Stopping Barking On Command

[nelsona]

Dear Forum Members, I need your help, please.

My elderly neighbour has a big barking dog to "discourage" intruders.

However, sometimes she would like him to stop barking on command, yet she

is afraid that perhaps it would totally eradicate his barking and he won't react if

strangers approach her house.

How can she go about it?

[Benji's Mum]

Not a pro trainer, but no-one else has offered a solution yet.

Say something like 'thank you' and 'good boy' when he barks and acknowledge what he has barked about, and tell him to be quiet afterwards, eg 'that's enough'.

[Erny]

I used to say to Kal ..... "It's ok. Thank you Kal. Enough." (The first number of words were more for my sake than hers ). If she didn't quit barking, I would then tell her "ENOUGH!" (firm/gruff voice, not yelling). If she still didn't quit, I would command a 'drop'. This took away her freedom and also makes it a bit more difficult to bark, so a further gruff "enough" was usually all it then took. When she quietened, I'd release her and praise.

Of course, if she quietened after the first attempt, always a pat and a 'good girl'.

She was normally pretty good with the word "enough" but sometimes things in the neighbourhood would be different and more intense, so there were those odd occasions ...........................

Tip: Avoid raising your voice.

ETA: I didn't praise her whilst she was barking. In her instance it was genuine alert barking. Calling the pack to a possible trespass. I figure me attending to that alert is all she needed. This is genetics at work and given that I had no probs with her already being willing to bark, didn't need to be further reinforced for it. I simply concentrated on her quitting the barking on the word "enough" and praised for that.

Edited September 2, 2007 by Erny

[Poodle wrangler]

I'm working on using "Shhh" with my barkers. They're starting to get the idea, and I can assure you it hasn't inhibited them barking at other times .

[ninaandted]

as per poodle wrangler we use "Shhhh" and we do go to "shut it!" if it's OTT barking or if they haven't stayed quiet after a "Shhhh". It hasn't inhibited Nina's bark at all as a normal thing believe me! but it will make her quiet if necessary. I only use the "shut it" because I can channel a pretty impressive cranky voice for that one without need of volume or effort on my part. :rolleyes: your friend could pick any word that suited that she wasn't using for another command.

like your friend I don't mind a dog that barks as long as it's not nuisance barking. our dogs have saved us from harrassment from a notorious neighbour and for that I'm very grateful for a well placed bark!

we did our training initially because Nina had a routine of territory barking when let outside - this wasn't a great thing first thing in the morning as you might guess. in our other training on lead I do make use of a light tug for a correction and a food reward for following instructions, so we spent a few weeks only taking her out on lead and using the morning barking as an opportunity for the "shhh" training (with a tug for a correction if she wasn't quiet and reward for being quiet on command). with Nina I find once she gets the clear message on the meaning of the word then I can go to a just reward system for when she's successful and do the training without a lead - which meant we could take the command inside. we haven't proofed it entirely though and under situations of extreme excitement for her it doesn't work but we may work on that in the future - for now having her quiet in the house on command is great with a baby in the house!

your friend could do a similar thing inside i would guess but she may need to set up a situation to cause the barking for the training session (if that makes sense). we just had a fantastic natural one which gave us enough repetition for enough sessions for the lesson to sink it. if the training is too sporadic her success rate may be low or it will take a while for the meaning to sink in.

ETA - if your friend's dog only barks in a certain spot - for example at the door or window she may be able to get the dog to stop if the dog is called away from that spot and then not have to train the barking itself at all. (does that make sense). or she may have to employ both techniques depending on the circumstances.

For instance, if we have our front door open (we have a screen door) and someone goes past down our street (which is normally a quiet street), Nina may start barking. it may be what I would call a "high excitement situation" for her, for example someone walking a dog down the street. in this instance I know that "Shhh" may or may not work, so if I want her quiet I call her to me and praise her for coming to me. the double benefit is that she also stops barking because she is away from the stimulus. she will also move away from the door on a command for that.

Edited September 3, 2007 by ninaandted

[nelsona]

Thank you so much to everyone who responded with helpful hints.