Demand barking. I need serious help.
I’ve posted about this here before but I’ve hit a wall.
My nearly 3 year old rescue has demand barked/grumbled since the day we brought him home, exactly 13 months ago. I thought it would be an easy fix, I was wrong. The majority of the times that he is not actively being paid attention to, or when I try to sit, lie down, or relax, he immediately barks or grumbles. (FWIW, he does not bark at anything or anyone except for me and my fiance.)
Some important notes:
* Aside from the first few days he was
home with me (I wasn’t aware it was demand behavior, I thought he was nervous) I have never rewarded this behavior by giving him what he wants.
* He receives 3-4 long walks a day, I do not have a yard. They’re a good mix of regular walks and decompression/sniffari walks.
* He receives plenty of indoor enrichment, and outdoor as we’re able (Sniffspots, hikes, walks in different areas).
* He gets lots of attention and love when he’s quiet and not being bossy. I love him to death!
* We are working with a trainer. More on this later.
What I have tried so far (all consistently, I’ve had 13 months):
* Teaching “quiet”. He was rewarded for his silence but the command never stuck.
* Standing up and leaving the room. I do it 15-20+ times a day. This stops him from barking but doesn’t stop him from doing it again. Effective but not sustainable.
* Ignoring. He’d go on forever if we let him.
* Crate time. We don’t use the crate as punishment, it’s a safe place for when we aren’t home. Sometimes he will stay in a closed room because he can be trusted now. Admittedly I did not do well with incorporating the crate for when I am home, and I’m paying for that now. Currently I am working to reincorporate the crate for when I am home with the hope that he can use it as a decompression space, but right now he won’t go in on his own, and when he does, he barks to be let out. He doesn’t bark in the crate when I leave the house.
Our trainers suggestions:
We are working with a +R trainer to get on top of this and some other small things like leash reactivity. She’s amazing and I trust her, but I’m not seeing much progress on this from her suggestions. She has recommended that we anticipate this behavior as much as possible and provide distractions (chew, Kong, licky mat, snuffle mat, toy) so that he can become comfortable with alternate behaviors when he isn’t actively being paid attention to. Here’s where it gets complicated: he is an allergic mess and we are 7 weeks deep into a hypoallergenic elimination diet, we have 3 more weeks left. He cant have anything except for his kibble and fruits and veggies— he has some unflavored nylabone type chews, but he’s bored with them now. There is nothing of a high enough value within this diet to motivate or distract him for a long period of time. I’m doing my best with blended frozen fruits/veg, but he’s burning out on it. My other frustration with this is that I cannot feasibly prevent this behavior 100% of the time. If this was once or twice a day, maybe, but I feel like I can’t give him 20 Kongs or snuffle mats a day. If I don’t manage to prevent him from demanding by distracting, I can’t just hand him a distraction and expect him to not interpret it as a reward for demanding my attention. Toy distractions are complicated because they are very high value to him, but only when they’re brand new.
I’m losing my mind. He is a good boy, and I love him a lot but this very annoying behavior is causing me to become very stressed and feel like a prisoner in my own home.
I’ve posted about this here before but I’ve hit a wall.
My nearly 3 year old rescue has demand barked/grumbled since the day we brought him home, exactly 13 months ago. I thought it would be an easy fix, I was wrong. The majority of the times that he is not actively being paid attention to, or when I try to sit, lie down, or relax, he immediately barks or grumbles. (FWIW, he does not bark at anything or anyone except for me and my fiance.)
Some important notes:
* Aside from the first few days he was
home with me (I wasn’t aware it was demand behavior, I thought he was nervous) I have never rewarded this behavior by giving him what he wants.
* He receives 3-4 long walks a day, I do not have a yard. They’re a good mix of regular walks and decompression/sniffari walks.
* He receives plenty of indoor enrichment, and outdoor as we’re able (Sniffspots, hikes, walks in different areas).
* He gets lots of attention and love when he’s quiet and not being bossy. I love him to death!
* We are working with a trainer. More on this later.
What I have tried so far (all consistently, I’ve had 13 months):
* Teaching “quiet”. He was rewarded for his silence but the command never stuck.
* Standing up and leaving the room. I do it 15-20+ times a day. This stops him from barking but doesn’t stop him from doing it again. Effective but not sustainable.
* Ignoring. He’d go on forever if we let him.
* Crate time. We don’t use the crate as punishment, it’s a safe place for when we aren’t home. Sometimes he will stay in a closed room because he can be trusted now. Admittedly I did not do well with incorporating the crate for when I am home, and I’m paying for that now. Currently I am working to reincorporate the crate for when I am home with the hope that he can use it as a decompression space, but right now he won’t go in on his own, and when he does, he barks to be let out. He doesn’t bark in the crate when I leave the house.
Our trainers suggestions:
We are working with a +R trainer to get on top of this and some other small things like leash reactivity. She’s amazing and I trust her, but I’m not seeing much progress on this from her suggestions. She has recommended that we anticipate this behavior as much as possible and provide distractions (chew, Kong, licky mat, snuffle mat, toy) so that he can become comfortable with alternate behaviors when he isn’t actively being paid attention to. Here’s where it gets complicated: he is an allergic mess and we are 7 weeks deep into a hypoallergenic elimination diet, we have 3 more weeks left. He cant have anything except for his kibble and fruits and veggies— he has some unflavored nylabone type chews, but he’s bored with them now. There is nothing of a high enough value within this diet to motivate or distract him for a long period of time. I’m doing my best with blended frozen fruits/veg, but he’s burning out on it. My other frustration with this is that I cannot feasibly prevent this behavior 100% of the time. If this was once or twice a day, maybe, but I feel like I can’t give him 20 Kongs or snuffle mats a day. If I don’t manage to prevent him from demanding by distracting, I can’t just hand him a distraction and expect him to not interpret it as a reward for demanding my attention. Toy distractions are complicated because they are very high value to him, but only when they’re brand new.
I’m losing my mind. He is a good boy, and I love him a lot but this very annoying behavior is causing me to become very stressed and feel like a prisoner in my own home.