Unbearable barking!

[Alice10101]

My puppy is now 16 weeks and his barking is becoming unbearable!
I don't understand why he does it, he'll run around the house, up and down the stairs barking when he gets to the top, jumping on the sofa and barking then jumping off, running to my feet and barking at me, its non stop and without any obvious cause! He also loves to bark at random objects like plant pots, etc. Its not just a couple of barks, once he starts its absolutely continuous.
Its really doing my head in and I feel really bad for my neighbours 
I would understand if he didn't get enough exercise or attention but he gets loads of attention and games and plenty of exercise
I've tried turning around, crossing my arms and ignoring him but he doesn't care he just runs around barking even more! & he doesn't understand any word such as quiet.
Most people I speak to at the dog park are really surprised that he even barks and they all say, oh how strange, my dog hardly makes a sound!
Is this normal in cocker puppies or is mine 
I'm absolutely losing my rag!

[GeoW]

Hello Alice, I completely understand how you are feeling, William was an enthusiastic recreactional barker particularly first thing in the morning or when left in his pen. He drove us to distraction at times.

At eight months plus he is starting to improve, less vocal in the mornings and less episodes of random barking.

The approach we took was to try and distract him with something else, or put his lead on and remove him calmly to his pen for a time -out.

If barking continued in his pen, I would go into the room, not look at him, or speak, stand there for a minute or two and then leave, he would then go quiet at least for a while.

I would only return when he was quiet to let him out.

We have had four spaniels previously and William has been the only serial barker, it is not a trait to be desired and you do have my sympathy.

[piph]

Waffles sounds like he has an extreme form of the normal cocker 'zoomies'!  It's maddening I know.  Ozzy has had occasions where he has turned into a serial barker - he'll suddenly start and we have no idea what has set him off, then he just goes on and on.  We always try to distract him straight away now with a toy and a short game, and it usually works (goldfish brain!!!) We also say "Thank you, now be quiet", as we don't want to actually tell him off for barking at a strange noise, it's an early warning system just in case it was someone trying to get into the house. 

[jobartlett]

Enzo doesn't bark at much to be honest but when he does we do the same as piph and say 'thank you, now be quiet'

Are you going to work Waffles at all?  Is there a specific thing/noise you want Waffles to bark at?

[Alice10101]

We're not going to work him, although taking him for some working dog training might be beneficial!
The only thing I would really benefit from is if he would bark at a stranger in the house
I don't mind him barking sometimes, I realise that's what dogs do 
Its just the continuous racket that drives me up the wall! 
At least I'm not alone!

[polarbear]

Cooper has a barking frenzy at around 4:30 pm every day.  Nothing I do or say calms him down. 

I was thinking that he does it because he's not had enough attention or play-time but I mentioned it to the teacher at my puppy training class tonight and she suggested that he's not getting enough naps and this is why he's becoming hyper.  She advised me to put him in his crate for about 20 mins just so he calms down and gets some rest.

Just a thought - could Waffles be over-tired?

[piph]

Cooper has a barking frenzy at around 4:30 pm every day.  Nothing I do or say calms him down. 

I was thinking that he does it because he's not had enough attention or play-time but I mentioned it to the teacher at my puppy training class tonight and she suggested that he's not getting enough naps and this is why he's becoming hyper.  She advised me to put him in his crate for about 20 mins just so he calms down and gets some rest.

Just a thought - could Waffles be over-tired?

Actually - that's a good point!  Ozzy always becomes hyper and growls and barks when he is overtired - we put him in his bed in his pen when that happens and he invariably falls asleep almost  immediately.

[polarbear]

I tried it tonight.  When the barking frenzy started I put him outside the living room door (which is glass so he could still see us).  He scraped on the door a couple of times and then he lay down and went to sleep! 

I would never have thought he was tired but perhaps the trainer was right 

[SophieBlueRoanLover]

In our training the other day there was a dog (a Finnish Lapp Hound) that barked incessantly. The trainer said to her owner to put the dog outside the door every time she barked. She did this throughout the training and by the end the dog had pretty much stopped barking - as the owner had ignored her. Sounds as if this is the way to do it, and it's working for you already!
My pup used to bark a lot more when he was younger, and has pretty much stopped now (at 6 months). Ignoring it is definitely the way forward!