Pup Barks At Anything Going Past The House.

[PickledRoo]

Hi,

Our 8 months old female pup barks at one of 3 things.

1. Anyone she can see walking past the house.

2. Motorbike's she hears going past the house.

3. Bird's she hears from inside the house, she will run outside and bark at them.

Makes it hard on a nice day/weekend as have a lot of people walking past.

She doesn't do this when we are going for a walk.

I've tried being firm and saying 'NO', ignoring her, calling her back.

None of the approaches seem to make much difference.

Any ideas appreciated.

[Christina]

You need to get her attention to teach her to be quiet & it sounds like she is on a roll & doesn't hear you. My 6 month old does this too.

Get a sports whistle, they are only a few dollars, & blow it really loud when she barks. Then when she looks at you completely puzzled you can tell her to be quiet & then praise her. Do it instantly every time.

Works with some dogs, worth a try.

[ktig]

Can you screen off so she can't see the people walking out the front. My parents had a bit of a barker, and this worked really well for him - only barks when he hears people coming up the driveway and has made sunday mornings so much more pleasant. Dad says he didn't realise quite how many people went for a walk sunday mornings to get the paper till Alfie started counting them for him

[**Super_Dogs**]

I have found it is very hard to stop a dog barking as this is what they do naturally! What I recommend is encouraging the dog to stop barking once they have alerted you to what is there. So it is OK for them to bark a couple of times to tell you, but not continue to bark.

What I have found a succesful technique is when the dog starts barking use a word such as enough once they have barked a few times then encourage them to come to you and treat them. Eventually you will not need to encourage them, they will bark then come to you hence stopping barking.

Hope this helps.

[BC Crazy]

Re: the barking at people walking past. Both of mine do this, very annoying / frustrating. Feel your pain. I haven't tried the whistle idea Christina suggested so am going to try that next.

With the bird issue. my girl is obsessed with them. But we stopped her from running outside to get them when she is inside simply by rousing on her with a firm "leave it" over & over.She hates being in

trouble so that didn't take her long to work out not to do it. Her recall is her strongest asset too which is really good to work with.

Edited December 13, 2011 by BC Crazy

[KateAndDuke]

I have had a similar problem with my 2 year old weim. I don't mind him barking when he is outside or if someone comes to the door, I think that's fair enough. But he will bark quite harshly simply at someone walking out on the road or parking on the street and shutting their car door. Birds and the dog across the road set him off as well. I've tried getting his attention and rewarding when he's quiet, but once he gets a fix on this it's hard to maintain his attention.

Last week I got out the dreaded water squirter. Now, I don't want to get flamed here because it's negative reinforcement, but it's working like a charm. It doesn't hurt him, but it is enough to shock him into ignoring the distraction outside. He also gets lots of pats and treats when he doesn't bark at outside things now. He may start barking now and I'll tell him "ok enough" and "come" and he relaxes a lot quicker. I'm seeing quite an improvement.

Good luck!