Barking, what to do
Just wondering if clicker training will work for excessive barking. We live in an area with lots of widlife, other dogs and neighbor children. Rita and sometimes her brother Rico will bark at anything that moves outside. The spray bottle seems to have no effect. Sometimes when I try to pick Rita up to remove her from the room, she’ll snap at me. I’ve tried using a soft voice, using a loud voice and giving her a toy as a distraction, but nothing seems to work. It seems to be a bit of a “guard dog” type of behavior when she’s in the house, since she doesn’t bark when she sees other animals when we’re out on walks. She has some other obsessive/compulsive behaviors as well, but this is the most annoying one. Please help. Paula
Dear Paula,
The best help I can give you is to one, understand what your dogs are talking about, get the book Barking, The Sound of a Language by Turid Rugaas. And two, bark with your dogs and put a cue on it to stop.
Yes, clicker training can work wonders with just about everything, stopping and starting behavior. With barking, I like to start first working directly with the dog, no clicker, no treats. Their reward is that they know I know they have something to say. If this doesn’t work for you, get the clicker training going, it really is good stuff.
Dancer was a talker when she was young, she barked and carried on conversations with a truly amazing verbal range. We worked together as a team to help her get her barking under control.
When she barked at the window, I’d go over and look to see what she was barking at. There was always something, it was never just nuisance barking. Most dogs have a reason when they bark. I leaned like she was leaning to look outside and I’d said, “Oh, yeah. I see that guy. It’s okay, he can be in the park, he’s our friend. Thanks, Dance.”
My cue for Dancer to stop barking was, “Thanks, Dance.” That’s it. It was kind of like “That’ll do, Pig” from the movie. It meant, I see you and I understand you. You did a good job.
When she barked in the back yard, I’d go to the fence with her. “I know, I see that rotten kid, too, but barking at him won’t help. I’ll tattle to his Mom. Thanks, Dance.” The kid really was rotten, he’d throw rocks at the dogs even when I was in the yard with them. Right up until the day I turned him in to his Mom. It never happened again. Anyway, Dancer would bark and I would go see what she was barking at and tell her thanks, she did a good job. Now, let’s go do something else inside the yard.
Getting a dog away from a fence takes a little practice for both of you. Go to see what’s being barked at. Acknowledge it and thank your dog for the good job. Then go do something else, preferably something more fun.
Sooner than later, your dog will come away and stop barking because you said thanks. Changing behavior is usually a simple a matter of understanding why they do it.
Don’t leave your dogs outside alone. Or in the house for too long alone. Those things can create barkers. Barking is a self rewarding behavior. It feels good to bark and it feels better if you bark and that thing moves away, like the mailman or little kids and even a squirrel. Barking out of control is like panicking, it’s hard to come back down by yourself. You need a little help. And it’s always better with understanding.
We have barking parties on our deck just to get the exercise. We all bark at nothing until everyone is barked out. It can get pretty funny sometimes.
Barking is as essential to a dog as talking and laughing are to us. Knowing why they are barking is key to helping them bark less. You may want to put a leash on for the first week or so, see how it goes to see if you need to continue with a leash. Soft martingale collar, please, like the ones we carry at SitStay, Premier or Lupine.
Metal collars and shock collars, which we don’t carry because they can and will hurt a dog, can make matters worse.
There is a time and a place for everything and the dogs need to know to stop barking when we ask. Please don’t make your dogs stop barking altogether, though. Barking is fun.
