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4 Mth Old Puppy Barking When I'm Out


monday_bloody_monday
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Today I received a letter from a neighbour advising that my 4 month old puppy has been barking "relentlessly" during the day whilst I am out at work. I am hoping that someone has some advice as to how I can control this problem barking.

I have a 2 1/2 year old basenji who is also home during the day but for the moment 2 dogs are separated whilst they are unsupervised. The puppy (a finnish lapphund) is in the laundry and my other dog is in the backyard. Both have a selection of toys which I rotate daily to maintain their interest, including kongs and treat dispensing balls. They also have daily walks.

I am willing to put in the time and effort to train the puppy out of this barking habit (which I was unaware of until today). The problem is that I'm not sure how I can train her when the problem is occuring when I am not at home. I'm keen to get working on this as soon as possible since it is obviously already causing issues for my neighbour. Any suggestions?! Thanks in advance :)

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sorry cant help you

i have also had council complaints my 2 dogs were outside and are now inside. i believe my girl was barking at birds and anything really, now she cant see i think she is better :shrug:

if your pup is already inside :shrug: i really dont know what u can do...maybe try a citronella collar...sounds like you are already giving the puppy things to occupy the mind sorry, im in a similar boat :shrug: good luck

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Welcome - you have an interesting pair of dogs :)

A laundry for hours and hours is a pretty boring and sterile environment for a very smart and active breed puppy .. perhaps leave puppy outside, and older dog inside ?

IMO, at 4 mths pups need to be running and sniffing and digging and rolling and watching birds & clouds .

I would hesitate to suggest you leave a no bark collar on a puppy , especially as pup may well be barking thru anxiety /boredom .

Hopefully someone will come along with a suggestion that suits ...

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Is there any reason you can't leave both dogs outside together? Do thy play well? I had a similar problem when I got my second dog, although no complaints from anyone but I knew my younger one was distressed when I went to work and I think it was because she was locked inside and the older dog was outside.

They only reason I had not left mine together was size, the older one was 8 months old and around 16 kilos and the younger one was only 2 kilos. I spoke to the vet and they vet said wait till the younger was 12 weeks old but at 10 weeks I gave in and they both stayed outside, it was the best thing for her and it worked out great.

If your dogs get on well and play nice together and you have a secure locked up yard why not have them together? Do you have someone that could come and check on them during the day while your gone?

Edited by tlc
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I too would say the puppy is bored. Is it possible to fence off a section of the yard for the pup. Then he can see your other dog as well as run around freely.

This too would be my suggestion.

My reckon my pup would have eaten the walls being locked in the laundry. :D If you want to keep your pup unside do you have another, bigger room where you can keep the pup?

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Congratulations on the new addition to your family. I am waiting on a Lappie myself. :)

Lappies can be barkers, they are expected to do it in their traditional role as herders. Pop into the Spitz thread if you like. We have lots of Lappie talk in there and I'm sure the breeders and owners in there would be happy to help. There is one condition though... we love photos! wink.gif

http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/137956-spitz-breeds/page__st__59370

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How many hours are you out for?

I'd take a guess that the pup is not getting enough mental stimulation and is bored shitless with being in the laundry all day...

More exercise and (most importantly) more time training in the mornings. Wear her brain out first. Then try putting the pup in either a run in the yard or a pen with toys, bones, place to dig, etc. If they are (mentally/physically) tired they will usually sleep.

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I'd take a guess that the pup is not getting enough mental stimulation and is bored shitless with being in the laundry all day...

More exercise and (most importantly) more time training in the mornings. Wear her brain out first. Then try putting the pup in either a run in the yard or a pen with toys, bones, place to dig, etc. If they are (mentally/physically) tired they will usually sleep.

+1 a four month old puppy is pretty active in both mind and body and your dog is bored and frustrated, hence the barking.

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My 4 month old is a bit the same with the barking when not with me at the moment, if she is put into her yard she barks even with toys, also have tried pigs ear a frozen kong shes just not interested unless im in view. Shes not distressed just stating 'let me out now' so im at a bit of a loss also, i dont want her to develop into a barker so im trying to get her away from this behaviour sooner rather than later. I am wanting her down there at this stage while im at work as i need a new fence between me and my neighbour and i dont want her escaping on me.

So cant offer any help just a reassurance that my 4 month old is the same.

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My 4 month old is a bit the same with the barking when not with me at the moment, if she is put into her yard she barks even with toys, also have tried pigs ear a frozen kong shes just not interested unless im in view. Shes not distressed just stating 'let me out now' so im at a bit of a loss also, i dont want her to develop into a barker so im trying to get her away from this behaviour sooner rather than later. I am wanting her down there at this stage while im at work as i need a new fence between me and my neighbour and i dont want her escaping on me.

So cant offer any help just a reassurance that my 4 month old is the same.

My 4 month old is the same too!

She ignored a lamb shank in favour of barking/crying/screaming, but the second I'm inthe room she will happily tuck into whatever treat I've left for her. 4 month old's are weird creatures!

I think mine is fairly ok when I'm out, but it's when she knows I'm home she goes nuts. I leave my webcam on some days when I go to work and she goes through phases of barking for a half hour or so, then plays/sleeps for a few hours. I leave long lasting treats for her (frozen things she needs to lick at to get, peanut butter smeared on plastic water bottles so when she pounces on it, it goes sliding across the tiled floor which means she has to really chase it (keeps her amused for hours!)

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Thanks for the replies everyone! As my other dog is a basenji, I'm pretty new to the barking thing. There are a couple of reasons we were keeping her inside for now. One of which was the fact that she is a play barker and if she is barking outside it is going to be a whole lot louder for the neighbours. But since she is barking inside and disturbing the neighbours anyway I think the plan of attack is to put her outside with Akili and see how she goes. I have spoken with another neighbour who is going to keep an ear out for her and let me know if she keeps the barking up outside. That might be the next thread... :rolleyes:

Anyway, here are a couple of pics of my beautiful girls - Taru the lappie and Akili the basenji.

post-39301-0-12688400-1329302507_thumb.jpg

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We had the exact same thing with our golden, we had her for 6 months until we had to move then about a month after we moved our new neighbours plus some around the conrer came around to say she barks everytime we go out, all the time. Hence we had to go out as soon as we hear dthat and got a bark dollar (the shock one) - I know that's harsh but we visited my aunt who had citronella ones on her dogs and she just kept licking them so we know they wouldnt work, the bark one definitely does work though, we used it for about 2 months and haven't had issues since. Possibly think about the citronella collar they may be able to help you out - they are pretty cheap on ebay

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i think the collars work gret but i wouldnt leave one on all day thats too much i would maybe put one on and drive around to ur nice neighbours house and watch and listen over the fence.. i wouldnt leave it one fore more then 20 minutes at that age... and just see how it goes, we have just trid one on our brittany and he screamed and ran into the house and hid in the corner for an hr... he is 7 yrs old.. imagine the fear issues this could bring on in such a young dog...

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