Puppy Barking During Phone Calls

[whiskedaway]

I have noticed lately that Akira barks whenever either me or my OH are on the phone. It doesn't matter if they ring us or we ring them, and it doesn't matter if we've been playing with her before the phone call or if she's been ignored. For example, today she was in another room and I was in the study and I made a phone call and she came in to bark at me while I was talking. I told her to be quiet a couple of times to no avail and then shut her out of the study, which stopped the barking. While she's a talker, she doesn't really bark much normally.

Does anyone have any ideas on why she might be doing this and how I can stop her?

[ellz]

She's playing you!

She knows that if you are talking on that thing in your hand and she barks, she will get INSTANT attention. You've seen yourself what the response is if you shut her in another room so that is your answer IMO.

[whiskedaway]

So just shut her out of the room before we get on the phone or when she starts barking? It's impossible to ignore a dog that's barking when the other person can't hear what you're saying, unfortunately.

[sheena]

Get out your ironing squirt bottle & squirt her when she does it....won't hurt her & if she's smart, she will soon get the message. I used this with my BC when she was a pup to stop unwanted barking & now she only barks when it is serious, & I know I should check it out.

[indigirl]

My 4yr old golden does this, drives me mad lol. She is just being a cow its a game to her i think.

[flux]

Best reply ever - "My 4yr old golden does this, drives me mad lol. She is just being a cow its a game to her i think."

I think so too, sounds too much like a clever puppy getting a reaction. I would agree to trying to manage the situation to suit you by shutting the puppy out first - or even plan a fake phone call and ignore puppy through the whole thing a few times. (I could personally forsee this as being highly irritating for you though, maybe only attempt in small, manageble doses?) Brilliant puppy advice I once received was "Eye contact is encouragement." so bear that in mind when you "ignore" a puppy.

Water bottle might work, but I have a certain puppy that would of thought being sprayed with water would be much more fun than being told to be quiet! But all pups are different

[corvus]

Erik used to do that one. I can't remember what I did to fix it. Possibly shut him in another room?? I imagine he must have grown out of it, or bored of it. You can always pretend to talk on the phone and then completely ignore her. If she learns that the game doesn't always work, she might give up on it.

Oh! I remember. I made the phone ring, picked it up, pretended to talk, ignored Erik, then put the phone down again. I did it several times in a row until Erik decided I was being thoroughly boring and the phone was no longer a predictor of interesting stuff or fun games anymore.

[Sydoo]

Billie tried it for a while. I had a few one-sided conversations with my mother - I would talk and completely ignore the barking doglet. My mother got to listen to us both and not bother talking back as I couldn't hear. After a couple of days, Billie realised people on the phone are useless to her.

She still whines and runs to me if a phone is ringing and I don't react. I let this go as it is quite useful when I'm outside or in the shower and don't hear it ring.

[whiskedaway]

Alright I might do some fake convos. Squirting her wouldn't work, water is a fun game for her and she'd be back for more.

[poochmad]

Gawd, aren't they clever? In our household the dogs used to play up as soon as a call came in...now they've matured so don't behave like that. Thank gawd.

[Bully]

Alright I might do some fake convos. Squirting her wouldn't work, water is a fun game for her and she'd be back for more.

Try a bit of vinegar in the squirt bottle.

[Paul Bright]

Alright I might do some fake convos. Squirting her wouldn't work, water is a fun game for her and she'd be back for more.

try shaking a can w/ coins --dogs hate the sound! :D