Help me please!?

Question

Hi can anyone help me my dog constantly barks,day in day out we feed him water him and walk him and he still barks it is that bad the family home has rows and has arguments.Can anyone find a way to help me to stop him barking?

Answer 1

Hi. I used to run a rescue centre and now I work in a kennels and cattery. I can help but It wont be easy. Keep your head up and dont loose your temper. I promise this can be resolved with a bit of hard work. :-)

Firstly are you at home with him barking if so its down to you to teach him not to behave in a way that the Higher members of his pack (You) Dont want. By this I mean. Any behaviour you dont want has to stop to make them fit in which is what they want...

Understand the triggers. (When does it start. Where is it they usually stand. Is there a noise or sight that starts this behavior. Once you have an Idea of what starts it you can work to combat it.
As an example it is by the front door. Firstly do not allow them access to just sit there on there own barking at what ever takes there fancy. Remove the place. Ocupy there time with a bone in the back garden instead. If as an example its the back garden. again dont let them stay out there barking on there own. Supervise them like you would a child that you are afraid would get hurt and bring them in a again.Removal and distraction is the first step.

Repremand is the second. I dont mean beat it and I hope that no one will be stupid enough to suggest that. I mean let it know that the behavoir is wrong and not going to be tolirated. A couple of ways to let them know its not ok are as follows. You will have to pick one and keep at it repitition is the key. Water sprayers aimed at the face is a good one. I would not like it if someone kept spraying me in the face but I would get the message its not on. Dropping a noisy object like a sauce pan lid right next to them shocks them out of the behavoir. Once they are quite reward them with a treat this will teach them the good behavoir and stamp out the unwanted.

If you are not at home when some of this is going on I would suggest that you find a good kennels in your area and day board them for that time. I work in a lovely kennels and have a few day boarders that come in to run around and bark and dig in the wood chip while there owners are not home. So when they come to pick them up again there is no destruction or barking at home but SLIGHTLY TIRED DOG instead. It is quite inexpesive if you strike a good deal with the owers and bring them in regular.

Ok back to the barking. Your family is the bigger higher up part of the pack. You need to all stand united on this and it is not a row maker. Sit down with everyone and state what is going to happen. You all need to respond in the same way as then the dog will get a clear message it is not fitting in. Eg if you shout and the dog barks its a little confusing they are both noises and yet you say the dogs is wrong. Keep a calm voice stern but still. No and ask it to do something elce. Sit fetch, come on anything that is not barking. Use treats as this is a far more pleasurable idea to the dog. It will choose to do it simply because it want to not because you yelled at it which after a while will lose all fear and they will simple ignor you.
It is hard and I wish I could come and help you If you would like any further help I would be really pleased to help you. Try this first if you are all strong and do them same things in a calm and quiet manner it will get through and it will stop I promise.
Hope this has helped. Michelle :-)

Answer 2

The first thing to establish is why your dog is barking. Is he barking when he's on his own or when people are there? Is it when someone comes to the door or walks past?

If he's barking constantly when he's left on his own he may be being left alone and unstimulated for too long every day. Food, water and 2 walks a day are fine, but if he's otherwise left alone for 8 hours a day he'll be getting bored. You could try toys like Kongs, which can be stuffed with food and give dogs activity for a few hours at a time. You could also try leaving the radio on to give some other noise distraction, but you really need to try to provide your dog with mental stimulation during the day.

Territorial barking is also very common, for this you can try using stooge people to give the dog treats when they come to the door: this will show the dog that people coming onto his territory are a good thing.

To interrupt barking behaviour you can try using a noise to distract (NOT punish) the dog, commonly used items are training discs or a bottle with some pebbles in (not keys, it needs to be something you wouldn't normally use). HOWEVER you MUST get advice before doing this - the aim is not to scare the dog, it is to interrupt the barking behaviour long enough for you to provide an alternative or distraction.

PLEASE do NOT buy an electric shock collar - they are unethical and cruel. Citronella collars can be useful (they spray your dog with citronella when they bark), but get one where you can control the spray rather than one which automatically sprays the dog when it barks. Again, you need to provide an alternative to barking, there's no point just interrupting the bark if there's nothing better to do!

Incidentally, shouting at your dog when he's barking can make things worse, as he will see that you're joining in so will do it all the more. Also, if he's currently living in a house of raised voices and arguments he'll be more likely to raise his voice too. I really would recommend you contact a behaviourist for advice, this can be a very frustrating problem to deal with but there are solutions.

Answer 3

Use a spray gun and fill it with water, every time your dog barks spray the water at him, not in his face though, it shocks them and they hate it, you might have to do it several days to stop him completely, its not cruel, it was recommended to me by an ex police dog handler, you can also put about 5 coins in a tin with a lid, every time your dog barks shake the tin, that will stop him too, keep doing it until he stops his constant barking and as hard as it is try to stay calm as he is probably picking up on the stress he is causing in your family thus making him bark even more, good luck.

Answer 4

the car keys suggestion is good. i used this on my last dog and he was far better after this training.

u get a large set of keys (more noise the more keys) and every time the dog barks when u dont think they need to... ie not warning u of intruders etc... u drop the keys hard near the dog and say "stop" or "no" or another word of ur choice.... after this is done a few times u will find the barking gets less.. especially once the dog now see's keys in ur hand..... it will think twice about the barking.

u need to keep this training up tho but it usually doesnt take too long for it to sink in that u dont like what they are doing.....

hope this helps.

x

Answer 5

You can try a no bark collar there are 2 basic types. 1 gives a mild shock when the dog barks the other type sprays a fine mist in the dogs face. the other solution would be to teach your dog the no bark command which means you need to go to dog obedience classes to learn how to teach your dog and gain control over your dog and become the pack leader

Answer 6

The way to get your dog to stop barking is very simple but it takes patience and you have to do the command constantly - its no good changing your mind day in and day out - stick with one command - for example just after he has barked and you get a second of quiet time tell him what a good dog he is and stroke him and keep doing that - every time you get a quiet time tell him/her they are such a good dog and pay lots of attention to them. Perhaps keep saying Good dogs don't bark - who's a good dog - ignore the barking and reward constantly the quiet time. This takes a lot of patience and a lot of time but it does work. Good luck.

Answer 7

i know its difficult for some people, but you really must put your foot down, each time he barks say a VERY firm NO! continue this domineering behaviour toward him and with a couple of days he really should get the message. Be extremely consistent with this if you want it to work. He is doing this as he believes he is the leader of the pack. (your family in this case) sheow him YOU are the leader.

Answer 8

Hi'

You can hire a collar from any vet that squirts some kind of liquid which dogs hate every time they bark,they say a month is enough and the dog should have learned by then,only prob was,my dog tried lots of little barks then slowly got louder and louder to see how loud he could bark before setting it off,was pretty funny to see and he seems to have learned.it hasn't stopped him completly but he isn't as loud!

Give it a try!

Good Luck.

Answer 9

I rattle my front doors keys at my dog. He used to bark incesantly but now even the sight of the keys in my hand makes him stop. It's something to do with the high pitch of the jingle of keys. Dogs don't like it.
It's a cheap method and hurts no one. Give it a go!

Answer 10

i think a water pistol is a good training foundation - be gentle and but firm spray him with water everytime he barks and say know. What kind of breed is he some are known for yapping