LeeJane Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Hi All, I dont have great experience in training dogs, but have taught my staffy to sit, stay, down,walk on halti, leave it. I have recently started fostering dogs because i simply love dogs. I guess I was lucky in a way that my first rescued dog was a very smart kelpie and didnt take me much effort to train her and she knew I was the pack leader. The 2nd rescued dog was a bit of a challenged because I wasnt home long enough to train him. His toilet training wasn't perfect, but could sit and learning the 'down' trick, then he was adopted. I am now on my 3rd rescued dog, a 1 year old heeler x staffy x dalmation, and he is a very loving and placid dog. But once I take him out for walk, he wouldnt stop barking! There is nothing in sight and he would still bark. I feel stressed waking him because I swear the whole neighbourhood heard him. I have tried the 'ignore' trick, i stop and ignore him when he barks. I will only resume walking when he stops, I havent had much success so far, he seems to be enjoying the time he gets to bark standing at the same spot. I tried the distracting him with treats, as soon as he starts barking, i use the treat to distract him and as soon as he looks at me, i reward him with the treats. Seems to be working ok, because that reduces his barking duration but I am afraid he thinks he gets treats whenever he barks. He then normally gets super obedient in the last 5 minute of the walk, no pulling, no barking... I just couldnt figure out why he barks, when there is absolutely nothing. He could stand barking at a building because his bark echos from the building. I tried ringing a few dog trainers but they are reluctant to help as soon as I mentioned I am a foster carer. So I am hoping someone can tell me the right way to train this dog to stop barking... oh, and he goes absolutely MAD when he sees other dogs wen I walk him.. thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 (edited) the right way to train this dog to stop barking... it would entirely depend on HIS reason for barking . he goes absolutely MAD when he sees other dogs wen I walk him..<br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: verdana, tahoma, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(238, 242, 247); "> . what is his body language? ears/tail/the way he walks/hackles up/down....... normally gets super obedient in the last 5 minute of the walk, no pulling, no barking... it could be pure excitement/anticipation...? What is his body language when he is 'just' walking/barking? Edited March 27, 2012 by persephone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeJane Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 Body language when barking - he stand there, body slightly lunged forward and actually stare into a direction as ifhe is looking/listening to something. Tail up and wagging I did suspect that he has super sensitive hearing?? I tried playing a youtube clip that has dogs in it and a soon as he heard the slightest dog sound, he went around the house barking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 (edited) I tried ringing a few dog trainers but they are reluctant to help as soon as I mentioned I am a foster carer. wtf? Why should being a foster make a difference? So I am hoping someone can tell me the right way to train this dog to stop barking... Is it excitement barking? Have you tried turning back to home THE MOMENT the barking starts? Build up a word association to "ah ah" so you can use this as your "whoops you did wrong" marker word. This will help you when you begin to be able to get further and further away from home. oh, and he goes absolutely MAD when he sees other dogs wen I walk him. This needs more info - "WHY?" is what needs to be established before setting out on a "what to do". Eg. What does "MAD" mean? Barking in fear? Barking in excitement? And it may take a bit more than cyberspace stuff, as with that, we can only guess as what you mean. Word interpretation can vary a lot from one person to the next and can make a big difference to meaning. Edited March 29, 2012 by Erny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 he has super sensitive hearing?? I :) most dogs do - but not all pay attention to what they hear. (thankfully, sometimes!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan3 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I tried the distracting him with treats, as soon as he starts barking, i use the treat to distract him and as soon as he looks at me, i reward him with the treats. Seems to be working ok, because that reduces his barking duration but I am afraid he thinks he gets treats whenever he barks. That would be a good thing, at least you would know what was maintaining the barking so you could make something else work (e.g heeling) to earn the treats! The trick with treats is not to distract, but to reward. The presence of food shouldn't be a cue in and of itself. I would hesitate to recommend anything without seeing your dog, but here are a list of things you could try: 1. bark and shush on cue 2. incompatible behaviour (e.g carry something in the mouth) 3. long duration behaviours where the over-arching criterion is "silence" (e.g heeling, where the most important thing is that it is done without barking). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Rusty Bucket Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 incompatible behaviour (e.g carry something in the mouth My dog is quite good at barking with her mouth full of tennis ball... She couldn't figure out on her own that I wasn't going to do anything fun until she let go of the tennis ball (and stopped barking). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan3 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 incompatible behaviour (e.g carry something in the mouth My dog is quite good at barking with her mouth full of tennis ball... There are always some who are a bit more special :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Rusty Bucket Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 "spe-shul" is how I used to put it. Until I worked out who was training who. It's not the dog that is spe-shul... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeJane Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 I tried ringing a few dog trainers but they are reluctant to help as soon as I mentioned I am a foster carer. wtf? Why should being a foster make a difference? I didnt expect that she would make a difference for me, she just assumed that i wanted free advice.I was actually interested in calling her out and pay her to teach me how to train this dog. I never expect anyone to make a difference for me because i am a carer, i just want to make a difference for this dog. Anyway, I watched a few Kikopup youtube clips and learned something and so far it is working very well with the dog. As soon as he starts barking, i turn around walk 5 steps and stop. Then as soon as he shut up and sits next tome, I give him a treat and continue walking and repeat if he barks again. He has improved. He only barked twice on his last walk. thank you all for your input Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan3 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 As soon as he starts barking, i turn around walk 5 steps and stop. Then as soon as he shut up and sits next tome, I give him a treat and continue walking and repeat if he barks again.He has improved. He only barked twice on his last walk. That's exactly what I mean by using the food as a reward rather than a distraction. It's training an alternative behaviour (or behaviours in this case, he has to keep his attention on you). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Good update! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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