Behavioural Problem-barking For Attention

[donnaborneo]

I am in my first week with a 5 year old ex-racing greyhound.

When outside, in other homes (not mine) he will bark and roo a LOT. This starts after being outside for about an hour. He has been exercised and is with several other dogs. There is no pack difficulty.

How do I end this without accidentally reinforcing it?

I am convinced he wants attention. The best I can think of is to call him, make him sit on his mat, reward him and go back inside.

But this repeats the pattern of barking - as he gets my attention!

Any ideas, I am clueless on this.

[BrunoBella]

You're not clueless cause you already have some good ideas.

As your dog is new he will not be certain of your affection.

If its attention seeking, I would suggest going out every half hour and spending some time with him and then gradually increase the time that you leave him outside.

If he still barks, the only other thing I could suggest is that he is getting overexcited playing with the other dogs and to give him time out at say every 45 minutes.

I have successfully used your current method for training Bella out of barking at passers-by. But recalling her in this situation is a correction rather than a reward because she enjoys the barking. When I tried it on Bruno for one day, his barking increased so with him I ignore his behaviour. Bruno is easy as he doesn't bark very often or very loudly.

Good luck

eta---- welcome to DOL donnaborneo

and to remove excess words

Edited February 10, 2008 by BellasPerson