How Do You Deal With Persistent Barking In An Older Dog?

[kelpiecuddles]

I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips. The new dog we will be hopefully adopting later in the year is a bit of a barker and I want to start dealing with it fairly quickly after she moves in as i don't want her upsetting any neighbours. She's a basset so they can be prone to being barkers as with all the hounds and it's more of a wanting to tell everyone type bark but ongoing rather than just a single woof or two. My two girls will have a bark if there's a reason but persistent nuisance barking is something I don't tolerate in them so I worked on barking from the day they came home as a tiny puppies, have never had to deal with it in an older dog who's well and truly got a habit.

[Salukifan]

I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips. The new dog we will be hopefully adopting later in the year is a bit of a barker and I want to start dealing with it fairly quickly after she moves in as i don't want her upsetting any neighbours. She's a basset so they can be prone to being barkers as with all the hounds and it's more of a wanting to tell everyone type bark but ongoing rather than just a single woof or two. My two girls will have a bark if there's a reason but persistent nuisance barking is something I don't tolerate in them so I worked on barking from the day they came home as a tiny puppies, have never had to deal with it in an older dog who's well and truly got a habit.

Scent hounds perhaps. Sighthounds aren't generally big barkers.

Usual story - find what's triggering the barking and remove the trigger. Really hard to be more precise than that. Your only other options are aversives like the anti-barking collars.

[kelpiecuddles]

:laugh: Sorry haredown, in my mind when i say hounds I see tricoloured critters in a flock baying after their quarry, not sleek speed machines :D

She basically barks when stuff is happening to tell you about it. For example when my kids were carrying a snack down to the outside table and chattering amongst themselves she was woofing away but once they sat down and settled it was easy to tell her to stop. I guess my worry is that she'll start up when i'm not home and then just keep going!

We do have a citronella that we used quite successfully on our girls during a period when a neighbours dog was winding them up but should i be waiting a little while before implementing methods like that?

Edited August 28, 2013 by kelpiecuddles

[minimax]

One of my pugs is "chatty", but he doesn't tend to bark much when people aren't home, he barks like he's joining in conversation, talking etc

Its annoying, but I've yet to find a way to train him out of it! Since yours is an adult do you know if she barks now when alone etc?

[Yonjuro]

I have very fond memories of Basset hounds, having had one when I was a kid. I remember his bark really well. Booming with a hit of Tyrannosaurus Rex :laugh: On the bright side a Basset bark although very loud doesn't have that pitch that can really fire up the neighbours.

Have a google for Dr Ian Dunbar + barking, he has some great tricks and tips. One of his methods is to teach and encouraging the dog to bark on cue and then to stop on cue. I like that his method is not to forbid your dog from barking - as this is what dogs naturally do, but to modify the behaviour through positive reinforcement.

[mixeduppup]

Maybe is a barker when stimulated. I go the old route and just tell her to shut up and then giver her they 'eye' and she puts her head down as if she's ashamed and walks away. Hounds are really noisy naturally so maybe distraction/prevention is better than cure?

[Nekhbet]

If the dog is that nusience a barker then get an e-collar for it. They're graduated so when you're not home the dog can learn how much barking is acceptable. I don't like citronella, the stink remains on the dogs face for hours if they bark too much and it burns mucus membranes like eyes, lips, nose etc. An animal with such a sensitive, highly tuned nose assaulted with that stench until it wears off. Don't like it.

[Rosetta]

I saw a vibration only collar advertised the other day - I think it was a Petsafe one? Or what about those ultrasonic units you can activate manually - maybe something like that instead of a citronella one if you want to use a collar?

[Kavik]

I saw a vibration only collar advertised the other day - I think it was a Petsafe one? Or what about those ultrasonic units you can activate manually - maybe something like that instead of a citronella one if you want to use a collar?

But isn't the general feedback that dogs often react more strongly to vibration settings than stimulations from ecollars?

[Rosetta]

I saw a vibration only collar advertised the other day - I think it was a Petsafe one? Or what about those ultrasonic units you can activate manually - maybe something like that instead of a citronella one if you want to use a collar?

But isn't the general feedback that dogs often react more strongly to vibration settings than stimulations from ecollars?

I don't know - would be interested to know though.