Author Topic: Barky outbursts  (Read 2050 times)

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Offline montysmum

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Barky outbursts
« on: August 13, 2018, 01:14:59 PM »
Hi. I wonder if anyone can help me with this little problem. Not a major issue, but would like any advice if possible.

Took my wcs to the park. It was completely empty. I was sitting on a bench. Monty was on a long -10foot line sniffing around. (we're working on recall, but that's a whole different topic). I was watching my kids play.

 A man entered the park and walked across the field 50 yards away. Monty started barking at him.

I know exactly why. Its cause he want to go and say hello and was frustrated he was unable to. The man waved and smiled. I explained he's barking as he wants to say hello. He came over. Monty sat and enjoyed a nice stroke.

All fine. My question is, how do I stop him barking at strangers for attention. I explained he has never growled in his life and can be taken the wrong way with his barky outbursts. How can I train this habit out of him? Thanks x
A lovely dog with long floppy ears
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Offline TirelessTitch

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Re: Barky outbursts
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2018, 02:29:39 PM »
I've never had this problem, but my first guess would be that you need to look at how the behaviour is being maintained. It sounds as if it goes "I see a person, get excited, bark, sometimes the person comes over to me and I get a nice stroke and am told what a nice dog I am. Sometimes it doesn't work but that doesn't matter because next time I might be lucky"

If he is getting attention sometimes from his "target" then this is intermittent reinforcement, one of the strongest ways of training a behaviour.  ;)

In order to extinguish the unwanted behaviour, you need to stop allowing it to be reinforced. No reward at all for barking, i.e. in this case I'd suggest removing him from the possibility of getting attention as soon as he starts barking.

I expect others who have had to manage this will be along soon with further suggestions. Good luck!

Offline its.sme

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Re: Barky outbursts
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2018, 02:30:54 PM »
Tricky as he already knows Barks = attention / fuss.

You could try the Watch Me command as it will distract him before he see's someone and so not bark etc,.

Maybe he has a favourite toy that he only gets out on a walk, you could throw it in the opposite direction .

Offline bizzylizzy

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Re: Barky outbursts
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2018, 04:56:41 PM »
There‘s two ways of looking at it really - a) he‘s attention seeking and hoping for a stroke and a cuddle or b) he‘s saying „hey Mum, there‘s a strange man approaching and the kids are playing and maybe you haven‘t noticed. ....“
I personally don‘t think a little alarm bark is such a bad thing, its only a problem if it aggresive and constant and you can‘t get him to stop. I‘d take the approach of „ Good boy for letting me know, but its ok, I can deal with it now“ rather than trying to stopping him from barking/warning you at all. He‘s only doing what he sees as his job and total strangers don‘t always need to  know that our „guard dogs „  :lol2: are complete walkovers!!  :005:

Offline Digger

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Re: Barky outbursts
« Reply #4 on: August 20, 2018, 06:08:00 PM »
Hey! Where did you get that picture of my dog?! :005:Wow they are similar.
Right, I probably won't be any help but I have very recently had the same thing.
Our dog (13 months) had thus far hardly ever barked. I mean, you could count on your fingers how many times. We just went on holiday for two weeks in a camper van. Also, the dog (cheers Inca) decided that that would be a great time to come into her first season :shades: so she was very closely monitored. When out and about she was on a lead or if there was a decent space, a harness and long line. When at the camper, she was on a longish rope attached to the van. She started quite growlybarking her merry head off at passers by. (Never heard anything remotely growly either, before).
Exactly like you, I know she is super friendly with people of all shapes and sizes so did as you did and once she had stopped making a noise, let her off to go and say hello which she did in her usual waggly happy fashion.
I think she was feeling a bit trapped in a strange place and in the absence of knowing what else to do, she sounded an alarm just in case. I have heard that it is not a great idea to tie a dog out, as it can make them anxious and they only have fight or flight don't they? I tried after that to preempt the barking and let her off first so she could say hello without feeling trapped. That was fine. She was also barking at people walking past at night (understandable really) so we brought her into the back of the camper and blocked anywhere she could look through which sorted that one out. She thought that was great too, as she worked out how to get in our bed. At about 3am every morning. So that was great..I suppose if we were restricted so we couldn't get away and something unknown was heading for us, it wouldmake you feel more stressed than usual. Mine loves to go and say hi to everyone and everything and is always friendly but I guess normally she knows if she gets there and doesn't like it, she can get away again. We're home now and she's back to her quiet self.

