Barking ( I know she's a dog but...)

[Fluffy]

Ok. Since I changed their dog food over, Heidi seems to have a new lease on life. She is much more energetic and wants to play...ALL THE TIME...which is not necisarily a bad thing...HOWEVER she has started barking...constantly. She has always barked when someone walks by the windows or she hears a noise, but now its just at anything and everything. What on earth can I do?! I don't want my neighbors to get angry about this constant yapping. I have tried the can of pennies, it serves no purpose other than to scare the you know what out of Buddy. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Sometimes she does it because she feels she is being ignored, and I am trying not to become "trained" to her and give in and play...but its getting to the point where I do it becasue then she doesn't bark. I don't want her to think she is in charge and I just feel at a loss right now. Thanks!!

[JanUet]

Sounds Just like MY Casey!

I just tell him "No Bark" He does give out a few more, but he knows what I mean. I also put my fingers to my lips as if to say Shhhhh!
They know what that means! I don't always have to say "No Bark!"

[Lisa]

I have a talker too! Pixel will not shut up. I give him bullwinkles to distract him, and it works great.

I pick him up too, which just re-enforces the negative behavior....so I don't really recommend that!

Hopefully, we will both get some great suggestions.

[Goob]

That is my Snooter. For a while we would spray her lightly with a spray bottle of water (not in the face, but in the butt) and that would get her attention. At the same time as she's sprayed we'd say "quiet". This was about 6 months ago, now all we have to do is say, "quiet!" and she does one more bark, and is quiet. I guess the one more bark is to tell mutter she's choosing on her own to be quiet! :rofl:

[Patt]

Before you start correcting you need to know why Heidi is barking, possibly something is setting her off and can easily be corrected. If she’s barking to get your attention try leaving the room. Whatever you do, please do not yell because to them you are barking back. Are you giving her less attention then before? Perhaps giving her play time would help. Have you been taking walks, remember a tired pupper is a good pupper. As suggested a good “no bark” and a quick “shhhh” is good. Be consistent though, you need to correct Heidi every time she barks.

[Lisa]

Oh one thing that does work great for me when he is in one of his barking fits, I go and look at what he's barking at, tell him "good boy" thank you for alerting Mommy and then grab some treats and do some training with him. I really need to do it more often though! Like Patt says consistancy.

[oceangirls]

I read somewhere, possibly Dachshunds for Dummies, that when they bark you should ignore it and maybe say "hush" in a disdainful (not yelling/barking) tone. I can tell you that when you have two barking dogs, this does not work well because they are getting a response from each other, so it encourages them :rolleyes:. Leaving the room is a good idea; maybe I will try that and try to be consistent with it.

[Jen]

Usually Tasha responds to quiet or shhh. Sometimes showing her the water bottle is enough. Other times a quick squirt is necessary. Then again, when the grocery delivery comes I can totally soak the little :evilgrin: and she still won't shut up.

But yes, I'm always scolding hubby for yelling quiet at her. Honey, you're just joining in the barking...

[Fluffy]

What do you do if she is in another room, by herself barking her fool head of?? She started doing this about two days ago...Buddy and I will be in the kitchen and she'll just be sitting on the bed barking...I do go to check it out, but then she does this weird head shake thing, almost like she's shaking her head no and does the most pathetic wimpers. I do try so hard not to bark back at her...because she does feed off of that. I tell her "no bark" and walk away. I'm a little confused tho, if I do this, and she stops, do I treat her? I don't want to reinforce bad behavior by treating her...I have a feeling she will do it more, just to get treats. I have also tried the squirt bottle...doesn't phase her one bit...if anything it makes her more angry and she barks even more! I haven't changed the amount of attention or play time she gets, I just think she has more energy and wants to play ALL the time. This morning around 3am, she started licking my toes...when it stirred me she started up and just wanted to play. I took her out, and snuggled with her to get her to fall back asleep. I must have fallen asleep before her because the next thing I knew, I was being attacked by Bobo. I have to say it was so hard to be angry with her because she was so cute about it...however, I do not want 3am wake up calls every day...4am is bad enough!! Of course Buddy slept through it all, didn't even stir when the door opened. (Thank goodness b/c i NEVER would have gotten back to sleep!) I love her new found engery level. Before, she would maybe play for five min and go back to sleep...however now I need to make her understand that every waking (or sleeping on my behalf) moment isn't play time.

[lotsadox]

I have a lot of trouble with Cash barking a lot. I've used the squirt bottle and say "enough!". He knows what it means now and will stop barking when I say it. Sometimes he has to get the last word in, but he does stop.

If she stops barking do reward her even if it's just a "good girl" in the low, soothing voice. You don't want to get her excited and set her off again! She will relate the reward to the last thing she did which was be quiet.

Is Heide crate trained? Scooter gets really overwhelming in the evenings sometimes wanting to play and has to have a time out in his crate. Once I put him in there, he settles right down.

[Fluffy]

Yes, she is crate trained, however I do not do the time outs. It usually stays quiet for about 5 min and then she starts up all over again. Their crate doors are ALWAYS open, but Buddy is the only one who will go in and just lay there. They are in their crates all day while I am at work b/c the way my walls are panneled, I can not use baby gates to keep them in the kitchen. I don't like putting her in there other than that simply because she is in there during the day.

[lotsadox]

I understand. When I was working a lot, I had to crate Scooter for 9 hours and I hated to make him go in there when I got home. I have faux painted walls the bedroom and bath and wood wainscoting in the kitchen plus extra wide doorways there so I don't really have anywhere to gate a dog. It makes it hard when I foster. Scooter is so big I don't think I could keep him in a gate anyway!