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The Barkity Barkingtons
What does it mean that my daughter’s first real words were “Bark, Bark” instead of Mama or Dada? It could mean that she was born with a special connection to animals. I’d like to believe that is the reason, but the truth of the matter is that my dogs are big-time barkers.
Duncan and Rudy have an uncanny sense of timing for barking during the baby’s naps (or when people are at the door…or walking on the sidewalk in front of the house…or when a plane or bird flies over the backyard…or when we run around playing games in the house…or any time they hear anything with their super dog ears.) Ugh!
While I don’t want to crush their doggy spirit by constantly “shushing” them, I do have to remind them to stop barking on a fairly regular basis. And bless their sweet little hearts; they try to comply with my wishes and still do their dog job of barking. (I find it so humorous when they woof with mouths shut as if I can no longer hear it.)
I’ve gotten advice from different people about how to best cut down the barking but I’m always open to new ideas. Anyone?
Corgis rule the world… Mine tells me all the time. Perhaps they are trying to tell you how to talk. No. I tried that bakring back just gets ours more excited! Love the picture.
Constantly barking dogs are annoying, at least to me.
I have had the same issue with one of mine and have used a technique that is working that I saw on “It’s Me or The Dog”. Using your hands in front of you, similar to a referree sign as stating off sides/interference and saying “Quiet”. Nothing else. Believe it or not that simple technique has worked with mine.
Another technique that works is a short & sharp noise to distract them.
A technique that works well for me most of the time (some dogs simply don’t care but most do) is the dreaded “penny can.” Put 12 pennies in a clean, dry empty soda can and duct tape the opening shut. Whenever the dogs bark, simply shake the can. Most act like the sky is falling in on them and shut up immediately. As soon as they are quiet, I praise them for “good quiet.” I cured all 3 of my dogs simultaneously from barking at the neighbor’s dog after only a couple of shakes of the can. Note, however, that you can only do this if multiple dogs are all barking at the same time. If not, those not barking will wonder what the heck they did wrong.
Think twice before the penny can–I will not use it again on my other pitbull puppy. I used that on my now one yr old pitbull and only used it twice when I would bring him to the NSC and he would bark/snarl at people passing his cube. Now everytime he sees a pepsi/coke can—he shys which is not something I wanted.
They are barkers, which somewhat takes away from their cuteness. Love the picture with the socks to muffle the sound of toenails on wood flooring. No advise on how to get them to stop barking, but I like the hand signal idea. I use hand signals and whistles for Steve.
With the 4 dogs at my house we’ve had to try different things. Our Germ. Shep/Lab mix was our biggest problem. We rescued him and we think he was being taught to attack or fight. We ended up having to muzzle train him. When he would start barking we would say “muzzle” and hold it out to him and he would stop. We slowly changed it over to a sharp “AAT” sound, and took away the muzzle. The only think we’re working on is him listening to everyone in the house. He only listens to myself, and my mother-in-law, and everyone else gets no response.
I totally understand what you are going through. My two corgis bark at everything!! When I shush them, they look at me and continue to woof with their mouth closed…very cute but still frustrating. A previous associate in the payroll department told me to get those citronella spray collars. She said they worked for her dogs, but I’m not too sure about those. I’m afraid it would refrain the corgis them from barking completely. How do you train selective barking? I need them to bark when someone is at the door, but not when I use aluminum foil.
after the penny can experience all I use are hand signals now. It is really effective.
Tapping a can of wet food tends to get my cats’ attention, when they are meowing incessantly.
I know someone that uses the citronella collar when in meetings because his dog will bark. He doesnt use it all the time and it is quite effective for that.
Spray collars work well for me. I do however have one dog that only a shock bark collar will stop him from barking. Put the collar on them while you want them to be quite (like baby nap time).
Awesome suggestions from everyone. (Also Alyson, my dogs bark at the aluminum foil, too. Maybe it’s a Corgi thing. haha.)
I do have some luck by grabbing their snouts (gently of course) and saying shhhhh, but if they are rushing out the doggy door to enforce the no-bird fly zone over the backyard, they’re hard to catch!
I’ve heard good things about the penny-can approach except I don’t want to frighten my 9 month old baby.
Keep the great dialogue going, folks and thanks so much for the ideas!!!
My biggest problem was when people walk by the house. Bisous and Padma are German Shepherd/Australian Shepherd mixes that just HAD to bark at everyone, especially at the door. What I did was “take control” of wherever they went to bark. If it was the door, I stepped in front of it and told them to go do something else while pointing away from me. (All my commands are done with hand signals. They also take commands in spanish as well as english.) You HAVE to do it with authority and make them stay out of the area. They are allowed to bark a few times to let me know someone is there, but have to go to their bed or under the couch after that. Used the same method with my Pomeranian/Chihuahua mix rescue dog. Taught my roommates how to execute it while I wasn’t home (Took a few times for Annie to get the ‘pack leader’ mentality) to help with his training.
Bisous still barks with her mouth shut at things like umbrellas and people in large coats…doesn’t hurt my ears, and she keeps it little. Both use the closed mouth bark when executing “Speak!”. I have used the citronella collar on both, and it seemed to be effective. It really varies from dog to dog so it’s worth trying for a week or so.
Gosh this is a problem that I had for some time with my little chihuahuas.
I actually worked out a solution after watching an episode of me or the dog, and its working out pretty well.
We invited our friends over and worked through testing ways to train the dog by using distractions (squeaky toys) and rewards. We let stragers walk by the house with the door open and worked through getting our pooch Teddy to understand that if he didn’t bark, there was a reward and if he did bark – he was firmly told no and had to lye down.
It’s a process of repetition over several weeks and taking the initiative and time to train the dog – the reward is peace and the opportunity to enjoy your dogs personality without the noise.
I have posted pics of Teddy on my my.arfie.com page….he’s a cutie : ) – http://my.arfie.com/profile/FrankTorres
Best of luck,
Frank
My Uncle has a housefull of small dogs and they bark incessantly at any small noise. He has resorted to a spray bottle. It doesn’t hurt the dogs, they don’t like to be sprayed, plus there are times you can’t always get to the to gently grab their snout. It seems pretty effective when he gets it out.
I have also had much success with clapping my hands and saying “no” when my dog is doing something she shouldn’t. It works for barking, chewing the carpet, eating her poop, (yuck) etc.
Hope this helps and good luck!
Steph.
I think shock collars should be banned & are unnecessary. Just like I think pinch collars are.
To me it is just an easy way not to have to deal with them.
A neighbor of mine used the shock collar on one her dogs—she left for the whole day & the collar malfunctioned–shocking the dog ALL day..another irresponsible owner.