Puppy Barking At Us :(

[Guest HarperGD]

Hi guys, our gorgeous puppy Harper is a pretty good pup. He sleeps through the night in his crate next to our bed and is generally a pretty placid dog.

However first thing in the morning and last thing at night (when he's having his energy bursts and is pretty excited) he tends to bark at us.

We try ignoring, turning our backs and only turning back when he's quiet, but he also tends to lunge at us and bite with his sharp puppy teeth!!

We also tried "SHOOSH!" but he just barks louder.

Someone suggested a water bottle to spray him then reward when he shuts up, but I'm not sure if that's cruel???? (Plus water would ruin his fluffy hair do!! :p)

I assume he's just playing and trying to let out pent up energy that he can't really burn up yet cos he isn't fully vaccinated yet (we just run up and down the hall with him at the moment and play play play) but my OH is worried he's going to turn into a problem barker.

(His sister-in-law's parents have a poodle who barks and bites all the time and he doesn't want our Harper to turn out like her!)

Can anyone offer us any tips as to how to handle this??

(Meanwhile I can't wait till we can take him for works in the morning and afternoon to help exhaust him!!!)

[persephone]

Training.

very short on leash training sessions .. no nonsense just a few minutes.. and make him concentrate ;)

make your play sessions more mind games, less chasey games! roll a ball .... get him to chase TOYS, not humans .

What does he know now?

Sit?

shake?

down?

roll over?

Up?

OFF?

Beg?

Toilet on command?

eat on command?

Now is the perfect time to often take him on leash in the car .. or to have him on leash in your arms as you walk along the road --- so he gets to see the outside world ! if he is totally confined to your apartment for the next couple of months- then expected to cheerfully cope with the big sky/loud noises/smells /movement outdoors .. he needs to experience it safely now

harper will probably not turn out a barker/biter if he is treated like a dog , trained calmly , and given HEAPS to think about/do . poodles are very clever, and need to be experiencing/doing .

[Nekhbet]

if he doesnt need to toilet then just a squirt and roll over ignoring him. If he bites you, scruff him or make your hand into a claw shape and zap him one in the side of the neck 'NO!'

I do agree with Persephone poodles are incredibly smart, they are working dogs in a tiny packet. Start training him now in whatever you can, look on Youtube there is always people putting up how to videos for tricks. Put it this way, I taught a toy poodle to play a piano in half an hour

[Puppybella]

Hey Harper...this is a bit off topic, but I lost track of the other thread because I'm travelling at the moment, did you end up keeping Harper?? I just remember from the other thread you were unsure what to do, and I wasn't sure what ended up happening. But it appears he's still with you - very exciting!!

[Dju]

Spraying with water works extremely well and it's not cruel (cruel would be holding his head in a bowl full of water or something lol, you're just giving him a spritz which is unpleasant at best). When he barks, spray his face with a bit of water and ignore him. I agree with what Nekhbet says about the biting too, sometimes you just have to show him that you're the boss around there, not him!

I recommend training him, a well trained poodle puppy looks super cool to guests :p I recommend Kyra Sundance's books, either the 51 puppy tricks book or the 101 dog tricks, they're really fun to go through a new trick every day. I also find that bouncing a ball against the ground and making Hugo hit it with his nose and then chases it as it bounces everywhere is a surprisingly strenuous exercise, Hugo pants like he's run a marathon after about ten minutes of it.

[Guest HarperGD]

Thanks for all the replies! Maybe we'll keep a spray bottle on hand... just in case...

We do lots of training with him through the day and in the evenings though and at the moment he can do the basics - sit, lie down, stay, off, shake, roll over, up and touch. I'm trying to teach "kisses" but I'm too scared he'll bite my nose! :D

Thanks for recommending those books Dju, I'll look into those for sure! I need more trick ideas.

And Persepohone, we have been taking him out a lot (just not letting him touch the ground!)

He comes out for coffees with us, comes to the shops and sometimes I'll just go strolling around with him in my arms. We will do this with him at least once a day. We live near a main road so he seems to be pretty used to noisy traffic sounds.

