Labrador Barking For Food

[poodlefan]

I understand that, i really do but although its likely to be frustrating, you would likely see improvements within a week- apart from using a bark collar (which i would not recommend in this situation unless absolutely necesary) i don't think there is a quicker way.

Can yu speak with our neighbours and explain what you are doing and that you are working on the problem? Alot of neighbours are happy to give you a week or two of leeway if they know you are trying to resolve the issue.

Cosmolo's the professional so follow her advice.

No reason why you can't get the barking sorted while they sleep inside and then return them outside.

[Dogsfevr]

Sounds like dog needs to learn some life lessons,if he trashes the house & demands things.

We own a breed that is highly food motivated & we feed at varying times but they never dare demand but by the same token we would never have got a dog into a routine off feeding so early in the morning unless truly required.

Your dogs feed time isnt varied ,it is simply early am & pm.

What outside activities does the dog do??

What time is his night feeds??

What sort of manners does he have at other times??

[Just love my dogs!]

Sounds like dog needs to learn some life lessons,if he trashes the house & demands things.

We own a breed that is highly food motivated & we feed at varying times but they never dare demand but by the same token we would never have got a dog into a routine off feeding so early in the morning unless truly required.

Your dogs feed time isnt varied ,it is simply early am & pm.

What outside activities does the dog do??

What time is his night feeds??

What sort of manners does he have at other times??

He loves chasing a ball and our other dog, going for long walks, chewing on bones (and toys), jumping in water.

He gets fed at night between 6 and 8pm.

He is very gentle and getting better at doing things on command (he sits, stays and drops) but can get very excited. As he is only 14 months, he still shows a lot of puppy behaviours.

[persephone]

Some more questions... just so we know a bit more about you and your dog/s

Is the lab desexed?

When you say 'long walks' ..how long? 1 hour? 30 minutes? is this every day, or twice a day? or once a week? What obedience training do you do at home? Do you go to any dog training clubs?

I bet he does love the water! They look terrific when they are playing around and getting wet

What do they do when indoors- you say they trash the house- do they chew/run/toilet? .... perhaps we can help you with some ideas to settle them down ...then with a new feeding regime- and indoors, barking should not be an issue

[mrs tornsocks]

Have you tried letting him in when he barks, not feeding him, and going back to bed ?

Or, just paying him some attention when he barks ? Obviously this isn't something you'd do for any length of time given it's 5am, but it might sort out whether it is in fact food or attention. Then you can start looking at solutions.

Our boy gives one or two barks when he's ready to wake up (he sometimes sleeps in the laundry), we just put him outside so he can do his business and spend a bit more time exploring and until we're ready. We walk him, then feed him a bit later when we're ready (and when he's settled down from walk). Usually ends up being around 7.30-8am.

[Mas1981]

What you have to do is wait for a break in the barking and then reward him by feeding him or playing his favorite game. Its going to be hard but you need to train him that he only gets good things when he is quiet.

Have you had this problem with your labs? I guess we can give this a try. It does sound difficult though!

I havent had the problem of him barking for food but he went through a phase of when he was put outside when I was cleaning the floors or I had guests etc he used to bark loudly at the door to be let in. It was so annoying but I used to just let him bark and only when he stopped he was let back inside again. He hasnt done it since he was about 7 months old though, he is now almost 13 months.

[blacklabrador]

If you ignore, the dog will get worse before it gets better- but it does work. Can't say how long it will take though- especially now that the dog has been rewarded for his efforts. Vary feeding times as much as you possibly can as well- each time the dog barks and gets fed, it makes the problem worse.

How long did you ignore for the first time?

ETA I disagree with Poodlefan- varying meal times can help. Most dogs do better when there is no strict routine creating expectations- when dogs are in a routine and their expectations aren't met, we often get problem behaviour.

We stay in bed trying to ignore the barking but it's hard at 5am to let it continue for a period of time! We're really worried now that the neighbours will complain again. You can hear the barking even when he's inside!

You need to control the barking so your neighbours aren't suffering. Get him inside and control him while you sort the problem out. Seriously - how people can allow their dogs to bark at 5am is unbelievable. I would complain too and be bloody annoyed that you were staying in bed ignoring the noise your dog was making to wake the neighbourhood up.

