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Unwanted barking, does it really work?

41K views 43 replies 26 participants last post by  Maisy'sMom 
#1 ·
I've had quite a few people send me messages lately wanting to know if you can really be successful with the interruption and incompatible behavior method for barking. So I thought I'd just make a post for everyone.

Case #1, unsocialized fearful dog
I adopted Jonathan when he was 18 months old. He had been very well loved by his breeder who was extremely ill. Jonathan was a beloved bed pet. Well, enter into a busy house with people coming and going all the time. Jonathan's reasonable response was to bark at and bite the ankles of any intruders. Again, in no way an aggressive dog, but just unsure of the situation. So, I took the doorbell cue and set him up. Ring door bell, go to kitchen, sit at counter, get cookies. Cue - doorbell, interupt "that'll do", incompatible behavior - different room, sit for cookies. Very successful. At that point we crated in the kitchen to let our guest in. We worked very slowly bringing the crate to the front door, being on a leash out of the crate, and now Jonathan can sit politely and quietly and let guests in the house. He is 11 years old now and Grammy's favorite.

Case #2, yapping herding dog
Sure, little dogs yap. Well this Aussie yapped in a high pitched, little dog yap for the wind blowing outside. If yu have ever seen a herding dog do something obsessively, this was classic. One of my favorite clients as they got really into modifying his behavior. We did the interupt, a clap so he'd look at you. And these clients tried a sit...barked through it...a down...barked through it...various trick...barked through it. Finally, we brainstormed using a toy! Well, sure enough, toy in mouth stopped the barking. They put "get the baby" on cue and could eventually clap or call his name for attention, and cue him to get this one particular special baby. Last I spoke with his owners, they said he'd sometimes bark a couple times, grab the toy and run to them knowing he'd get praise and attention.

Case #3, new puppy
We'll use Roo for this one! Roo was a barker at his breeder's house. We live in a townhouse so that's not an ok behavior. So we interupt with "eh" and then Roo would sort of grumble under his breath LOL Well we praised it! "Good quiet voice!" The biggest thing with him was hubby and I committing to do the same thing every time he barked CONSISTENTLY. Roo still would love to bark his fool head off, but he rarely does and is always easily controlled with an interuption or "Use your quiet voice/indoor voice." Of course, he also grumbles and growls and "talks" often! But we don't complain about that.

So yes, from a fearful dog to a crazy herding dog to a yappy puppy, the same principle elements WORK. And over time most dogs reduce the barking because it isn't rewarding any more. I wouldn't recommend it if it did not work and was not safe.
 
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#8 ·
great and informative texts. thank you for them.

I must say it does work and you should never give up if you have a dog that barks and this is disturbing in any sort of way.

I practiced with heini in the beginning, it took a few days, and he was fine.

when we moved to another house, there were different sounds, differnet noises, so he started again, I went on practicing.

now he grumbles and mumbles sometimes when there are things going on in the hallway or loud neighbours are in the house walking past the front door.
I never forbid him to make his little grumble, because they are not siturbing at all and he needs to be able to 'say' something now and then too :)

maybe a dog barking in the park quite far away but still to hear, and he gives his little bark towards it. but alltogether...I really have to say....heini barks so rarely, that I really frighten and jump up :) ...when he then does it.

never give up working and communicating with your dog.
 
#10 ·
Thanks so much for posting this, Jackie. :smilie_daumenpos:

My Sophie sounds just like Case #3. She's definitely a grumbler. :rofl: Whenever she barks, and I tell her to be quiet, she grumbles under her breath, just like Roo, LOL! I didn't know whether or not I should praise her grumbling because I wasn't sure if the behavior was acceptable or not, so I'd only praise her when she stopped barking entirely, which wouldn't be for a long while (she grumbles a LOT). :biggrin:

I really need to work on stopping Joshua's incessant barking when someone comes over, or when the doorbell rings. He has such a high-pitched bark, I swear it's like nails to a chalkboard. :smstarz:
 
#11 ·
QUOTE (JMM @ May 15 2009, 12:47 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=776803
I've had quite a few people send me messages lately wanting to know if you can really be successful with the interruption and incompatible behavior method for barking. So I thought I'd just make a post for everyone.