We also walk him around the apartment with the leash and let him run around with it just hanging off his collar. He's definitely getting better with that.

We also take him for car rides. He sits in the back with his harness on, in his bed. Most of the time he falls asleep

He's getting his 12 week vaccinations next Tues. I can't wait haha.

[persephone]

You're doing well . Just remember to keep your voices and actions calm ... lower the pitch of your voice .. and slow down play . Bouncy pups do not need the excitement of high pitched voices/ lots of running .

"kisses" Hmmm... wise to stay away from that one ;)

[PennyGB]

Harper I'm not an expert so this is only my personal experience.

We went through a brief period (about 2 weeks) where Archer was little rascal, seemed to forget everything we'd taught him and tried the barking thing on us too, we just had to keep up the training, bought some new interactive toys (he had the old ones all figured out) and tried our best to wear him out physically and mentally.

Once we could finally walk him he was so much easier! He loooves his walks. We keep up the training of course but he seems a lot more focused now. Hang in there

[Guest HarperGD]

Haha yes kisses is a bit risky. The idea was just him putting his nose against my cheek but he always seems to go for the nose, so I've backed away from that one for the moment!!

I've told OH about the not using our hands in play, just toys etc. and we did that this morning and it was a lot better.

We're going on a 10 hr drive next week to go on holidays for 3 weeks (with pup of course!) so hopefully his training won't go backwards in a new environment...

We already found this weekend he's been peeing on the carpet (first time!) because we've had 4 houseguests and I think he's just WAY too excited.

Back to routine come Tuesday - thank goodness!!

[Christina]

As a poodle is a breed that has to be bathed & groomed more than most I would not be using a spray bottle of water on him.

You need him to like water & be comfortable with it. Not to associate it with something bad or punishment/aversion.

Find another method. When pups do this I turn my back on them & ignore it & keep turning if they try & get in front of me.

They get bored & give up & go away.

[Simply Grand]

As a poodle is a breed that has to be bathed & groomed more than most I would not be using a spray bottle of water on him.

You need him to like water & be comfortable with it. Not to associate it with something bad or punishment/aversion.

Find another method. When pups do this I turn my back on them & ignore it & keep turning if they try & get in front of me.

They get bored & give up & go away.

Mmm, good point! It's hard enough washing and grooming them already without a dislike of water added in.

Riley's a little barker, being a Sheltie, he does it when he wants attention and/or gets excited. I've been ignoring him, I very pointedly cross my arms, look up and away from him then turn my back and don't look at him until he's quiet. If I turn around and he barks again I give a sharp "ah" and quickly turn around again. It's slowly working (I've only had him just over a week), in the last couple of days he seems to be getting it, he stops barking more quickly now when I look away (he trails off into a little "aaarrrhh" like he's going oh, you're no fun ).

He also barks at Saxon to try and get him to play (which isn't hard so the barking tends to work ) Because me ignoring him wouldn't work then I've been making a loud noise as soon as he starts to bark, I started off with a loud clap and an "ah" but I've started using a loud growly no or similar noise (sometimes it doesn't quite come out as a proper word ). It's sort of working, it distracts him and stops that bout of barking at least.

I'm thinking if I'm just patient and consistent with it he'll learn that barking doesn't get him anything good

Also, HGD you've probably experienced this already taking Harper out, I carried Riley with me when I walked Saxon on Saturday and he was exhausted when we got home! What a hard life being a puppy is, soooo tiring being carried around for an hour I guess it was all the new experiences though, I was very happy that it tired him out.

Edited June 27, 2011 by Saxonpup

[W Sibs]

Charlie barks at me and I usually stand up and stand in front of him frowning, he usually stops straight away. If that doesn't work, I hold his mouth close firmly yet gently and tell him to "quiet" and let go when when he relaxes.

He can be a brat. He is a tad too spoilt

[sas]

With the barking, I would end all interaction with him, I'd just walk away and ignore him for 5 minutes.

With the biting, there are a number of different methods, you'll just need to find one that works and that you're comfortable with.