Barking Help - Recommend A Trainer In Brisbane

[deltoid]

Dog:

I've got 2 Silky Terriers. The older of the two (1.5 years) barks at the back fence.

Problem:

Barks at the back fence quite a bit. Seems to be set off when the rear neighbour's dog or cat are near the fence (Note: The neighbour's dog never barks back so it isn't a case of my neighbour's dog instigating it). It appears that when the neighbour's dog is near the fence he does an excited bark (makes the same bark when trying to get our other dog to play with him) and does an aggressive/defensive bark when the neighbour's cat is near the fence (I think he can hear it's bell as sometimes he will be inside and will run outside barking and the cat will be near the fence).

We have another dog along one of the side fences and our dog never barks at that one. He is able to see that dog a bit better through the fence.

It is very rare for him to bark at the front fence at people walking past or coming to the house, it is just the rear fence that he has a problem with.

What I've tried:

I thought possibly he had too much energy so yesterday I took him for a 1.5 hour walk including 30 minutes at the dog park and he still barked at the fence (after having a sleep after his walk). Today I took him for a shorter walk but did 30 minutes worth of obedience training with them and he still barked at the fence.

Whenever he does it for more than a few barks we go outside and call him in, most of the time he will come and we lock him inside for awhile. However, sometimes he won't come and we have to go and pick him up and bring him in.

I've also tried sitting up the back while he barks and giving him treats when he stops but he usually is so worked up he doesn't care about treats.

Solution:

I'm hoping someone can suggest some things to try in an attempt at sorting this out before it gets worse. Otherwise if you can suggest a trainer in Brisbane that could help that would be great too.

Edited August 14, 2012 by deltoid

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

What I usually do is something like this...

1. Distract dog, check what she's barking at, if it's nothing - act bored and go back inside

2. if dog barks again, go put collar on her (she's usually naked at home). check, act bored, go back inside, or do some weeding (so I can keep an eye on what she's up to).

3. if she barks again (sheesh), put lead on and take her inside and shut the door.

Number 3 is especially effective if what she's been doing is bouncing off the fence (at the neighbour's cat usually). I go straight to step three if that's the case. I don't call her or say anything to her when I do this, I just walk up to her, interrupt her by getting in the way and catching her, and relocate.

I can just call her inside. Sometimes I do this. But it doesn't always stop the barking. She just barks inside.

After step 3 - it's a very long time (months?) before she forgets and does it again. It's really important to stop it immediately if you don't want it happening or it becomes a fun habit - barking or fence bouncing.

PS if you want a trainer - or someone good to recommend someone in your area - I've seen this one recommended for SE QLD.

http://www.dogsontrack.com.au/index.htm

Jane Harper

Personally I don't know much about her apart from what other people have written in here.

Edited August 14, 2012 by Mrs Rusty Bucket

[fuzzy82]

I don't see how it's something you can really train, other than using punishment consistently every time he does it, which means not leaving him outside when you're not home. Other than that, try putting up some kind of barrier so he can't see the other dog, like putting shade cloth or plastic on the fence, or putting in a hedge or something?

You could work on generally reducing his reactivity to things, by working on impulse control (check "its yer choice" on youtube) and using "look at that" (LAT) on walks and in the backyard when the other dog is around, and then hope that his reduced reactivity transfers to barking...

[Erny]

I trained my boy away from o/top territorial barking by calling him in and rewarding him EVERY time for the recall.

Now for the most part he will bark once or twice and then come running inside for his treat.

Trouble is this training needs to be consistent. Because of the set up of my yard I was able to rig it so that consistency could be maintained.

[Weasels]

I trained my boy away from o/top territorial barking by calling him in and rewarding him EVERY time for the recall.

Now for the most part he will bark once or twice and then come running inside for his treat.

Trouble is this training needs to be consistent. Because of the set up of my yard I was able to rig it so that consistency could be maintained.

I did this with my girl, let her bark twice then called her in, but I was working from home at the time.

But... she is still a very alert working dog, so she's learnt to compromise by making a wide variety of whiny/growly/howly noises while pacing the house instead :laugh: Quite cute actually :)

[gsdog2]

I trained my boy away from o/top territorial barking by calling him in and rewarding him EVERY time for the recall.

Now for the most part he will bark once or twice and then come running inside for his treat.

Trouble is this training needs to be consistent. Because of the set up of my yard I was able to rig it so that consistency could be maintained.

I did this with my Goldie - trouble was he then realised if he went to the gate and barked someone would call him and he'd get a treat. In the end he would bark a couple of times (at nothing) and then run to the back door and wait for a treat :)

[deltoid]

Thanks for the responses. I'm trying out those techniques as well as increasing their exercise. Not sure if it is a coincidence or not but the past 2 days his barking has greatly reduced. We'll see what it's like on the weekend when I'm home more during the day.