garden

flogen

Hey all,

I'm trying to find a way to stop my dog (4/5 yo collie/spaniel cross) from barking so much when he's in the back garden. It's extremely annoying for me and I can only imagine the neighbours too.

Often he's happy enough to chill out quietly in the garden but then he can suddenly go into bark mode for little or no reason - for example last night I let him out to go to the toilet and he charged down the garden going mad at absolutely nothing.

It doesn't seem to be a boredom thing either - as I've often had him exhausted from the park/running/playing only for him to go out and sing the song of his people. And he'll often do it when he's just being let out after hours of being in the house with us - or while I'm out in the garden with him - so I can't say it's a loneliness/attention thing either.

Anyway - I can't think of a way of discouraging it that doesn't involve me giving him attention every time he barks... or a way that isn't going to be particularly negative (I want to avoid the shock collars and even citronella collars if I can).

Any suggestions on what to do?

VonVix

Can you try letting him out the back on lead for when you are just letting him out for a potty break? My 3 herding type(!) boys have an occasional habit of charging out too (usually because of birds or cats) but they don't do this if leashed, if they are still 'charged', back inside with them. Consistency is key.

I can usually tell if my dogs are amped up to get outside to chase something, this is when I say "ah ah!" and tell them "away" from the door. The biggest culprit is much, much better now, he only goes storming out barking if it's someone else (who hasn't done any of the training, tut) lets him out.

You need to keep in mind that you letting him out to "go mad" is very reinforcing for the behaviour, try and avoid letting him rehearse it over and over again.

Outkast_IRE

I also own a Collie and in a similar vein to youself when she is in the mood even the slightest noise or bird or anything required a barking response.

She also got a good amount of exercise and interaction with the family every day. In the end during the warm summer months we implemented what i could only call a disciplinary procedure where if she would carry out any incessant barking for no apparant reason we would verbally scold her and tell her to get into bed. If she didnt respond to the verbal scolding we would pull out the watering hose a give her a light misty spray of it for a second from several metres away. ( The dog hates getting wet )

Within a few days she began to understand that if she didnt respond to the verbal commands she would get a light spray of water. To be fair the incessant type barking has stopped and now she will give a bark or two and then follow whatever noise she thinks she hears.

Not the most PC answer but it works when verbal scolding is not enough.

flogen

VonVix wrote: »

Can you try letting him out the back on lead for when you are just letting him out for a potty break? My 3 herding type(!) boys have an occasional habit of charging out too (usually because of birds or cats) but they don't do this if leashed, if they are still 'charged', back inside with them. Consistency is key.

I can usually tell if my dogs are amped up to get outside to chase something, this is when I say "ah ah!" and tell them "away" from the door. The biggest culprit is much, much better now, he only goes storming out barking if it's someone else (who hasn't done any of the training, tut) lets him out.

You need to keep in mind that you letting him out to go mad is very reinforcing for the behaviour, try and avoid letting him rehearse it over and over again.

Thanks - I'd never thought of it as being reinforcing but I guess you're right. I suppose the problem is that we usually have to let him out when we do (going to the toilet before bed or if we're leaving the house) so hard to not let him when he's amped up. Might try the lead and see if I can give him a bit more guidance with that.

I'm planning some work on the garden soon and as part of that I'm hoping to train him to poop in one particular spot (rather than all over the place as he currently does) so could be a chance to kill two birds with one stone too.

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

I also own a Collie and in a similar vein to youself when she is in the mood even the slightest noise or bird or anything required a barking response.

She also got a good amount of exercise and interaction with the family every day. In the end during the warm summer months we implemented what i could only call a disciplinary procedure where if she would carry out any incessant barking for no apparant reason we would verbally scold her and tell her to get into bed. If she didnt respond to the verbal scolding we would pull out the watering hose a give her a light misty spray of it for a second from several metres away. ( The dog hates getting wet )

Within a few days she began to understand that if she didnt respond to the verbal commands she would get a light spray of water. To be fair the incessant type barking has stopped and now she will give a bark or two and then follow whatever noise she thinks she hears.

Not the most PC answer but it works when verbal scolding is not enough.

Sounds like your dog is very similar to mine (right down to hating getting wet!).

He's very strong-willed and at times will just ignore us altogether - for example if he sees a cat out the window or while out on a walk he's lost for a good minute or two at least.

As you suggest I'm not trying to stop him barking altogether - but would like to stop him going off on one for 20 minutes just because a kid is playing in the garden 3 doors down or he saw a bird earlier.

I'd not be too mad about the water bottle thing if we'd just gotten him but as he's with us for more than a year and a half now it's clear that verbal commands & treats are only getting us so far. Certainly not the greatest of sins anyway!

Thanks

Outkast_IRE

flogen wrote: »

Thanks - I'd never thought of it as being reinforcing but I guess you're right. I suppose the problem is that we usually have to let him out when we do (going to the toilet before bed or if we're leaving the house) so hard to not let him when he's amped up. Might try the lead and see if I can give him a bit more guidance with that.

I'm planning some work on the garden soon and as part of that I'm hoping to train him to poop in one particular spot (rather than all over the place as he currently does) so could be a chance to kill two birds with one stone too.



Sounds like your dog is very similar to mine (right down to hating getting wet!).

He's very strong-willed and at times will just ignore us altogether - for example if he sees a cat out the window or while out on a walk he's lost for a good minute or two at least.

