Help With Barking Dog

[aussielover]

Teach him quiet but not speak.

If you teach speak to a dog that is already a problem barker, it may increase the problem as they sometimes receive a reward for barking.

How often does he bark and why? is it only if the neighbours are in the yard?

[Gayle.]

Don't teach him to speak, I did it with my dog and it was the worst thing I could have done. A treat for barking escalates to loads of barking.

[Gayle.]

Well, after less than a weeks use, I can highly recommend an electronic anti-barking collar. My barking boy, Benson, would bark at everything He has a loud, ear splitting bark and he got worse since we moved to a rural area. He barks at the horses going by, the greyhounds over the road, the birds in the trees, the leaves falling off the trees, the neighbors he can see through the fence, the dogs down the back.....absolutely everything makes him bark. His worst times are me being in with the chooks....that ramps it up to feral level, waiting on his dinner.....if he can hear me preparing it he just about barks the place down.....and running alongside the rideon mower.

After 5 days usage, I have a very quiet, calm boy. He hasn't had the collar on for three days and he hasn't barked at all. Today he ran alongside the rideon mower while my husband mowed our paddock, and he had an absolute blast.....without barking. I can prepare his dinner in peace, he hears the kibble going into the bowls and doesn't utter a sound. I can tend to the chooks ad he just sits quietly and watches me.

The collar gave him a tingle when he barked, I tried it on myself and it didn't hurt but it did make me wake up. There was no residual pain, and I made sure the collar came off when he was inside. It was absolutely brilliant and I've now packed it away only to be gotten out again if we have another problem barker.

My feeling after using this collar that it's a very low stress method of stopping a nuisance barker. I'm not yelling at him constantly to shut up, no one is throwing noisy things around which is stressful for everyone, the other dogs aren't affected and it worked very quickly. VERY quickly.

Edited September 19, 2010 by GayleK

[BMAK]

hi murphymoo

have you ever thught of tying a long rope or lead to him while you are home and he is outside so you can grab the lead and correct him when he barks ?

i have heard the cirtonella collars are useful for when you go out and do work to cease the barking.

if you can monitor you dog over the next few day to see precisely What and When he barks it will give you a better idea at Why and When to react to correct his behaviour.

you can always use toy and treat dispersers to distract him for at least 30/60 minutes while you are away like filled kongs and treat balls for his dinner breakfast to waste his alone time and get him mentally stimulated. after he has been exercised before hand all the best. thank god i only have one neighbour and hes gone 80 % of the time other wise our dogs would let him know when someone walks down the private lane way beside our house.. they werent ment to be the guarding type. p.s no idea whow to distract him from the possums as they come and go random times of the night

good luck

Edited September 19, 2010 by catherine.b

[James Bond]

Are the citronella collars or the vibratey collars better? and can you put them on at night?

Ben woke me (and probably the neighbours) up at 4.50am this morning dealing with a possum in our plum tree........

JB

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I taught my dog to speak on command.

She now makes just enough noise to get the treat.

It's a fast way to shut her up. Give command and watch her eyes cross as she tries to remember what she needs to do to get the treat that goes with this command. Definitely not barking her head off, unless she was already. But the treat itself usually gives me enough quiet time to say "quiet". And treat again.

I work on trying to teach her that the cat in the tree next door overlooking our fence, is not worth barking at. Not exactly winning yet but we're working on it. If I yell, she thinks I'm joining in and barks more. If I say "oops" or "nope" or "enough" or "leave it" in neutral tones - it usually gets her attention, because all that goes with a "training session" and the chance to get treats. Especially "leave it". Ie, leave that, come here, get yummy treat and a pat. Sometimes if she's really bad I shut the door on her. She really doesn't like being separated from me and she knows I won't open the door till she's quiet.

Bizarrely, when I go out, she's generally quiet. Even if someone comes to the door and rings the door bell. Cos I'm not there to open the door I suppose. Though I'm not sure how the gas meter man would go if I was away and she was outside. Doesn't happen very often. But she hates the gas meter man.

[beagie]

I have a beautiful 14 month old GR called Murphy. Recently we have had some trouble with him barking over the side fence at our neighbour. This happens both when we are at home and at work. I'm pretty sure he has decided that he needs to guard our property for some reason. When he sees the neighbour on the street or in our front yard he doesn't bark and in fact is quite submissive (rolling over for tickles). Our neighbour is very sweet and hasn't complained, but yesterday he mentioned that the neighbour at the back was around while we were at work to discuss the barking problem. I haven't had a chance to speak to her yet, but clearly action is needed.

