# Barking - alone/other dogs



## Agent 007 (Aug 18, 2014)

So Bond is now 8 months and he's made a lot of progress since moving to England 2 months ago - he's very social with other dogs, is mostly-housetrained now, and is generally well-behaved.

But the barking...

It's funny, because he's not much of a barker in terms of communication most of the time. When he wants something, he waits for us to follow him, or just stares at us. To acknowledge wanting something (food, walks, etc), he does a little dance. He growls at his tail a lot, he growls at the TV (dogs, horses, people walking slowly toward the screen), but not much barking outside of two times.

1. When he's left alone. This wasn't a problem a couple of months ago at all. But now, he'll start with whimpers inside of a minute, and inside of the second minute, full-on barking until we return. We've left him alone in the house only a few times, because neighbors have complained each time, saying he barked non-stop. We've tested it out ourselves by letting him think we were gone, and it was non-stop.

2. At other dogs on the street - he's just so excited to go meet them, smell them, possibly mount them, that he barks until it happens, and he can appear to be a mad dog. It really puts off about half the other dogs, who think he's nuts... and I have to reassure the owners that he's not coming over to rip their faces off ("He's very friendly! Just so excited to meet other dogs, sorry about the barking.").

We've tried to ease him out of both, but it's only getting worse. We had another house to ourselves for a few days and we tried closing him in other rooms, even having the whole run of the house except the small part we were in, and he won't do it. We tried two nights of closing him in a huge living room/dining room with all his stuff, and he literally barked the entire nights - first night for 8 hours, next one for about 6 until we couldn't take it anymore. I mean, he didn't take a single minute off from barking the whole night. When this happens, he also doesn't care about p/p on his pad either, it will just be anywhere on the floor. I imagine this is because he's got anxiety - afraid of being alone? It's been very gradual, it doesn't seem like anything traumatic happened... but now we can't leave him alone for a minute because the neighbors call it in.

As for the other dogs, it seems like he's just completely single-minded about getting to meet them, and will bark and struggle with all his might for a whole block as we carry him away... Once he meets them, things are fine, and he can walk away easily, but if not...

Thanks for any advice!


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## zooeysmom (Aug 1, 2011)

I would strongly suggest hiring a positive behavior trainer. I had these problems with Zooey when I lived in a condo. It was a nightmare. The trainer helped us a lot. You can do things like wear your pup out with a long walk before you have to leave him, leave him with challenging treat toys, etc. When you're out on walks, clicker training with treats can help redirect him from getting overly excited about other dogs. Best of luck!


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## Agent 007 (Aug 18, 2014)

Thanks for the tips. I just watched a few vids from 'kikopup' about using a clicker and positive training... sounds promising. 

We have tried leaving him with a nice chew-bone (his fave!), but as soon as he's alone, he drops it and barks. Last time we went out (for dinner for 2 hours), we left him with one - he usually spends 3-4 hours playing with it, licking it and eventually chewing it/eating it... but that time he only had a few licks before he ignored it to bark at the door. Mommy's theory is that he only likes it when he can share his joy with us... but he's happy running into another room and devouring it away from us. This is something to do with not liking being alone, I think.


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## Lou's Mom (Apr 8, 2014)

I also think a trainer may help. Luckily, we haven't had the barking while alone issue. When mine were puppies if they started to bark at a dog or a person on a walk, I quickly turned and walked a different direction, then gave them a treat when they were quiet. They are really good walking now, they do get curious if they see another dog but not barking or lunging. Kikopup has great videos as does Zak George, you might want to check some of his on YouTube. Good luck, I can imagine how frustrating it is for you and how hard it must be for Bond when you are gone.


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