Dog barking increasing any advice

rev229

We have had our rescue dog for 6 weeks. She is very placid with us and people she meets and with other dogs. The problem is when anyone come to the front door she barks. I don't mind that so much but today I have my friends 2 boys and she has gone mental and won't stop barking at all. I put her out into the side driveway which is secure and she then started barking at our neighbour who was puting stuff in his car. He was really cross as she apparently is alway barking at him, there was railings between them. She does bark when she hears them walking along the back of our fence, which I think is normal as she want to protect her area. I am really upset that she has upset the neighbours they have no kids/pets so obvoiusly like there peace and quiet! I am also really embarresed as she won't stop barking at my friends boys I am looking after. Her baking has got worse over the past few weeks. She is a 4 yr old boarder collie x previous owner put her in kennels as they were working all day and she was home alone. We have had her 6 weeks and the barking has been gradually increasing. She has 2 very good walks a day ie running along with my husband while he cycles and again in the park with lots of oter dogs. She them has 2-3 more short walks for toileting etc.She is not left at home alone much here. She is very content and well behaved for us as long as noone comes near our home. While she is barking he tail is wagging away so not quite sure what the problem is ie over excited, scared, or what.
My husband is off to get her an anti barking collar to see wherther or not it may help. Really need some advice please befor my neighbour losses the plot and I really don't want her to return to the kennels. We are also off on holidays next week, she will be in kennels near to were we are staying so we can take her out during the day but I am really worried that she will bark at the owners who are trying to care for her. I think she has become very overprotected of us

emma70_2

I have tried them all trust me lol you can spend a fortune on stuff. The best thing i have found is get a spray bottle fill it with water every time it barks spray and use the words spray eventually you wont need to spray the water the WORDS will do it for you. I have a 15 month old cairn and she was always barking i spent a lot of money on stuff but £1 bottle spray does the trick. Always say the words SPRAY if you are doing it they get the message.

rev229

Thanks will it work for a dog who chases a hose because she likes getting wet! She loves water, but I have a spray bottle so will give it a go, hope she doesn't think it is a game!

emma70_2

lol might not like the noise and when it sprays mine shuts up. All i say now is spray and it's all quiet so worked for me every dog is different but let me know how you get on.:D

elsien

I personally don't like the idea of those collars - sound too much like punishing the dog for doing what comes naturally. I'd also check with your vet/ the RSPCA as some of the bark buster collars on sale are considered to be unsuitable.
I'm also fairly sure the spray wouldn't work on my dog, as she'd think it was a game and do it all the more.
I've found this that may be a useful starting point for you though.
http://priory.com/vet/vetbark1.htm
and this one. http://www.petplanet.co.uk/training_stop_barking.asp

Good luck.
Edit - don't worry about the kennels - from experience of dropping mine in kennels, they have dogs barking all the time anyway. If your dogs just barking, and not being aggressive towards them, they're not going to have a problem with it at all.

orlao

Hi

I think what you need to do is to teach her "SPEAK" and "QUIET" so you control the barking IYSWIM. Lots of treats and be prepared to be completely over the top with praise when she gets it right. As a collie she should be very bright and easy to train but, as you're discovering they are also very quick to learn bad habits:eek:

I would also try and arrange a training class for her if only to stimulate a very active brain......maybe it's something that your son could do with her? I bet it would be good for both of them:D Or agility, collies are usually very good at it!

With BC's you can run the legs off them physically but they have to have the mental exercise or they find it very hard to settle. Maybe try some hide & seek type games or make her work for her food.......scatter it around the garden so she has to search for it?

Good Luck

rev229

We have got the collar she looked quite shocked following her first bark after fitting it, but quickly shut up. We removed it for walks as she is ok unless she sees the dog next door, she has no problem with any other dog apart from him, he is the same I think it is some sort of dominance thing between them. She has barked less since the collar, well has barked then quitened down to a grunt.We have given her some treats so she knows (hopefully) that she does not need to continue barking. We will be having a follow up visit from the kennels in 2 weeks so hopefully they can advise me how to help. She is very well excersised so perhaps some training classes would be good. Although she seems very content between walks and barking. apart from hiding food to mentally stimulate her what else could we do? Times crossword, sudoku, DS brain acadamy!!!! I thought keeping the kids amused was difficult enough!!!

brazilianwax

I may need to get one for my neighbours.

We moved in in November 2005. In December 05 they got a rescue dog, and they warned us it would bark in their Xmas card.

Almost 3 years on it's still barking, probably for about 15 hours of each day.

I think they lock it outside when they're at work, but last weekend it barked when they were outside with it.

It drives me insane. As soon as that dog starts, all the dogs in the neighbourhood start.

I'm quite glad i work away during the week, cos otherwise I'd be throwing things at it! (joke - but i would be having words)

Paparika

How about asking the neighbour if he would mind coming round and introducing himself to the dog, someone posted on this forum about that,

Perhaps the dog would bark less if they knew who it was?

moggylover

brazilianwax wrote: »

I may need to get one for my neighbours.

We moved in in November 2005. In December 05 they got a rescue dog, and they warned us it would bark in their Xmas card.

Almost 3 years on it's still barking, probably for about 15 hours of each day.

I think they lock it outside when they're at work, but last weekend it barked when they were outside with it.

It drives me insane. As soon as that dog starts, all the dogs in the neighbourhood start.

I'm quite glad i work away during the week, cos otherwise I'd be throwing things at it! (joke - but i would be having words)

I have a very similar problem - when the rotty moved in next door to us we thought it would eventually get around to be used to "normal" nieighbourhood noises - but no such luck - if we so much as put our heads out of the back door (and we do this very quietly in the hope she will not hear us:o ) she is off!

We have two dogs with a dog flap the other side of us - and rarely hear a peep out of them unless a vehicle pulls up at "their" house or some such.

Dog has nasty owners to go with it - so no point in trying to speak to them cos all we will get is further abuse (they like to be as intimidating and unpleasant as their dog - so ex refers to them as the "three b!!!!es of the hamlet"!:rotfl:

Tried actually complaining to the Council - got doggy does over the fence and hedges cut about and trashed! Tiny little village (hamlet) so their aggresion not easy to ignore either!

Some folks could actually make an asbo or a gbh charge worthwhile I think:o .:mad:

gothic_barbie

Hi

I have a dog who has a similar problem with barking at people approaching the house/dogs he can see outside of the house etc. I was watching a programme called The Dog Whisperer (on Sky one/two/three quite regularly) and there was a dog on there with a similar prob. He said that you need to teach the dog that you are 'in charge' of the stuff outside of the house - ie make yourself the dominent one so that the dog wont challenge you by barking at 'the outside world'. He says you should get the dog away from whatever it is barking at - in my case dog sits on back of couch looking out of the window so I put him onto the floor - then you hold him by the loose skin on his neck and just keep him there until he's submissive - with my dog this is when he doesnt get up when i let go of his neck. I havent been doing this for very long - just a few days - but it stops the current 'episode' immediately but will need to give it some time to see long term effects of preventing altogether.

By the way, holding the dog in this way doesnt hurt him at all and if it does you're doing it wrong!