Barking / Howling Dog Advice

Nicoleo1 · May 2012

I have two dogs. They are 1.5 and 2.5 years old. They have decided that nobody else may walk on our street without being greeted by them -the greeting committee. If they are outside they race to the fence and bark their heads off. It's friendly, 'excited to see ya' barking... not snarling nasty barking, but it's noisy and irritating to me, so I can only imagine what the neighbors think! One starts barking and the second joins in sometimes barking, usually howling.
They do this in the house too. If they see someone walk by the front window it starts... the howling and barking.
I tell them "no barking!" and I try to not yell & I try to stay calm and I try to get to them immediately, but it seems to be getting worse. I've been told before that dogs do this for attention so to ignore them is the key... no attention = stop behaviour. It didn't work with these guys. I'm pretty sure if I can make one stop they will both stop, but I have no idea how.
If anyone has any suggestions besides duck tape :laugh: I'd like to hear!

AABru · May 2012

When I lived in the city, the houses were very close together, and I kept barking collars on my dogs during the day. Basically, when the dog barks, the collar beeps, after the next bark it beeps again louder. If they bark a third time, the collar shocks them with a low voltage electric shock. After a couple months, they stopped barking unless someone rang the doorbell, but my great pyrenese would grumble just under the decibel necessary to make the collar beep. I swear if she had vocal cords she could have been singing she would growl and grumble so long.

springermad · May 2012

My bramble doesnt bark. well thats a lie I have had her for over two years and she has only barked 5 times and thats because I was messing aaround doing her dinner and she was hungry lol so sadly I am no use to you x

PLUMSGRL · May 2012

Well....how about The Dog Whisperer?

http://www.cesarsway.com/

petreebird · May 2012

Bribery does work wonders with dogs. Get a yummy treat and try to catch them BEFORE the barking starts. Stand up and tell them "here" (teach them this or some variation of it) and hold the treat in your fist and hold your fist to their nose. Only say each command once, don't teach them to listen on the 3rd or 4th command. Once only. Tell them "quiet" and stand there. Try to have their backs towards whatever it is they would bark at. If they start to turn around tell them "NO", if they start to bark tell them "quiet!". Do this until the distraction is gone. Then give the treat. Eventually you will do this same thing exactly, but with no treat, simply a good scratch and a "good dog!!"....Eventually you won't have to get up anymore, just give them the commands from where you sit and hopefully they will learn to ignore. :bigsmile:

Good Luck, it is a lot of work and takes patience!!

bigd65 · May 2012

Let them bark they are dogs. I have a min pin and a doberman and live on a corner lot, they bark at everyone, but thats what dogs do. Who cares what the neighbors think, at least no one will break into your house, without you knowing. The bark collars will work,if its really that bad

_HeyMommy_ · May 2012

We also use bark collars... our dogs know the collars and will stop barking if we just show it to them..lol

Crazy4Healthy · May 2012

I have this same issue and it was my first dog, a lab, that managed to teach all the others. I've tried everything, even the bark collars and nothing has worked for me. I would be interested to hear what others have done.

The more funny thing is, once they are in the bedroom for the night, my house could blow up and they wouldn't even stir. So much for being watch dogs. LOL

reallymyBEST · May 2012

I was taught that using a spray bottle with water in it may work. Dog barks, you spray toward face and say, "uuhhh!!!" in a corrective tone of voice. If he doesn't do it again, say, "Thank you" and love him up or give him a treat. If he barks again, spray again with the corrective word to stop. He barks again, do it again and just keep at it. I believe she (the woman who owns the training school) said to use apple cider vinegar in the bottle if the water doesn't work, keeping it away from the eyes, of course. But I can't quite remember if that was the product so probably want to Google it first.

