Help! My dog barks constantly when he is left alone

Kimberley

I have had no choice but to put a bark control collar on mine because I received one warning from my landlord already with our pups constant barking and the collar has worked, not always but it has cut the barking down quite a bit.

foreign_correspondent

I can appreciate the predicament there Kimberley, but the OP hasnt had any complaints, so has less urgency

pigpen

My mother has one of the collars for hers.. the one she has made a dog-pitched noise which they hate whenever they barked.. it doesn't have batteries in now and just the threat of putting it on shuts her main barker up.. though he has a few really bad days and she put it on him and his barking was immediately reduced to next to nothing.. silly dog!

sarabe

Your dog could be barking for any number of reasons - boredom, excitement, reactivity to noises and sights but the main reason is because she can and you are letting her.

Accompany her to the garden for toilet trips, on lead if necessary and also spend some time with her out there doing things that are incompatible with barking.

A dog cannot bark when they are eating or playing tug or if they have a ball in their mouth (well some can but it will be muffled).

Feed her in the garden - a combination of hand feeding and scatter feeding. Hand feeding is fab for increasing the bond between you. Scatter feeding just means toss her food into the air and let her scavenge for it.

If she normally starts to bark as soon as you let her out then have her on lead and toss food on the floor as you open the door until she gets into the habit of putting her head down and eating instead of running out there barking.

Be very cautious about punishing natural behaviours. Obsessive barking is normally a symptom of something else and suppressing the barking does not solve the problem.

A bored/excited/scared/etc dog is a bored/excited/scared/etc dog whether they can bark or not. In fact barking releases tension so when the dog is not provided with an altenative outlet the problem will be exacerbated.

Penny_Watcher

I have one very excitable dog who used to bark at a passing sparrow, cloud, falling leaf etc etc.

Every time he barked inappropriately (bearing in mind what sarabe said about barking releasing tension) he had to come inside. And he liked it outside . Gradually he put 2 and 2 together and realised that over excited barking = being inside, which when you want to be outside is no fun.

He's much better now, but still the most vocal of all the dogs.

mrcol1000

Before you start using collars to punish your dog for barking you should understand there is nothing wrong with a dog barking. The secert is to control the barking. Most complaints about dogs barking are when they are left in the house alone all day while the owners go out to work and the dog barks out of bordeom and distress. If the dog is barking in the garden then this is easy to control. You just need to be able to teach the dog to be quiet on command. But as someone else said you need to go outside with your dog and find out what they are barking at.

catlou

I have been watching lots of old episodes of Victoria Stilwell - It's Me or the dog they have been repeating them on Sky Three (which you get free on Freeview) both the British & American series recently.

I don't know what others think but personally I thinks she's good and I like her ideas and ways of working.

Being curious......Sarabe (as a Trainer) have you seen any of her programs what do you think of her and her methods? I know lots of people disapprove of Tv dog trainers.

Her way of teaching a dog to stop barking is to teach them to "Bark" on command first then teach them the "Quiet" command after. I have taught this to my dog he picked it up really quickly and it works.

If you watch this episode on 4od at about 17 minutes in she teaches these commands.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/its-me-or-the-dog/4od#2925943

It might be a start for you? I would defo try the things Sarabe suggested my dog loves it when I hide food in the garden he will spend ages running around sniffing for bits and gets so excited even when he finds just one bit of kibble from his own food!

Good luck with it!

ps. Totally off topic how good is Chandi!

Mupette

I moved a short while back and posted on here my problem that i was worried as mine will bark at anything..

What a change in my dog in a matter of days.

when mine barks i either call him over or go to him and bring him down to lying on his side with my hand firmly on his shoulder, and calmly say no talk/bark (never shout as you are barking back)

we have a old female jack russell on one side and she has now become very vocal, yet mine never retaliates now and 4 large different breeds behind my garden, at first mine would bark becuase of them, now maybe one bark of acknowledgement and then that is it, he got fed up of being put on his side.

even out walking i do it.. so now if he barks he looks at me and lies down on his side... he knows whats comming.

I never thought i could get mine to calm it down, but he has, the odd little bark is fine, his was dominance, and he now knows i am the dominant one

foreign_correspondent

if a dog is barking because it is anxious or fearful, and every time it does, it's owner keeps pushing it onto the floor and holding it there, how do you think the dog will interpret this and/or react?

sarabe

catlou wrote: »

I have been watching lots of old episodes of Victoria Stilwell - It's Me or the dog they have been repeating them on Sky Three (which you get free on Freeview) both the British & American series recently.

I don't know what others think but personally I thinks she's good and I like her ideas and ways of working.

Being curious......Sarabe (as a Trainer) have you seen any of her programs what do you think of her and her methods? I know lots of people disapprove of Tv dog trainers.

Her way of teaching a dog to stop barking is to teach them to "Bark" on command first then teach them the "Quiet" command after. I have taught this to my dog he picked it up really quickly and it works.

If you watch this episode on 4od at about 17 minutes in she teaches these commands.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/its-me-or-the-dog/4od#2925943

It might be a start for you? I would defo try the things Sarabe suggested my dog loves it when I hide food in the garden he will spend ages running around sniffing for bits and gets so excited even when he finds just one bit of kibble from his own food!

Good luck with it!

ps. Totally off topic how good is Chandi!

I have to admit I don't watch her programme catlou, since watching the very first episode where she was dressed as a dominatrix and spouting all the hierarchy drivel. That was enough to put me off forever.

I have heard though that she went and educated herself and changed her outlook and that she is now very good. Anyone who promotes positive reinforcement gets my vote.

And yes Chandi is brill. All done with clicker and +R.