Put him in a crate and try something else to make him shut up. You've created a problem where your dog is in control. Now you need to reverse the situation so you as pack leader are totally in charge of when and where food happens.

I feed my dogs at night and any attempt to manipulate me (whining at the back door) and attempting to dictate the feeding time usually ends up with a cup of water poured out the window on somebody's head. They get the message and I feed them when I'm good and ready. I love my dogs to bits but I am the Mama dog and I stay in control of such things.

[VJB]

How many meals a day does the dog get? Do you feed at the same time each day? Do you feed to stop the dog from barking?

He gets two small meals each day.

How much are you feeding him. I know I need to feed my dog a bit more for dinner when it gets cooler. She just seems to need more in winter, or she gets hungry.

[Earthdog]

Have you tried letting him in when he barks, not feeding him, and going back to bed ?

Or, just paying him some attention when he barks ? Obviously this isn't something you'd do for any length of time given it's 5am, but it might sort out whether it is in fact food or attention. Then you can start looking at solutions.

Our boy gives one or two barks when he's ready to wake up (he sometimes sleeps in the laundry), we just put him outside so he can do his business and spend a bit more time exploring and until we're ready. We walk him, then feed him a bit later when we're ready (and when he's settled down from walk). Usually ends up being around 7.30-8am.

That would make the situation worse. He would be being rewarded for barking and it would continue. I certainly wouldn't be happy getting up at 5am because the dog wanted attention.

[Paulp]

Personally I use the same sort of techniques as Masons Mum with my labs but maybe another idea is try to intercept the behaviour. If he is predictable enough feed him just before he starts to bark for a while (maybe a week) then start moving the feed forward 5 minutes a day. If you can get it to a reasonable time of morning without him barking then start varying the feed times. I've never tried it and I can see it might backfire if he figures out the new time and just barks earlier but it might work and it will keep him quiet while you work on it, anyone else have an opinion on this idea?

[mrs tornsocks]

Have you tried letting him in when he barks, not feeding him, and going back to bed ?

Or, just paying him some attention when he barks ?Obviously this isn't something you'd do for any length of time given it's 5am, but it might sort out whether it is in fact food or attention. Then you can start looking at solutions.

Our boy gives one or two barks when he's ready to wake up (he sometimes sleeps in the laundry), we just put him outside so he can do his business and spend a bit more time exploring and until we're ready. We walk him, then feed him a bit later when we're ready (and when he's settled down from walk). Usually ends up being around 7.30-8am.

That would make the situation worse. He would be being rewarded for barking and it would continue. I certainly wouldn't be happy getting up at 5am because the dog wanted attention.

edited because I couldn't be bothered.

Edited April 27, 2010 by mrs tornsocks

[Earthdog]

Wish you had bothered. Paying him attention is reinforcing the behaviour that you don't want. Why would you want to encourage that behaviour? I don't get why you would make a suggestion and then not clarify? (If that is what you intended to do).

[mrs tornsocks]

Wish you had bothered. Paying him attention is reinforcing the behaviour that you don't want. Why would you want to encourage that behaviour? I don't get why you would make a suggestion and then not clarify? (If that is what you intended to do).

Honestly ... because I am tired and it's somewhat energy sapping getting into a discussion that's not really going ultimately to help the OP, either by my wrong advice or by our back and forth. Idea was to be certain that it is food he's barking for (I'm guessing it's attention, not food, confirm that via process of elimination, then seek solutions). As I read it, OP is getting up @ 5am at the moment anyway.

[Just love my dogs!]

Some more questions... just so we know a bit more about you and your dog/s

Is the lab desexed?

When you say 'long walks' ..how long? 1 hour? 30 minutes? is this every day, or twice a day? or once a week? What obedience training do you do at home? Do you go to any dog training clubs?

I bet he does love the water! They look terrific when they are playing around and getting wet

What do they do when indoors- you say they trash the house- do they chew/run/toilet? .... perhaps we can help you with some ideas to settle them down ...then with a new feeding regime- and indoors, barking should not be an issue

Jett isn't desexed because I want to breed off him and he is a show dog.

He goes for a 30 minute walk every day and then I throw the ball in the backyard until he's too tired to chase it.

Our Golden Retriever went to obedience school. We use the same strategies we learnt for her. He walks beautifully on a lead, generally does what he's told and is toilet trained. Really, the only bad behaviours he has is chewing and the 5am barking (he never barks any other time).

