# Need to change her behavior



## dntdelay (May 27, 2011)

I have two problems with Jasmine:

1. Barking -- Jasmine barks all the time! She barks when she: hears something, wants something, someone is here, someone moves when visiting, etc....

I don't mind when she hears something or wants something, but I do mind when we have visitors over and all she does it BARK!!! The only thing that seems to work is our water bottle, but am I supposed to keep spraying her? I have had a personal trainer come over and that really did not help, so what is your recommendation? I have looked at some older threads and JMM sounds interesting I am going to try something she recommended. 

2. Humping -- Jasmine will hump me anytime. It started out with me petting her with my foot and then suddenly it became her humping me. I have started to push her away when she wants to hump, but then that starts the Barking!! Grrrr what do I do?


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## michellerobison (Dec 17, 2009)

1- Barking---Daisy our new rescue is a barker now,little nutty girl. We're working on that. At first she didn't bark, we thought she was debarked at the mill but she wasn't... she's a real barker...

We tried everything with Amber, Bitsy,Emily Sasha and Rylee to get them to quit barking too much..., diverting attention,can full of coins, clicker, "no" water squirt, nothing worked...To get our girls not to bark,I finally resorted to a bark collar on them, they got a couple zaps , on them all of five minutes...and now all I have to do is say "no" and they settle down. Once in a while I show them the collar and they quiet down... Basically Sasha and Bitsy get it going and the others follow,if I can keep those two from going barking ballistic, then everyone is fine, except Daisy.. but she came from a mill so hard to say what she went through... Now if Daisy barks like crazy, the others don't get fired up and bark, seems they do it only when Sasha gets it going...

I won't put the bark collar on Daisy since she's too scared of everything and freaks out so, I know she'd get a zap and freak out,keep barking, keep getting zapped and it would be too traumatic. I don't know what her past was like so I wouldn't take that chance..They warn about that on the instructions and recommend to not leave it on them alone... You really have to think hard and know how they react before resorting to a bark collar...

Try all you can before thinking of a bark collar, we did it as a last resort and only had to do it for a couple minutes and a couple zaps was all it took.

2- Humping--
Still working on Rylee on that, he was a breeding dog, but he's fixed but still does it once in a while... We just have to hold him a bit and redirect that " urge" then he stops... Emily used to do it the first year after spay but she quit after that.. She was spayed at 7 months...


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## Leila'sMommy (Oct 20, 2012)

Last summer, I bought a sonic egg from PetSmart to try to get the neighbor's dogs to stop barking at us when we are in our backyard. It lets off a high pitched sound whenever they bark. They can hear it, but we can't. It worked except for their little chihuahua that figured out he could get behind a big tree from a certain distance. It also ended up working on our Lab. All she has to do is see the egg and she will stop barking. Leila has started barking at everything too and I need to get a new battery and see if it will work for her too. 

I have found that if I tell Leila "quiet" in a loud voice, she continues barking. But if is almost whisper it, she whispers her bark with a soft low-pitched woof. It's kinda cute. 


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## mdbflorida (Feb 28, 2013)

Boo has sonic hearing too. I swear he can hear a pin drop. His barking is more of an alert system and is not a chronic barking non stop, but I can relate it does get a little annoying at times. He is not a humper but Zach the wheaten is. We can lit horny hour because happens at the same time -not everyday but alot. I got him a big polar bear and tell him leave me alone go get polar bear. Yeah I know I should encourage it but at least he stops humping me


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## Leila'sMommy (Oct 20, 2012)

Oops, I left off humping. 

Leila only humps her bed and our Lab, Kaylee. It's so funny when she does it to Kaylee! Kaylee will be lying on the floor and Leila will get up on top of her back and looks like she's riding a wild horse. Maybe you could train yours the sit or lie down commands and use them when yours starts humping. We usually just ignore (or laugh at) Leila's humping but I'm sure it's different when it's a person being humped. . 


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## Cyndilou (Jan 24, 2013)

Omg I want answers for these too


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## maltese manica (Nov 6, 2012)

Sigh me too


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## SuziLee (Aug 17, 2011)

Duggy started to hump and I bought a large stuffed bunny from Target (Boots & Barkley brand). It is almost as large as he is but only lightly stuffed so it is very floppy and lightweight. Now he only humps his bunny. Maybe if she had a toy like that that was large enough you could redirect her humping to it.

He also barks at everything and I really haven't addressed it but if I did I think I would try the positive reinforcement methods used by Victoria Stilwell on her Animal Planet show. I know there are videos of her shows on YouTube. You may be able to find something there that would work for you.

Good luck!


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## CrystalAndZoe (Jul 11, 2006)

Squirt bottles only work for a time and can often cause further behavioral problems in dogs with certain temperaments and often make the barking issue even worse later on. If she is barking because she has Territorial Aggression, (not meaning she's really a vicious dog but territorial), there isn't much you can do in the way of training territorialism out of a dog. Territorial Aggression doesn't show up until sometime in their 2nd year. But you can redirect them and have them do something positive to focus on rather than what they are barking at. For regular old barking for the fun and sake of barking...there are several things you can try. Personally I feel it's unfair to ask a dog to never bark. So I've chosen for mine to let them bark just a few times and then it's 'enough' or whatever command you want to give. And I give that command, call them to me and have them do a few basic obedience tricks (long enough that the source of the barking has moved on) and then a reward. I started off with food rewards but 2 of my dogs learn to 'chain' things super fast so I had to wean off the treats really quickly and do random treat rewards. Chaining means they learn to do an unwanted behavior so they can then do something you are asking them to do to then get the food reward. It's so hard to be smarter than my dogs sometimes. lol

Dr. Sophi Yin is my favorite Veterinary Behaviorist and has some blogs addressing this issue. Hope they help! And Victoria Stilwell (someone else mentioned) also has had some episodes about this. Love her too.

