Teaching A Dog Not To React To Everything!

[PoppyDog]

So Poppy is 11 months old now (almost 1!) and she is beautiful!!! She has the best temprement and personality! We love and enjoy her more than we ever thought was possible.

But there is one thing I have been wondering about...

She often barks at cars driving past (we have a big 6ft wooden fence), people walking past, people walking their dogs. She barks when someone knocks at the door (just one bark) then does her crazy "I'm so excited we have visitors" bum wiggle. She also barks at ANY animal on the T.V. Mostly dogs. Like the dog on the toilet paper ad, the dogs on Bondi Vet, RSPCA Animal Rescue and the animals on the optus ad etc!

It's not excessive barking. And when I call her she comes. If I go to her and say "SHHH!" she comes and is quiet.

I guess I'm wondering if I'm teaching her the right thing. I don't mind her barking. If someone comes into our yard or to the door. But I don't think she needs to be barking at the TV or at people OUTSIDE of our yard. Last night we had a BBQ and when she went to bark at something I would call her back, tell her on her bed, drop and then praise and treat. I was trying to re-inforce that I wanted her to be quiet and relaxed.

Am I doing the right thing? Any other tips of advice?

:D

[Aidan]

Last night we had a BBQ and when she went to bark at something I would call her back, tell her on her bed, drop and then praise and treat. I was trying to re-inforce that I wanted her to be quiet and relaxed.

Am I doing the right thing? Any other tips of advice?

That sounds like a pretty good plan :D Provided that you were calling her before she actually barked.

Define (for yourself) what you want her to do INSTEAD of barking. Figure out a way to set her up to succeed at what you want her to do. Reinforce. Then make it a little bit harder and repeat.

An example that illustrates it quite well is to get a DVD that has dogs barking on it, or record something that sets her off. Play it very quietly, just loudly enough that she knows it is there but not loudly enough to make her bark. She is not barking, so mark that with praise or a clicker, then reward. Repeat, increasing the volume just a little each time. If at some point she barks, turn the volume down a little and try again.

[noisymina]

Our dog understands the word "quiet".

So I guess you need to use that word when you re-inforce and eventually she will know what "quiet" means.

[poodlefan]

Up the exercise.

How much is she getting daily?

[megan_]

There was a thread on reactive dogs not so long ago. I use the "who's that"/"look at that" game - a positive way to redirect attention. The thread had a lot of good ideas in it, I'll try to find it when/if I get the time.

[corvus]

I've had surprising success with a ten minute massage at the start of the day. One of my dogs reacts to less things if he's relaxed. Might be worth looking at a Thundershirt. We have been trying one out. Not sure if it really works, but it seems to calm him when he's a little wired and help him relax more quickly after getting worked up.