Hi Folks
I'll try to keep this brief but yesterday I spent an hour on the phone to the Dog Welfare Officer (aka Dog Warden
) and she really opened my eyes to my barking problem so thought I would share her thoughts.
Her brief diagnosis was based around the fact that due to my work as a Childminder the dogs are separated from me for the majority of the time between 8-6pm apart from when I pop in and out of the kitchen. She seemed to think that Cleo's barking was because she feels the need to warn off predators while the "top dog - aka ME" is in another part of the house. She has suggested more off lead exercise will result in happy calm dogs so we'll have to wait and see. I have restricted their access to the garden at busy times when I cannot be there to bring them straight in i.e. when I am feeding the baby etc but as for the play barking she said there is nothing I can do about it because it's instinctive behaviour
She said it sounds as though I have a very clever dog who's brain is too big for her body
and that I need to try and integrate them back into family life more during the evenings and weekends to try and improve our relationship which should make her feel more protected
The main eye opener was that she said I had to see it from her point of view and that living within 6 foot high fences she couldn't see anything to help her decide what was a threat, and therefore she barks at any little noise. This made sense as when the neighbours were trimming their hedge she could see the man on ladder and never barked once as if she was thinking "Oh it's only him cutting the hedge - no burglars!".
Although it all makes sense I'm not sure I have an effective solution......but will work on the exercise and give her some finding games to do in the field to use up some energy.