Excessive Barking: Why Some Dogs Bark and How to Fix It | Animal Behavior and Medicine Blog | Dr. Sophia Yin, DVM, MS

Meowing Cats and Barking Dogs: Why Are Some Pets So Vocal? | Animal Behavior and Medicine Blog | Dr. Sophia Yin, DVM, MS

The problem that many certified positive reinforcement trainers have with those sonic devices and citronella collars is that if you have multiple dogs, all the dogs suffer when perhaps only one dog is the problem barker. So say you have a dog that is barking despite you giving the 'enough' or 'no bark command' that set it off. But the other one(s) are being obedient and not barking but they are still getting the correction of the sonic painful sound. This is confusing to them and can cause potential new behavioral issues.

As for her mounting you, by you petting her with your foot, she has most likely taken that as a cue to play. And this is now her mode of play. How else was she going to play with your foot? Other than nibble at your toes which is also a no-no. This is actually a pretty is fix. Simply stand up and stand still with your arms crossed over your chest and you looking up towards the sky. You are telling her you do not like this type of play or behavior and you won't interact with her when she does this. And by standing up and putting your foot flat on the floor, she can't mount it. If she then tries to mount your leg you must be able to anticipate this move and walk away for a few minutes again with you ignoring her. Laughing at her, scolding her, telling her verbally no is all giving her attention. Which is what she's wanting. If you have to walk away, make sure you don't do it in a way that becomes a new game of chase. Turn your back on her with your arms folded across your chest and your head up towards the sky. When she sits politely, then you can praise her and scratch her ears and then initiate play with a toy or game of fetch.

I love The Family Dog. They have some fun videos on YouTube designed a lot for kids. But we can learn too. You can use the Be a Tree Or 'I Freeze Like This' method for jumping.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36Z9RRjiQMA]I Speak Doggie - YouTube[/ame]


It's basically the same technique they are telling us about for puppy nipping and biting your kids in one of their Friday Night Whine Videos.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O3CtbBQzu4&feature=c4-overview&list=UUM4owl0Ugnc2Vi1XdIpyejg]Nipping, biting and hurting - oh my! - YouTube[/ame]


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## CrystalAndZoe (Jul 11, 2006)

Oh I want to add that the other problem with correctional forms of training for barking (squirt bottle, citronella collars, etc...) is that if the dog is barking out of fear (fear of strangers or new dogs or big dogs, or dogs of a certain color or even people of a certain color or wearing a hat, etc), then they start to associate something unpleasant or even hurtful whenever that thing comes close to them to cause them to bark. So you could make a dog that is fearful of strangers or new dogs actually more fearful and potentially even aggressive.


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## dntdelay (May 27, 2011)

Thanks to all of the replies. I wanted to say that I have done the: pennies in the can, citronella spray, Bark Off, Whisper "No", and the Loud "NO" and nothing has worked, except for the water bottle, but when Jasmine Barks I just show her the water bottle and I say "Quiet" and for a couple of seconds - minutes she is quiet, but then it's back again to the Barking. I have not sprayed her since December!! I do want to stop using the Spray Bottle so after reading some of JMM's posts and your posts I have decided that when Jasmine barks for a long time I will tell her Quiet and if she continues I will wait until she stops before giving her a Treat. When we have company -- and this is the major issue about the Barking - I am going to have some treat games where we usually have guests and when the come I am going to have the guests give Jasmine the game. Hopefully that will teach Jasmine "Guests give me games with treats, so I need to be a good dog". I will let everyone know how this goes.

About the humping I have started to push her away, but Crystal and Zoe showed me that's not a good thing to do -- Thank You by the way for that information. So I am going to stand up and ignore her and if that does not work I will walk away. 

Does this sound good? I really appreciate everyone's recommendations. :thumbsup:


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## Cassievt (Apr 24, 2013)

I got Cassie at 12 weeks. before I got her I was hyper about getting her😀 so I bought a bunch of bks mostly on Maltese. I also got books On dog behavior. I read that if you teach them to whisper
That would help. She loved to cuddle wrapped around our necks. All winter I watched the dog whisper.... She heard them bark and grow. I would tell her not to look...bad doggies. Lol.

I would take her to look out the window to see neighbors and dogs go by. She would grow and bark softly.. I tell her that's ok. They belong there. I really wanted to practice because we are now at a park model / RV resort. And everyone has dogs and golf carts going by. She will start her low grow and I tell her that's ok..... And she will whisper or just lay down .. . Only thing is I think you have to have the time to be with her each time to reassure her. .. I think the secret is to keep her calm and talk in a very low voice. It worked for me. Good luck.
Cassie does have a very Mello temperament though..... 

As for humping.. I don't have that problem yet. I had a toy poodle that loved her duck and would hump it jumping around the room... We thought it was a riot.. We thought about putting it on "funniest home videos".. Until the day a priest came to the door and he sat down and the dog ran over and was humping his leg....I got up and said no.... And she ran right back over... Well that priest never came over again☺




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## Cassievt (Apr 24, 2013)

Whoops! Sitting here on my deck. People are walking...she is doing her low grow. I tell that's ok those people are just walking. Good girl no bark... AM I ENFORCING GROWING?


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