Offline bmthmark

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Re: Barky outbursts
« Reply #5 on: August 22, 2018, 11:23:21 AM »
I agree with BizzyLizzy, I don't think a bark is a bad thing. After all, he is a dog and this is how they communicate.
Mine goes crazy if the front door goes, I tried to train him to stop doing this. But he is just too excited and uncontrollable  :lol:

I even worked on training him to bark on command and 'be quiet' on command. This works fine in a training environment, for example I can say to Jett 'Talk' and he will bark and then I say 'Be quiet' he instantly stops. This sounds great and is a good party trick. But when he is not focused on me (when door goes) he does not stop, he thinks the person at the front door is more exciting than boring me :005:.
You could try to train yours to bark on command, if you can achieve this. You may be able to stop him from barking.
I followed this: https://www.thesprucepets.com/train-your-dog-to-speak-1117307


Offline Leo0106

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Re: Barky outbursts
« Reply #6 on: September 03, 2018, 07:37:04 AM »
Hi bmthmark
How did you teach the 'quiet command?
Leo will speak on command but i would like to train him to stop too  :lol2:

Offline bmthmark

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Re: Barky outbursts
« Reply #7 on: September 03, 2018, 09:42:34 AM »
Hi bmthmark
How did you teach the 'quiet command?
Leo will speak on command but i would like to train him to stop too  :lol2:

It was surprisingly easy.
Firstly I had to find something that made Jett bark. I found he barked at the front door, so I got my daughter to knock on the front. Jett barked away and at this point I kept saying 'Jett talk' (over and over again) I also gave him a treat. After about 5 minutes he figured out if I said 'Jett talk' he barked and got a treat. This worked without the door being knocked. This is the first part of the training complete.

Next is getting him to 'be quiet' on command. This is the easy bit as he is quiet a lot of the time so its easier to setup the situation. So what I did was got jett to talk, he would bark once or twice (give him a treat). He would then stop barking, at this point I put for finger on my lips and saw 'Jett be quiet' he basically just sat there looking at me. I would then give him a treat.

I then just repeat the whole thing over and over again. Using the exact same words.

The hardest bit is setting up the barking at the beginning.
Its great for waking my son up in the morning  :lol2: also if you need to get someones attention across the field.

Also if Jett goes in his crazy barking mode (chasing stuff), he completely ignores 'Jett be quiet' so it doesn't work in all situations.

Let me know how you get on
 


Offline Finvarra

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Re: Barky outbursts
« Reply #8 on: September 03, 2018, 12:53:24 PM »
I taught Dylan to do this, following a video on YouTube, and also,used a hand signal to get him to 'speak', with a 'rabbit rabbit' gesture (opening and closing fingers and thumb, if you know what I mean), so he will speak or be silent on hand gestures alone.

All well and fine in a controlled situation, but if he sees the birds in the garden, that all goes out of the window and hell is let loose  :lol:

Lesley and Dylan
Remembering All the dogs of my life, especially Milo

Offline bmthmark

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Re: Barky outbursts
« Reply #9 on: September 03, 2018, 01:02:07 PM »
I taught Dylan to do this, following a video on YouTube, and also,used a hand signal to get him to 'speak', with a 'rabbit rabbit' gesture (opening and closing fingers and thumb, if you know what I mean), so he will speak or be silent on hand gestures alone.

All well and fine in a controlled situation, but if he sees the birds in the garden, that all goes out of the window and hell is let loose  :lol:

Lesley and Dylan

Yes I used the same hand signal as well (difficult to explain in writing).
I totally understand what you are saying when in a controlled situation. There is no way Jett would listen to me if he has a squirrel  to chase and bark at  :lol:


Offline Leo0106

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Re: Barky outbursts
« Reply #10 on: September 03, 2018, 04:59:49 PM »
Thanks both! Leo will speak (he dosnt like to bark) so generally when i tell him to speak to makes this 'grgrgrrroo' sound... i wpuld love to get him to a point where i can tell him to be quiet and he stops. We got broken into 3 weeks ago and since then he's been a comlete guard dog (understandable) but once he starts he won't stop!

Offline bmthmark

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Re: Barky outbursts
« Reply #11 on: September 03, 2018, 08:35:34 PM »
Thanks both! Leo will speak (he dosnt like to bark) so generally when i tell him to speak to makes this 'grgrgrrroo' sound... i wpuld love to get him to a point where i can tell him to be quiet and he stops. We got broken into 3 weeks ago and since then he's been a comlete guard dog (understandable) but once he starts he won't stop!

No problem.
Sorry to hear about the break in, sounds awful. Hope you are all OK.