is2017overyet
New member
@ntenda yeah it's called stimulus control!
https://eileenanddogs.com/blog/2019/01/31/stimulus-control/
https://eileenanddogs.com/blog/2019/01/31/stimulus-control/
the barking during adolescence is driving me insane
- Thread starter ntenda
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- adolescence puppy 101
gitasanjeevani
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kawaiichristi
New member
@gitasanjeevani Ignoring is incredibly effective if they're barking for attention, because then barking doesn't work to get what they want and quiet behaviors do work to get what they want. If they're barking for a different reason though (say, territorial or stress or excitement) then ignoring it only lets it continue.
editing to add: more on ignoring: https://eileenanddogs.com/blog/2016/06/25/ignoring-bad-dog-behavior/
editing to add: more on ignoring: https://eileenanddogs.com/blog/2016/06/25/ignoring-bad-dog-behavior/
ladyestella
New member
@kawaiichristi Thank you for clearing this up! That method never made sense to me, but our dogs almost NEVER bark for attention. Ignoring attention barks absolutely makes sense.
gitasanjeevani
New member
@kawaiichristi Have you ever had to “ignore” a dog and how long did it take for the demand barking to stop? He’s barked for over an hour before- and it’s extremely difficult to stand it! I try so so hard not to even look at him. I thought he just had too much energy but even when he goes to the dog park (which he loves and goes bananas for) and takes a good nap afterwards it doesn’t “settle” him later on in the day. He’s walked 10 miles a week (he has a luxating patella so we have to monitor activity which could be a factor)
kawaiichristi
New member
@gitasanjeevani When I think about ignoring so a behavior goes extinct, I think about seconds or mayyyyybe minutes, not hours. Ideally you want the barking behavior to quickly die out so you can reward a different quieter behavior. If it won't die out in a reasonable amount of time then ignoring might not be the best option.
If yours keeps going for literally an hour, I would bet there's something going on more than attention seeking. Excitement, stress, boredom, over-arousal, etc and the barking is a coping mechanism.
Have you considered adding mental enrichment (puzzles, training) to tire out his brain? Or calming training (mat/settle training, capturing calmness, relaxation protocol) to construct calmer behaviors? Or management (crating, other confinement, preemptive stuffed kongs, white noise, closed blinds) to prevent the worst of it? Or giving him different coping mechanisms for frustration/stress/boredom/whatever?
Physical exercise doesn't always calm dogs down...sometimes it actually amps them up even more.
If yours keeps going for literally an hour, I would bet there's something going on more than attention seeking. Excitement, stress, boredom, over-arousal, etc and the barking is a coping mechanism.
Have you considered adding mental enrichment (puzzles, training) to tire out his brain? Or calming training (mat/settle training, capturing calmness, relaxation protocol) to construct calmer behaviors? Or management (crating, other confinement, preemptive stuffed kongs, white noise, closed blinds) to prevent the worst of it? Or giving him different coping mechanisms for frustration/stress/boredom/whatever?
Physical exercise doesn't always calm dogs down...sometimes it actually amps them up even more.
gitasanjeevani
New member
@kawaiichristi So far we’ve tried long lasting chews (the no Hyde’s), bully sticks, puzzles, frozen kongs, and other things like that. I honestly think he’s throwing a tempter tantrum and needs to relax he just won’t let himself chill. The crate is his least favorite thing in the world- we crate trained for 6 months and he was quite reactive towards it so we took it away- he wasn’t even coming close to warming up to it (he’s not food motivated and VERY stubborn so when he’s decided he doesn’t wanna do something there isn’t a single piece of food that will make him do it). I think it’s a mix of pent up energy and him just trying to express it- he’s definitely the most energetic dog I’ve ever owned! It’s just weird because this only started roughly 2 months ago after his neuter- he was always an energetic pup but would never bark like this! We also do training sessions at night still, but usually only 10-15 minutes then he’s like “okay mom I’m bored of this”
kawaiichristi
New member
@gitasanjeevani For a week, keep all his food on you (use a fanny pack or something similar). No food from a dish. Toss him a piece occasionally when he's quiet. Barking = no food and no attention. Quiet = randomly occasional pieces of food appear near him. Like magic.
See what happens when he figures out the pattern.
