Bark Busters

[persephone]

N@lie -

:( your poor dog. I hope , now that a professional will be there to help you , that you can start your dog on the way to being happier and more comfortable.

..and WELCOME - hopefully you will let us know how things are going ..and put up some photos of your dog. :)

[Rosetta]

If the dog is already anxious I don't see how any of those methods will help

Hope you have better luck next time. Separation anxiety is so difficult to treat and punishment doesn't work very well - especially as a first line of treatment.

If you do a search on this forum you will see lots of threads regarding this topic - you may find some helpful advice.

[N@alie]

I was suspecting if it will work when they told me to.

I have read many notes and youtube video relating to this issue.

Some suggest to leave him some toys so that he can play with during the day, but he does not show any interest to the toys. I bought him different kind of toys but none of them work. I even tried to put some treats inside the toy, instead of rolling it to get the treat out, he just use his tongue to get it.

Some say crate training him, so I start to put his dog bed to the crate with the door open to make him feel comfortable in there before I get the door close. Then after the trainer from Bark Busters came and throw the stuff on top of the crate when my dog crying/barking inside the crate with the door closed and we are outside of the bedroom.

I also tried thundershirt, however still no use.

Steve @ K9Pro is the third trainer I am going to try, but the first available time (which fit my schedule) is end of August.

I am hoping it will work otherwise I need to find another trainer to train me training him.

[N@alie]

Yes Sir Sook le Faux, that's why I said I wish I found this forum earlier. Then I don't need to waste my money and time. And his issue may be resolved earlier.

There may be some trainers in Bark Busters are good, but from what I experience, trainer is assigned by suburb.

And it is very disappointed when you feel the trainer is such inexperience, especially when you are paying more than it should be.

They said that they will call me for a follow up session to see how my dog goes and till now I have received no phone call from the trainer.

But I don't care as I don't think he can help me and I do not want my dog to be worse than now.

Some of the method I found on youtube has a better result than using their method.

[Amax-1]

I had a look at a working line GSD a lady had up for rehoming who had failed the Bark Busters training regime and aside from some special food they sold this lady which was complete nonsense in relation to solving the dog's behaviour, what they work on in training with yelling BAHH and throwing chains at the dog are behaviour interrupters which is ok but when the behaviour is interrupted, they don't provide the next step......so you yell BAHH and throw a chain at the dogs feet and the dog stops what he/she's doing, then you need to apply an alternate behaviour at the interruption, but their regime stops at the interrupter

That can't work unless the chain throwing is aversive enough and the dog behaves to avoid the aversion.....may work on very soft dogs, or the dog is offered an alternate behaviour when the chain throwing interrupts the unwanted behaviour. It's about as successful as screaming "shut up" from the back door when the dog is barking on the back fence :laugh:

This GSD was a young dog and a nutcase on leash and the lady couldn't walk it......she couldn't get the dog out the front door ramped up in excitement of going for a walk, he would pull her off her feet (she was a small woman about 50kgs) and yelling BAHH and throwing chains at him ramped him up higher!!.

Ok....so does he like balls.....yep loves chasing and retrieving balls....well go and get his ball and we will see if he behaves for a ball reward. Sure enough within 20 minutes we had him calm for ball reward.......BB could have done that too if they had half a clue

The dog had great toy and food focus and after a couple of basic lessons, the lady gained control and kept her dog

It's pretty sad when she thought she got the experts in and her dog was untrainable to the point she had no pleasure from the dog and considered rehoming him?

There may be some trainers in Bark Busters are good, but from what I experience, trainer is assigned by suburb.

From my understanding, they MUST train in the BB method, so anyone experienced at dog training wouldn't take on such a franchise so I guess most franchisees would begin with little previous training knowledge to run with it?

Edited August 9, 2014 by Amax-1

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

N@alie

I hope that Steve can help. Make sure you have a list (or video even) of what you've got and what you'd like to have regards your dog's behaviour and keep Steve on focus.

For my dog when she gets a bit upset about me leaving - I play the I forgot something game. Actually - that's just naturally me but I find it works with my dog and some others...

You need to start this game when you are going to be home (not at work)...

and you get all your stuff to go out, and then you forget something and go back in.

I also pair getting all my stuff to go out - with giving my dog a treat that she likes. Tho when I first started going out and actually leaving her - the treat would be untouched until I got home and then she would race to where I put it (crate or dinner bowl) and demolish it. I know she's better because now when she sees me getting my bag and keys - she reminds me to get her treat and it's gone before I get to the car...

So I would not be out very long - like seconds the first few times you play the game...

You could also time how long it takes for your dog to start yelling when you do go out so you know what the threshold is...

(she just fetched me the bath mat I roll her dinner kibble in to slow her down eating - cos it's quieter than a bob a lot in a wire crate)

Also the first thing I do with the dog when I've been out - is go from the front door, straight out to the back yard because there is no dog door, and act boring - waiting for her to go to the toilet.

I don't do this when I'm going through the process of "I forgot something"... but I do it every time I come home from being out a while. I don't wind her up with greetings when I return. Much fun as that is - it can make leaving a bit hard. I think my sep anx is worse than her's.

[N@alie]

Thanks Rusty, I will try it with my dog. Hopefully he'll get better