When I say trash the house, I mean the kitchen. Both dogs are confined to the kitchen at night. They chewed up the lino and chewed holes in the plaster (not sure for certain who actually did it, but I'm guessing it was Jett because he is the chewer)!

Thanks so much to everyone who has given some advice so far

[Just love my dogs!]

Have you tried letting him in when he barks, not feeding him, and going back to bed ?

Or, just paying him some attention when he barks ? Obviously this isn't something you'd do for any length of time given it's 5am, but it might sort out whether it is in fact food or attention. Then you can start looking at solutions.

Our boy gives one or two barks when he's ready to wake up (he sometimes sleeps in the laundry), we just put him outside so he can do his business and spend a bit more time exploring and until we're ready. We walk him, then feed him a bit later when we're ready (and when he's settled down from walk). Usually ends up being around 7.30-8am.

No I haven't tried letting him in yet. I guess it's worth a try!

[Just love my dogs!]

What you have to do is wait for a break in the barking and then reward him by feeding him or playing his favorite game. Its going to be hard but you need to train him that he only gets good things when he is quiet.

Have you had this problem with your labs? I guess we can give this a try. It does sound difficult though!

I havent had the problem of him barking for food but he went through a phase of when he was put outside when I was cleaning the floors or I had guests etc he used to bark loudly at the door to be let in. It was so annoying but I used to just let him bark and only when he stopped he was let back inside again. He hasnt done it since he was about 7 months old though, he is now almost 13 months.

Off the topic (Sorry) but I'm guessing that's your dog in the picture? He is beautiful and looks very similiar to my boy Jett

[Just love my dogs!]

You need to control the barking so your neighbours aren't suffering. Get him inside and control him while you sort the problem out. Seriously - how people can allow their dogs to bark at 5am is unbelievable. I would complain too and be bloody annoyed that you were staying in bed ignoring the noise your dog was making to wake the neighbourhood up.

Put him in a crate and try something else to make him shut up. You've created a problem where your dog is in control. Now you need to reverse the situation so you as pack leader are totally in charge of when and where food happens.

I feed my dogs at night and any attempt to manipulate me (whining at the back door) and attempting to dictate the feeding time usually ends up with a cup of water poured out the window on somebody's head. They get the message and I feed them when I'm good and ready. I love my dogs to bits but I am the Mama dog and I stay in control of such things.

I don't want the neighbours to suffer. I know this isn't fair. We have since had him inside. I just really hope that they can't hear him bark from inside their house. The reason we feed him twice a day is due to our vet's suggestion. Unfortunately Jett eats his food so quickly that he vomits straight away and we're worried that he'll end up with a twisted stomach

I've tried the water thing but because he likes water, it doesn't seem to bother him. I wonder if there's something similiar to the water trick that would give him a fright? I guess this is why my husband and I are considering the citronella collar.

[Mas1981]

What you have to do is wait for a break in the barking and then reward him by feeding him or playing his favorite game. Its going to be hard but you need to train him that he only gets good things when he is quiet.

Have you had this problem with your labs? I guess we can give this a try. It does sound difficult though!

I havent had the problem of him barking for food but he went through a phase of when he was put outside when I was cleaning the floors or I had guests etc he used to bark loudly at the door to be let in. It was so annoying but I used to just let him bark and only when he stopped he was let back inside again. He hasnt done it since he was about 7 months old though, he is now almost 13 months.

Off the topic (Sorry) but I'm guessing that's your dog in the picture? He is beautiful and looks very similiar to my boy Jett

Yes that is my boy, he was naughty for the first time and chewed up the chair for my outdoor setting today

[Just love my dogs!]

He gets two small meals each day.

How much are you feeding him. I know I need to feed my dog a bit more for dinner when it gets cooler. She just seems to need more in winter, or she gets hungry.

He's having enough food for his breed, age and size. He's just a pig! We're actually trying to get him to drop a few kgs!

[Mas1981]

You can order one of those bowls that has like cyclinders sticking up to make them eat slower, also do you soak his kibble ??( if thats what he gets) because it may help with the vomiting, I never soaked my other dogs food and they sometimes threw up after meals but with mason i always soak it and he never does even though he eats as fast as anything!