Barking Issues

[belbel]

Hi, just wondering if anyone has encountered this situation before.

My little boy is nearly one year old now. He is really lovely most of the time, but sometime (especially at night) he will start barking at us all the sudden for some unknown reason. Well I’m guessing he’s not happy with what we don’t want him to do.

Like for example, he can be sleeping on the carpet in the living room at this moment and all the sudden when my brother walk into the living room, he will get so excited with my brother and when we firmly say no to him, he will then start to bark at us. What I do is I would firmly look at him and cross my arm in front of him. He will usually stop barking and sit in front of me and look at me. Then I will say good boy and give him some treats. Then he will be good for like few minutes and later he will start again. But instead of getting excited at my brother, he will start and trying to “scratch” the carpet/couch (as if he trying to dig hole there). Then once again I will firmly say No to him and obviously he’s not happy about that and start barking at us again.

Any ideas what he’s trying to tell us or trying to do? Any suggestion to what to do in this situation?

Thanks

[Guest donatella]

Can he sleep anywhere he wont be disturbed ie a warm bed in the laundry or another room?

He is just responding to stimuli. My girl barks at possums running across the fence so we have to make sure she cannot see outside. Sounds like he's just getting excited and trying to get a reaction from you as even a NO reprimanding him is attention to him. I would be moving him away if people are up and moving around at all hours of the night.

[Whippetsmum]

Is he trying to get you to play? The digging action, especially if he's almost in a drop position and barking excitedly at you reminds me of how puppies try to get someone to play.

This site describes some of the play invitations dogs use:

http://puppies.about.com/od/PuppyPlaySports/a/How-Puppies-Play.htm

[Jumabaar]

Hi, just wondering if anyone has encountered this situation before.

My little boy is nearly one year old now. He is really lovely most of the time, but sometime (especially at night) he will start barking at us all the sudden for some unknown reason. Well I’m guessing he’s not happy with what we don’t want him to do.

Like for example, he can be sleeping on the carpet in the living room at this moment and all the sudden when my brother walk into the living room, he will get so excited with my brother and when we firmly say no to him, he will then start to bark at us. What I do is I would firmly look at him and cross my arm in front of him. He will usually stop barking and sit in front of me and look at me. Then I will say good boy and give him some treats. Then he will be good for like few minutes and later he will start again. But instead of getting excited at my brother, he will start and trying to “scratch” the carpet/couch (as if he trying to dig hole there). Then once again I will firmly say No to him and obviously he’s not happy about that and start barking at us again.

Any ideas what he’s trying to tell us or trying to do? Any suggestion to what to do in this situation?

Thanks

My dog does this type of behaviour when she wants attention. I don't mind a little bit of scratching and playing but if she gets noise I walk out of the room and ignore her- no eye contact at all- until she settles. It might not be the same with your dog but its easy enough to try a few times to see if it works.

[belbel]

Can he sleep anywhere he wont be disturbed ie a warm bed in the laundry or another room?He is just responding to stimuli. My girl barks at possums running across the fence so we have to make sure she cannot see outside. Sounds like he's just getting excited and trying to get a reaction from you as even a NO reprimanding him is attention to him. I would be moving him away if people are up and moving around at all hours of the night.

At night he will sleep either in my room or laundry where he got his own comfy bed, but he will only going to sleep in his own bed or my room when I’m going to bed. Before that, when I have not gone to bed yet, he will sleep around me (like I was watching TV, using computer etc) in living room. He will cry and try to escape from laundry if I try to get him to sleep in his own bed before I do. Yeah, I’m pretty sure he got excited and is trying to get some sort of reaction from me. Like you say, even a NO is attention to him.

Hi, just wondering if anyone has encountered this situation before.My little boy is nearly one year old now. He is really lovely most of the time, but sometime (especially at night) he will start barking at us all the sudden for some unknown reason. Well I’m guessing he’s not happy with what we don’t want him to do.Like for example, he can be sleeping on the carpet in the living room at this moment and all the sudden when my brother walk into the living room, he will get so excited with my brother and when we firmly say no to him, he will then start to bark at us. What I do is I would firmly look at him and cross my arm in front of him. He will usually stop barking and sit in front of me and look at me. Then I will say good boy and give him some treats. Then he will be good for like few minutes and later he will start again. But instead of getting excited at my brother, he will start and trying to “scratch” the carpet/couch (as if he trying to dig hole there). Then once again I will firmly say No to him and obviously he’s not happy about that and start barking at us again.Any ideas what he’s trying to tell us or trying to do? Any suggestion to what to do in this situation?Thanks

My dog does this type of behaviour when she wants attention. I don't mind a little bit of scratching and playing but if she gets noise I walk out of the room and ignore her- no eye contact at all- until she settles. It might not be the same with your dog but its easy enough to try a few times to see if it works.

I did do that before but not every time when he had that behaviour. So tonight, I walk out the room and ignore him every time when he try to dig or scratch the carpet/couch and literally 6 times in total and guess what, he wasn’t barking at all and the time to have him settle down himself got lesser and lesser. So I think I just need to be consistent at all time and just keep ignoring him and leave the room every time, even though it was kind of annoying that I have to get up and leave what I’m doing. And to make it harder is to get my brother’s butt up as well... but tonight we got there in the end

Anyway thanks guys, glad I’m not the only one having this issue. Love this forum, so many dog lovers and information. Cheers... will keep you all update how he’s going :)

[Dame Aussie]

Yesh sounds like a young dog trying to get attention, wanting to play and then getting frustrated that he can't :laugh:

Agree with the others, just be consistent with him and see how he goes :)

And yes, It's a super forum and you're right, so much information!!