Good luck to you. I wish some of my neighbors were concerned about their little barkers!

dtiff · May 2012

Do they understand the difference between bark and no bark? it is important to teach them what both mean so that when you tell them "no bark" they understand. I teach my dogs to bark on cue by saying "bark" or "speak" then I reward them. When I want them to be quiet "no bark" or "hush". I also agree with petreebird, that giving them a treat to distract them will really help or if they are more toy driven playing with a toy.

LaurasClimb · May 2012

I have trained my dogs to stop barking on command, it works about 90% of the time. The other 10% I have to speak a little more firmly.

I started with the barking when someone comes to the door. Drove me nuts! They wouldn't stop for anything. I do believe it is their job to bark and alert me there is someone at the door but they need to stop when I tell them. This is what I did...When someone came to the door, they barked. I gave them a verbal command "enough!" calmly and firmly and visual command - striking the side of one hand against the palm of the other (kind of like an upside down T). Of course they didn't know what that meant at first so I placed my body between the person and the dog that was the "ring leader" and used my body to push the dog from the room. When he tried to return, I firmly told him to stay out (pointed & said "out" - he got the idea). Since they are social creatures, being exiled from the room was painful - they quickly learned the "enough" command and will stop barking whenever I give it.

The thing is, you have to be firm, you have to have the dominant attitude and you have to be consistent. This is going to sound much harsher than it really is...you have to demand your dog submit to you. Dogs aren't like people, you don't hurt their feelings if you tell them to do something. They are pack animals, there is a "pecking order" and they really are more comfortable knowing where their place is in that order.

Anyway, this is what worked for me...I have had animal behaviorists tell me they want to bring their dogs to me to train.

miotunho · May 2012

I have a lot of experience training/working with animals. One of the most effective and positive ways to handle a behavior you don't want your animal doing is to train a "counter-behavior." I had a dog who barked a lot and I taught him to "target." A target is simply asking the dog to touch the tip of their muzzle to your hand. Because they are using their muzzle, they are unable to bark.

This video does a great job of showing how to train this:
http://video.about. com/dogs/Teach-Hand-Targeting-to-Dogs.htm

It will take some patience, but it will be very effective in the end.

You mentioned ignoring unwanted behaviors--this is also key! Make sure you give NO reaction. Don't huff, grunt, look towards the dog. Even saying "No" to the dog is giving a reaction. Unless you are certain your dog understands "No," don't say it. It's important to remember to reward the dog often for behaviors you do want. A dog who knows he will be rewarded for behaviors you ask for (sit, stay, target) and knows unwanted behaviors will be ignored will be more likely to only do things you want.

Barking collars can work, but honestly there are easy ways (like training) to handle these types about problems. Barking is a natural behavior of dogs and sometimes it's natural for a dog to use it with other animals. I don't believe it's fair to "punish" an animal for a natural behavior, but it's definitely OK to train a dog to get these behaviors under control, especially when they've become a nuisance.

Try taking your dogs to a dog park/day care or making sure they get a long walk in (you can log it in your journal too! (: ). They could just have a lot of energy and are looking for more attention. If you're really up for it, you could even train your dogs to "speak." Dogs are less likely to perform a trained behavior when you don't ask them to.

jworb · May 2012

I agree that, training them to come or look at you with the command "here" followed by a treat, if possible, is a great way to redirect their attention.

That said - stopping or preventing the reactions would depend on whether it's the visual or auditory stimuli they're reacting to - if they are seeing people through the windows and freaking out, some vets suggest putting rice paper on the windows to block the view. If it's the sound of someone walking by, a white noise machine or a radio on could keep them from reacting to every little noise.

In the meantime, practice "here" and giving your dogs treats while you have people walk by, first far away then closer as they get used to it. This will eventually make people walking past the house a positive experience for your dogs, rather than something to get worked up over.

tturley · May 2012

Stare at them. Right in the eye. Don't move or talk, just stare. I've recently trained my neighbor's dog to not bark and me the whole time I'm outside by going over to the fence and quietly staring at him. It took several minutes the first day, but now he quiets down quickly.

Barking / Howling Dog Advice

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