As you suggest I'm not trying to stop him barking altogether - but would like to stop him going off on one for 20 minutes just because a kid is playing in the garden 3 doors down or he saw a bird earlier.

I'd not be too mad about the water bottle thing if we'd just gotten him but as he's with us for more than a year and a half now it's clear that verbal commands & treats are only getting us so far. Certainly not the greatest of sins anyway!

Thanks

Yeah i dont like doing the water spray either, but after a very short period of doing it and always ensuring that the verbal scolding is given first, she learned that if she didnt calm down on the incessant barking she would get a spray.

I think after a few days she fully understood and since then we havent had to resort to the water spray since. She still barks, but not that mad incessant lunatic barking at every noise.

I have always found Collies to be a bit prone to this type of behaviour as they have such a strong working dog mentality they give themselves the job of guarding against the slightest noise.

Also our dog has the same behaviour around cats, we do need to be careful where we leave her off the lead because if she spots a cat she will pay no attention to cars or other dangers.

VonVix

flogen wrote: »

Thanks - I'd never thought of it as being reinforcing but I guess you're right. I suppose the problem is that we usually have to let him out when we do (going to the toilet before bed or if we're leaving the house) so hard to not let him when he's amped up. Might try the lead and see if I can give him a bit more guidance with that.

I'm planning some work on the garden soon and as part of that I'm hoping to train him to poop in one particular spot (rather than all over the place as he currently does) so could be a chance to kill two birds with one stone too.

Try teaching him some self-control exercises while on lead, such as sit and wait. Do the same sort of things for meal times or before walking through a door (front door, back door, bedroom door, etc), it mightn't seem relevant to this behaviour you don't want, but again, it's your dog rehearsing being patient and focusing on you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hacNGXsPVQw
(you don't need a clicker, but use a consistent marker word such as "yes" or "good" for every time you get the behaviour you want)

flogen

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Yeah i dont like doing the water spray either, but after a very short period of doing it and always ensuring that the verbal scolding is given first, she learned that if she didnt calm down on the incessant barking she would get a spray.

I think after a few days she fully understood and since then we havent had to resort to the water spray since. She still barks, but not that mad incessant lunatic barking at every noise.

I have always found Collies to be a bit prone to this type of behaviour as they have such a strong working dog mentality they give themselves the job of guarding against the slightest noise.

Also our dog has the same behaviour around cats, we do need to be careful where we leave her off the lead because if she spots a cat she will pay no attention to cars or other dangers.

Yeah - so far we've only had him off the lead in an enclosed dog park, and he did well in terms of his behaviour & staying close to us... but I know all bets would be off if he happened upon a cat so very reluctant to try it in a normal park for now.

VonVix wrote: »

Try teaching him some self-control exercises while on lead, such as sit and wait. Do the same sort of things for meal times or before walking through a door (front door, back door, bedroom door, etc), it mightn't seem relevant to this behaviour you don't want, but again, it's your dog rehearsing being patient and focusing on you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hacNGXsPVQw
(you don't need a clicker, but use a consistent marker word such as "yes" or "good" for every time you get the behaviour you want)

Thanks - we do get him to sit & wait when crossing roads and he's really come on in that regard. We also get him to wait for his food etc. Walking through doors is another thing altogether as he's always desperate to get out in front of us even when walking through the house... I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and hoping he's trying to scope out the danger for us, but realistically I know it's him trying to 'lead' us!

muddypaws

flogen wrote: »

Yeah - so far we've only had him off the lead in an enclosed dog park, and he did well in terms of his behaviour & staying close to us... but I know all bets would be off if he happened upon a cat so very reluctant to try it in a normal park for now.



Thanks - we do get him to sit & wait when crossing roads and he's really come on in that regard. We also get him to wait for his food etc. Walking through doors is another thing altogether as he's always desperate to get out in front of us even when walking through the house... I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and hoping he's trying to scope out the danger for us, but realistically I know it's him trying to 'lead' us!

Hi OP, the excitement at trying to get out the door isn't him trying to lead you, it's just pure excitement about going out, even into another room, it's still new, who knows what might be there. So if you can teach him to sit patiently and wait, it could be of huge benefit with other issues when his excitement just gets the better of him.

flogen

muddypaws wrote: »

Hi OP, the excitement at trying to get out the door isn't him trying to lead you, it's just pure excitement about going out, even into another room, it's still new, who knows what might be there. So if you can teach him to sit patiently and wait, it could be of huge benefit with other issues when his excitement just gets the better of him.

I'd have thought he'd have realised after more than 18 months that the rooms of our house aren't all that exciting!

Will try to get into the habit of making him wait between rooms. I know for experience of things like this that he gets extremely frustrated with waiting to go through doors - it's almost funny to see the 'why are you making me do this?' look on his face - but hopefully that will pass after a short while

muddypaws

flogen wrote: »

I'd have thought he'd have realised after more than 18 months that the rooms of our house aren't all that exciting!

Will try to get into the habit of making him wait between rooms. I know for experience of things like this that he gets extremely frustrated with waiting to go through doors - it's almost funny to see the 'why are you making me do this?' look on his face - but hopefully that will pass after a short while

Haha, no chance of that, anything that is different can be new to a dog, my lot still get really, really excited at going out to the field to run around, even though they've been doing it for the last 10 years!