Case #1, unsocialized fearful dog
I adopted Jonathan when he was 18 months old. He had been very well loved by his breeder who was extremely ill. Jonathan was a beloved bed pet. Well, enter into a busy house with people coming and going all the time. Jonathan's reasonable response was to bark at and bite the ankles of any intruders. Again, in no way an aggressive dog, but just unsure of the situation. So, I took the doorbell cue and set him up. Ring door bell, go to kitchen, sit at counter, get cookies. Cue - doorbell, interupt "that'll do", incompatible behavior - different room, sit for cookies. Very successful. At that point we crated in the kitchen to let our guest in. We worked very slowly bringing the crate to the front door, being on a leash out of the crate, and now Jonathan can sit politely and quietly and let guests in the house. He is 11 years old now and Grammy's favorite.

Case #2, yapping herding dog
Sure, little dogs yap. Well this Aussie yapped in a high pitched, little dog yap for the wind blowing outside. If yu have ever seen a herding dog do something obsessively, this was classic. One of my favorite clients as they got really into modifying his behavior. We did the interupt, a clap so he'd look at you. And these clients tried a sit...barked through it...a down...barked through it...various trick...barked through it. Finally, we brainstormed using a toy! Well, sure enough, toy in mouth stopped the barking. They put "get the baby" on cue and could eventually clap or call his name for attention, and cue him to get this one particular special baby. Last I spoke with his owners, they said he'd sometimes bark a couple times, grab the toy and run to them knowing he'd get praise and attention.

Case #3, new puppy
We'll use Roo for this one! Roo was a barker at his breeder's house. We live in a townhouse so that's not an ok behavior. So we interupt with "eh" and then Roo would sort of grumble under his breath LOL Well we praised it! "Good quiet voice!" The biggest thing with him was hubby and I committing to do the same thing every time he barked CONSISTENTLY. Roo still would love to bark his fool head off, but he rarely does and is always easily controlled with an interuption or "Use your quiet voice/indoor voice." Of course, he also grumbles and growls and "talks" often! But we don't complain about that.

So yes, from a fearful dog to a crazy herding dog to a yappy puppy, the same principle elements WORK. And over time most dogs reduce the barking because it isn't rewarding any more. I wouldn't recommend it if it did not work and was not safe.[/B]
As I mentioned in my other topic, our Jack is 7 mo old and has an aggressive growl/bark. Case #1 is similar to Jack. How can I stop this behavior when we're out of the house?

We started walking him this week to get him accustomed to new places. Is this a good idea?
 
#12 ·
We're still having a heckuva hard time with Jack. We just had a new neighbor move in across the street today and I had the dogs out to potty. The new neighbor came over and she had her dog. Bess was great and never barked and was social. Jack, on the other hand, had a fit. I had to pick him up because he wouldn't stop barking- very very aggressively. It was embarrassing and down right rude.

What do we do?????
 
#15 ·
this is very informative thanks!
question. ,y dolce barks at us at times but its like he either wants to get a treat or he wants attention, do we ignore? give in or ? he will bark at the kids and i see it as him wanting to play its just a little annoying at times. and loud .. lol
 
#16 ·
If you pay any attention to it, you are REWARDING the barking and ENCOURAGING him to do it. Ignore it. If he's insistent, immediately give a no reward marker (I say "uh oh") and directly in a crate in another room and ignore for 5 minutes. You must do this EVERY time and never reward the behavior.
 
#18 ·
Barking at neighbors on walk...

We left for a walk tonite and Rocky barked at our neighbors across the street and lunged so he was on his back legs leaning forward. I tried to shhh him and say no, but he kept on. I picked him up and he continued to bark and growl! So I put him down and we walked away from the neighbor. On our walk, he was on a harness by the way...he wants to chase cars that pass by.

