I have a mountain fyst terrier mixed Chihuahua, how do I control his barking when company is around?

Answer 1

Other than putting the dog in another room, or outside...you don't!

Answer 2

A Feist / Chihuahua; wow what a combination! I bet he's cute.

We train the loud-mouths here at the shelter to stop barking when other people are around by strictly enforcing our "ignore the loud one" protocol. Whenever we have a yappy dog, we tell it firmly but calmly to "be quiet" and then EVERYONE ignores it until it calms itself down and is silent. Once its quiet, it gets a lot of praise an attention.

Put your dog on a leash when company arrives so you can keep control of it, and give it calm but firm commands to "be quiet" once or twice as company comes indoors. Make sure your guests know ahead of time that they are to completely ignore the dog until it quiets itself down.

It will take a few tries to get this technique to work, and you may see the dog's behavior get worse before it gets better, but if you are consistent and keep control of the situation, the dog will soon learn that it gets more from you and your guests by being quiet than it does by being loud.

Answer 3

A mountain Feist is not a full terrier breed, its a hound dog used for hunting squirrels.
http://www.puppiesanddogsforsale.com/dog_breed_info/TreeingFeist.asp

Combine that with a chihuahua and you've got yourself a nice barking mess.

I have a plott hound, who barks so loud your ears pop, especially when guests are over. At first there's really nothing you're going to be able to do to get your dog to stop, you just need to allow the dog the time he needs to get used to the visitors. Once he calms just a bit, give him a bone, chew toy or other reward. It'll get him trained to realize that he'll get something good when he STOPS barking. The toy/bone will also keep him occupyied when the guests are there, less barking.

Good luck.

Answer 4

We just got a Puggle puppy and he barks or howls all day long...my dad works out of the house and so we need to keep him in his cage (not housetrained quite yet) and since he's on the phone with clients, we don't want him barking in the background. Our local petstore suggested this "bark machine" type of device that you can either stick in his cage or control it yourself. When the dog barks, it recognizes it and sends back a bad tone to him. They suggested this before trying a shock collar because he's so little. It also has "good tones" that you can control, possibly if he isn't barking when company is around...I have listed three products; the bottom one is the one that responds to your dogs barks. These are all around $30 and obviously your dog is small also, so this is an alternative to a shock collar. None of the links I gave you have the "good tone" feature, but I know it is out there...

Answer 5

Good luck. Terriers and Chihuahuas are both bad for barking. And yes, fist are terriers. You will probably have to resort to a shock collar. I also recommend you talk with a trainer about your behaviour while this is going on so you can see if anything you are doing feeds the dogs behaviour. I know this can be very annoying.

Answer 6

As with any behavior that you want to discourage, you need to remove the reinforcing thing from the dog. In this case, that would be the chance to interact with people and bark at them. Instead, each an incompatible behavior. A "go to your mat" or "crate" command would be great because you can teach this to your dogs and make it so rewarding for them to seek out their mat whenever you tell them to, wherever they are in the house. First, reward them a bunch with amazing treats when they choose to step on to their mat, or into their crate. Next, start holding them back from reaching their mat/crate (in a fun way - hold them by the chest, then release them so they're excited to race to their mat/crate for a reward) Keep repeating this, and then you can start to actually say "Get on your mat!" or whatever you'd like, when they are flying over to their place. Then, set up a "person ringing the doorbell" scenario with a patient friend. Have lots of yummy treats stashed (on yourself, and in a handy bowl that you can reach quickly) and keep practicing your "go to your mat" behavior. Remember that dogs don't speak English, so it's best to not say anything at all until the dog is reliably running to that great spot that you pay him so much to be in. Repeat with as many distractions as you can think of! Remember that actual people ringing the doorbell and then coming through the door is a level 10 distraction for your dog. Set your dog up to be successful with this exercise by working on low-level distractions first. If your dog goes back to barking madly, then you've asked for too much - take a step back.

Answer 7

He is trying to take the alpha male place.
e-mail me about this situation:
[e-mail]