Training Tips for Barking

[cadams1]

I have a six month old heeler named Birch. He is the sweetest Velcro pup, learns so fast, and is a general all around good boi. His biggest challenge is being a nervous and reactive dude so training requires a lot of positive reinforcement and few corrections (they escalate him into fear). He’s on a solid routine and gets 2-3 hours of exercise a day, broken up into 3 or 4 short walks and a few play sessions. We spend 20 minutes in the morning training and 30 mins to an hour in the evenings.

Over the past week he’s started barking for attention. Like - barking A LOT. We’ve tried a few things and like most heelers his reactions seem breed specific. Here are some things we have tried and their results:

• reinforcing ‘quiet’ after he is done barking (he’s now figured out that if he barks, we say quiet and he gets a treat)
• ignoring the bark or turning away (turns a short barking session into an epic self-satisfaction bark fest)
• asking him to settle on his mat (he settles on his mat, stares at us, and then barks at us)
• tried the spritz bottle (he is starting to LOVE the spritz bottle and it’s becoming a reward)
• ask him to ‘come’ and then ‘sit’ (he sits and then barks more

We are stuck for other strategies to try! Any tips for us?!

Dog tax!

https://imgur.com/a/qChqLub

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@cadams1 We do all of these! Ours are 3 and 2 y/o, my 3 y/o talks all day, not much of a barker unless he is trying to be a tough guy but the yodeling, grunting and groaning all day cracks me up. My little one is such a shit, barks all day. We also taught them “watch me” so they would look up at us, it helps him focus and come back down off whatever high his shrieking bark gives him. He usually gets out a single bark before I am peeking around the corner with a scary mom stare and a “quiet”.

 

[dravend]

@cadams1 I’m reading perfect puppy in 7 days (spoiler, it’s longer than 7 days!) and the general advice is to not link stuff like that to a word. So instead of saying quiet, then give a treat when he’s quiet, the book recommends saying nothing, then immediately giving treats when the desired behavior is displayed (like literally give him a treat in a 5sec bark pause before barking resumes). There are also some training recommendations in there for training pups to not be anxious when you are away or not giving them attention, so it could be helpful. It’s pretty cheap on kindle. Also, everything I’ve read says pups can have regression in training around 6mo, so this may be normal!

 

[bradster]

@cadams1 When I first got my heeler (at about a year old) she was a barker when people came over. It was a fear reaction, but she would bark endlessly. It wouldn't stop, even when the person had been inside over an hour!

I can't do loud, repetitive noises because of my migraines so what I started doing was every time she started barking I'd put her in the basement (my basement is heated). Despite being on edge about the visitor in the house, she wanted to be upstairs and by my side, so for her this was not enjoyable. I'd let her bark it out and when she was quiet I'd open the door and say, "good girl, quiet!" and offer her to come upstairs.

At first she'd only get about 3 steps upstairs and would start barking again. So I'd say, "No" in a neutral voice and bring her back downstairs. Eventually she learned that if she wants to be upstairs with me she must be quiet. Took some time and every once in awhile when I let her outside to pee she'll start to bark, so I say quiet or noooo and she stops. She's so funny, she knows I don't like it so sometimes she'll let out a totally justified bark (like someone knocking on the door) and she'll hang her head all guilty and look at me to see if it's okay. Your dog is still so young, I'm sure it'll be fine eventually. There's always growing pains