Each time he did, I said NO, bad dog and gave him a tug. He would sit and act like he was going to listen, but the next car would come and it would happen again. I know I need leash training with him and I want to do it soon...but for now....

I need help...that walk was exhausting! :sweatdrop:
 
#20 ·
We left for a walk tonite and Rocky barked at our neighbors across the street and lunged so he was on his back legs leaning forward. I tried to shhh him and say no, but he kept on. I picked him up and he continued to bark and growl! So I put him down and we walked away from the neighbor. On our walk, he was on a harness by the way...he wants to chase cars that pass by.

Each time he did, I said NO, bad dog and gave him a tug. He would sit and act like he was going to listen, but the next car would come and it would happen again. I know I need leash training with him and I want to do it soon...but for now....

I need help...that walk was exhausting! :sweatdrop:
I would recommend finding a local trainer that uses positive reinforcement and start working on this asap. You can find some qualified trainers at APDT or CCPDT.

Saying "no" and tugging on his leash is not going to help at all. That will only make him that much more reactive. You will need to do some behavior modification and teach him the RIGHT thing to do. The best way to learn how to do this and do it effectively is to have a trainer work with you and your dog.
 
#19 ·
Thanks for this :) since moving the the city bella has become a terrible barker (even although we live in a very quiet area!) she will bark at anything and everything which is driving us mad! of course it makes it worse now that the other 2 (who were not barkers at al) will join in!

So we are going to try out the toy one tonight. It works quite well with mya but am going to look our bellas fav toys too

thanks xxx
 
#22 ·
Dianne, I'm not sure what sorts of facilities are around you for training, but I go to this place where they had puppy classes for Leila. The trainer taught loose leash walking, positive greeting behaviors, and other puppy manners basics (which it sounds like Rocky needs). If you can find a nice, calm puppy class like the one we took (NOT the sort where the dogs run wild the whole time), I would definitely consider that over an obedience class, to start. I think the obedience class would probably focus more on commands, which are all well and good but if you don't even have the basics down, that's going to be the most important place to start. Just my 2 cents :)
 
#27 ·
JMM, if you call local trainers that come to your house, what questions should you ask them?

HUGz! Jules
 
#29 ·
My problem is that Fred is NOT a barker--instead, when I walk him and he sees another dog, he wants to go over and starts this horrific whine, kind of crying--it sounds like he is hurt--he will pull on his harness and keep this noise up--I just quietly say no, and keep on walking--but he will not calm down until I am past the other dog or person. He does not appear to be frightened--just keeps this noise up until I go over to the other dog--(which I rarely do-as the other dog is put off by the noise and I am afraid of the other dog biting him )He is not nervous in his "space" or with anyone who comes over. I have hesitated taking him to our nice park where there is a walking path because of this. When he sees another PERSON, after he gets to them he will want to be loved and is not aggressive at all. Jackie--any advice?
 
#30 ·
Its hard to say without seeing him. The whine could be anxiety in general, appeasement to the other dog (I'm excited to see you but I promise I'm the submissive one), or simply excitement. His body language would reveal the answer and your plan of attack highly depends on the reason behind his behavior. You deal with excitement much differently than you do a dog with puppy-ish social skills.
Has he ever been off leash with other dogs? If so how does he react?
 
#31 ·
Jackie, I spent 17 days at Christmas with my son in Dallas. He has three rescue dogs--one Husky mix, and two Pitts--all three are remarkably well-behaved. My son is a marvelous pet owner. Fred and the larger Pitt, Annie, played like mad. She has a gentle dispositon --yes, I know what they say about Pitts, but this dog is beautifully socialized. Fred showed no problems--but this was IN the house. I have no doggie park where I live, just a nice walking path at our park and dogs must be on leash, so he has never been off harness. After reading your post, I am beginning to think Fred's behavior may be excitement as well as being submissive. I thought I would take him to the park tomorrow-his first time-and see how he does with a lot of people. He loves to walk, in fact, wants to run like mad on his leash. Am I doing the right thing by just continuing to walk by the other dogs or people?
 
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