So far this is my action plan, but I would really appreciate any tips or suggestions on how to resolve this:

1. We are installing a new side fence that is the standard 1.8 metres high (the current fence is only about 1.4 metres high and pretty old and Murphy can see through gaps and see the neighbours head above it

2. We are going to take Murphy to obedience training, we did this about 6 months ago, but to be honest got a bit lazy and stopped going

3. We are trying to teach him the speak and quiet commands

I would really appreciate any ideas or tips on how to resolve this quickly, as I can understand how annoying it would be. Especially I'm not sure on what we should be doing when Murphy is barking when we're at home (i.e. how should we tell him to stop without reinforcing his behaviour)

Thanks in advance. ;)

I have an eight month old pup, when I go out I scatter his biscuits all over the back lawn, not in piles one at a time, so it takes him quite a lot of time to

find them, I also leave him with a chew and break up other treats, throw them around the patio etc. He has a sand pit up the back under some trees

with things hidden in so he can go find them also, I find it works very well by the time I get home, he is either looking for something he may

have missed or is laying down sleeping. He has also had and gets a lot of training and exercise. My old dog is a barker I have never found a cure

for him I leave him inside, but I also never taught him to find his food. I tried a citronella collar on my old dog, he was smart enough to drag

it around to the top of his head so he did not get sprayed, I also don't like leaving things on the dogs in case of accidents. Beagie

[Rusky]

I have a beautiful 14 month old GR called Murphy. Recently we have had some trouble with him barking over the side fence at our neighbour. This happens both when we are at home and at work. I'm pretty sure he has decided that he needs to guard our property for some reason. When he sees the neighbour on the street or in our front yard he doesn't bark and in fact is quite submissive (rolling over for tickles). Our neighbour is very sweet and hasn't complained, but yesterday he mentioned that the neighbour at the back was around while we were at work to discuss the barking problem. I haven't had a chance to speak to her yet, but clearly action is needed.

So far this is my action plan, but I would really appreciate any tips or suggestions on how to resolve this:

1. We are installing a new side fence that is the standard 1.8 metres high (the current fence is only about 1.4 metres high and pretty old and Murphy can see through gaps and see the neighbours head above it

2. We are going to take Murphy to obedience training, we did this about 6 months ago, but to be honest got a bit lazy and stopped going

3. We are trying to teach him the speak and quiet commands

I would really appreciate any ideas or tips on how to resolve this quickly, as I can understand how annoying it would be. Especially I'm not sure on what we should be doing when Murphy is barking when we're at home (i.e. how should we tell him to stop without reinforcing his behaviour)

Thanks in advance. :D

do you go out to him when he is barking ? you should and not just a yell from the back door, he is worried about the activity and letting you know. Go outside with him, teach him what is ok that you have no concerns about. If he is out alone and barks go and investigate, see why he is barking, if it is a bin lid, gardener whatever which is of no consequence then tell him. Let him know the object of his barking is not a problem. Stand in front, investigate, tell him it's ok and bring him inside. Do this every time you are home. Barking escalates, he is letting you know there is a problem, please respond.."hey it's ok, its just Mr Jones doing his garden " come along now" If he is home alone please confine him inside in the laundry till you have this beat and an hour a day for a golden is not enough excercise. Get him retrieving. play fetch in the yard...a lot...play with him, take him swimming. Goldens have a lot of energy and are very active in their youth. Make sure he has stuff to play with when you are not at home, a kong with his dinner in, a long bone too..chewing is very calming for a dog.

Make a sceen so he can't see the activities. teach him some basic obedience, join a dog club, join a gun club maybe or take him tracking, have some fun with him.

Don't teach him speak he will never shut up then as goldens love to please and offer behaviour.

[Beaglelover:)]

I dont know if this will work in your case, however you can train your dog to respond to a dog whistle! Nice and easy to train, it is all positive training and if your dog already has a good recall you are half way there.

At the end of the day, you need to try all types of different solutions and see which ones work. Yes, you run the chance of your dog being conditioned to (1) barking for 2 seconds (2) whistle blown (3) run inside (4) treat, but this is better then long periods of barking.

[Natsu chan]

Beaglelover this was a method I use to use with one of the "silent" dog whistles, it worked really well for when the girls were just barking for the sake of it. I suggested it to someone recently (who has the same breed) and their vet told them not to do it as it was cruel and dogs whistles are inhumane! I think you can buy a device that runs on the same method I can't think what it's called though.