You can refine technique to make that more effective, but just controlling and timing the food to coincide with quiet behaviors should have some impact and speed up progress.
See what happens when he figures out the pattern.
You can refine technique to make that more effective, but just controlling and timing the food to coincide with quiet behaviors should have some impact and speed up progress.
gitasanjeevani
New member
@kawaiichristi Thank you I’ll try this!! He’s a quick study so hopefully he catches on. We are so lucky with him- he was the best puppy ever so I knew our good lucky couldn’t last forever haha. Honestly at times he was better behaved as a 10 week old than he is as an 11 month old!
kawaiichristi
New member
@gitasanjeevani 11 months old could still be in the difficult teenager phase 
@kawaiichristi Do you have any tips for how to do this with wet food?
@gitasanjeevani Time out
@ntenda The biggest tip my trainer taught me was to not yell at them to stop barking. Yelling = loud and exciting and only amps them up to bark more. I do a few claps until he’s looking at me and ask him to sit. If you know “place” or “go to your bed” it helps too. If the doorbell rings or he hears a car, he’s told to go to his bed and he stops barking and once he’s calm on his bed, he gets a treat. It’s helped a lot!
tspidey630
New member
@ntenda We've been dealing with this for a while and have been working on quiet and focus commands. (Our puppy is 7 mo and barks at people walking by our house, and when someone rings the doorbell/knocks). He has occasionally also started barking at random people. We make a fist in front of his face with a treat in it and say Quiet. And he doesn't get the treat until the barking stops. You want the smell of the treat to district them from whatever they were barking at. We've also been giving treats and working on getting him to be quiet when the doorbell rings or someone knocks by feeding him with the doorbell and ringing it and he gets high reward treats for ignoring it. That has been really successful. The behaviour hasn't completely stopped, but it has gotten a LOT better. (Our pup is half maramma and they are just a very vocal breed.) Work hard to not give them attention when barking as much as you can and reward when they're quiet.
If he barks at someone or another dog while we walk we work on quiet and focus and stop walking/turn him around. He doesn't get to walk or play if he barks. And he gets treats if he doesn't. We also do some training where he gets treats when he notices people and doesn't bark.
Edit: oh! Also! Don't allow them on the couch/places they can stare out windows if they're "guarding". We stopped letting our dog on the couch to state out the window and that's helped a lot at preventing him from barking at passerbys. He knows now he has to be invited up onto the couch and then we cuddle him and hangout unless he starts guarding and then he gets kicked off.
If he barks at someone or another dog while we walk we work on quiet and focus and stop walking/turn him around. He doesn't get to walk or play if he barks. And he gets treats if he doesn't. We also do some training where he gets treats when he notices people and doesn't bark.
Edit: oh! Also! Don't allow them on the couch/places they can stare out windows if they're "guarding". We stopped letting our dog on the couch to state out the window and that's helped a lot at preventing him from barking at passerbys. He knows now he has to be invited up onto the couch and then we cuddle him and hangout unless he starts guarding and then he gets kicked off.
sunwinmacao
New member
@ntenda Not sure if this will work because our puppy has always been a barker, but our trainer has us doing time outs for barking for our 6 m/o corgi! It’s really cut down on the behavior for us.
We have a carrier separate from the crate that we use for time out. One bark and they get a “ah ah” as a warning. Second bark and you say “time out” and give a 30 second time out. If puppy is barking in time out, cover it with a blanket. Once they’re settled they can come out.
We have a carrier separate from the crate that we use for time out. One bark and they get a “ah ah” as a warning. Second bark and you say “time out” and give a 30 second time out. If puppy is barking in time out, cover it with a blanket. Once they’re settled they can come out.
@ntenda Our boy also doesn’t do crates and was a demand barker. It was breaking me. We started to do timeouts as well but not in a crate, we would just put him in a room by himself and close the door. We’d leave him for maybe 30 seconds and then let him out. If he barked again, we’d put him in timeout again. The other thing we did is that we took him outside each time he barked. He tells us he needs to go outside by barking - which is fine. But if he barks, that means you have to go outside, right!? Now we ask him if he needs to go outside when he demand barks and once he sees us go towards the door, he usually stops because he doesn’t want to go outside, ha. He’s a little over a year for context. I hope this helps! You will get through this!