# Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! - Grace found her voice. Need some help here >.<



## Grace'sMom (Feb 22, 2012)

Grace is out of the "love me I'm such a cute baby puppy" phase (for now) and into the "terrible twos" or something like it.

Even the vet commented on it yesterday. Says she is a great temperament and sweet girl but she is SPUUUUUUNKY!

So my Spunky Monkey likes to bark! bark! bark! in her tiny but not so tiny voice whenever she wants something.

Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Pick me up mama!
Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Give me that bone, brudda!
Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Play with me!
Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Look at me!
Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Let me off this bed/couch!
Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Let me on the bed/couch!
Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! I'm just a barkin'!

She reminds me of a toddler who isn't getting their way :smmadder: Now, now, now! Mine, mine, mine!

And what once was cute - oh what a cute little baby fluff with her tiny squeaky toy bark! Is getting to the "not so cute anymore" phase real fast for her mama LOL And she's only found her voice for about a week!

The problem - my parents laugh at her when she does this. They are still in the "how can something so tiny make so much noise? and Gosh she is CUTE" phase.... :tender: My mom's little grandpuppy can do no wrong here.

I know many small dogs bark when they play. I'm okay with that. But I think the play barking is getting reinforced by Gus when he plays with her - she barks, he gets up and plays - and so now she is like.... Hmmm, what else will this work for???

I try to ignore her when she does it for attention. So if I'm on the bed and she wants on the bed and is barking I try to ignore her and wait for her to quiet before picking her up.

But my Spunky Monkey will often times go get into something she knows will get my attention so that I will run over and tell her "Bah! Not for puppies!" LOL And then she gets what she wants - my undivided attention.

I don't want to use her crate as "time out" since she loves her crate. Nor do I want to do anything like spraying water at her or startling her with a noise. But just ignoring the behavior is not working. She is one smart Spunky Monkey.

Gus was never a barker, and though he was attached to me he wasn't ATTACHED to me like Grace is LOL. She is exploring and playing more but is my little shadow. And she doesn't like it when I don't pay attention to her when she decides I've been busy long enough.

How do I stop the barking for attention or something that she wants?

She is getting kinda spoiled (I do "spoil" my dogs but this is the not-good kind of spoiled) and that won't be much fun. I'm okay with her play barking and barking to let me know someone is here. But when I ask her to be quiet I need her to stop.

And I'd love it if I could make her dinner without her telling me dozens of times how slow I am LOL :smmadder: :smmadder: :smmadder: :smmadder: Now, now, now mama!

She's still my sweet Gracie. And I don't mind Spunky Monkey Grace... just maybe a little quieter Spunky Monkey?

Thanks all!


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

I'm no help at all. MiMi does the same thing...however I have found that I did sort of...inadvertently train her out of it when I really don't want to put up with it. The prescribed training method is to ignore the barking and reward the quiet. I have a hard time, because I find it to be her self-expression and she does temper it with me. She does that happy (ear piercing) bark with visitors. They will ignore for a while, they will not reward quiet and then they will tell her to shut up. THAT absolutely doesn't work. You must reward the quiet with attention. You must ignore the barking. It works for me, but my untrained friends just mess up my training.


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## littledog (Dec 7, 2006)

you got that right, untrained "friends" just mess things up.


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## Grace'sMom (Feb 22, 2012)

Thanks Sylvie.

I don't mind occasional barks or play barks. 

It's the demanding barks.

I will try to ignore her better. 

But what do I do if she runs off and gets into something she shouldn't get when her barking doesn't get my attention?

Maybe be really fast and grab the quiet the second it happens as she's running off?


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## luvmyfluffybutt (Jan 6, 2012)

I'm familiar with the grandpuppy can do no wrong thing! My dad used to reinforce Daisy's barking and it drove me crazy!!!


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## reanut1379 (Oct 10, 2011)

I'm in the exact same boat as you are, T. I've tried ignoring Sophie as well, but she will bark non-stop. The longest I have let her go on is about 15 minutes before I just lost it. She has this ear piercing bark that drives me nuts. And I used to think it was cute!


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

We may draw the conclusion that barking for attention is a Maltese trait. At first I saw it and did not want to inhibit what I saw as her self expression. But, hello, it can be very annoying. While I have not been able to stop this behavior when people come over, I have stopped the behavior with me...by ignoring the barking, rewarding the quiet I have even come to a place where I can allow her to engage me in play with her attention getting barks, but call it quits on my terms. These little angels are so smart...and so willing to adapt...that they can be easily conditioned to behave on our terms...for me it is the friends who just don't relate, that gives me a problem.

I have found that I don't have to totally inhibit this natural behavior, I can allow it...or ignore it depending on the moment, my brilliant little Malt adapts.

The biggest mistake is when one fails to reward...to lavishly reward the second of silence. The key is in rewarding that one moment as soon as it occurs. You need to time yourself. You need to pay very close attention. Dogs learn by reward, if you miss the time to reward good behavior, you miss your chance to train good behavior.

My dogs are now trained to "good girl" . Those words indicate that she is going to get a treat. Kind of like a clicker. But we can walk to the kitchen and take a couple of minutes before the treat is offered. Good, means a treat is coming. 

If you want to train your baby you need to be fast to reward even one second of good behavior...That is the key.


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## Grace'sMom (Feb 22, 2012)

Sylie said:


> The biggest mistake is when one fails to reward...to lavishly reward the second of silence. The key is in rewarding that one moment as soon as it occurs. You need to time yourself. You need to pay very close attention. Dogs learn by reward, if you miss the time to reward good behavior, you miss your chance to train good behavior.
> 
> If you want to train your baby you need to be fast to reward even one second of good behavior...That is the key.



Thanks Sylie 

I will be attentively ignoring her barks so that I can catch the quiet


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## CityMaltese (Feb 16, 2012)

I'm a new fur-mom too, (10 days to be exact!) and as soon as I got Lily (she's 4.5 months now), we went to Kindergarten. The first thing we learned was how to HUSH her. As cute as she is, she tests us. So, to spare you some sanity, do this: 1.) Get a tin can (coffee, cookie, anything made of tin); 2.) Toss in loose coins; 3.) Every time she barks or starts chewing, rattle the heck out of the thing. She hates the sound so much she stops. This rattle sound is equivalent to a person nagging at you "e.g. "Nah nah nah nah nah nah". So, as soon as she stops the bad behavior, the sound stops. The first night she cried and whailed so much at 3 AM and I all I could find was a box of nails in a plastic container. The rattling sound made her stop. The next day I found a proper tin can and put some coins in it. Every time she cried (3 nights in total to be exact), we rattled the "super husher". She hasn't cried since (fingers crossed). The challenge though is always having this homemade "husher" at your side at the right time. She's starting to nibble at the carpet, etc. Good luck!


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## ckanen2n (Jan 2, 2012)

Carpet nibblers - LOL! Gio tries that too! fortunately, he only goes after the small area rug in front of the sofa. :behindsofa:
I'll have to try the tin can remedy! :thumbsup:


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## ernhrts3n8 (Apr 5, 2012)

My problem is that my Sadie barks in the morning after I leave for work and wakes up the whole house. I leave a Kong filled with her food and peanut butter (frozen) and the problem is that she is done with that in about 30 minutes. Any ideas on what treats in a Kong will last a much longer duration?


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