Cocker Specific Discussion > Puppies

HELP!! My Pup's Barking Mad !

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Daisydoo:

Can anyone shed some words of wisdom ?? My 12 week gorgeous pup :D  has just found her voice (and what a voice ) and now wants to use it at any opportunity - we have tried No and NO!! which sometimes works, but she thinks we are playing a game and just barks louder !  :cry:
We have tried ignoring, putting her back in her crate - turning our back - so she just walks away and barks at something else  :x (normally if outside its our poor rabbit !!)
Is this a phase (along with the play biting) ? or has anyone got some secret cure !!??
Thanks                    

*Jay*:
Well, I hope there's a secret cure and if there is I want to hear it :wink:  I can sympathise with you as Dallas is very vocal. I don't know whats worse - the barking or the persistent whining over anything or everything :roll:  He's 15 months old now and showing no signs of improvement. He tends to bark when excited and playing so in the park hes running about barking his head off. Hes also now started to bark at other dogs and people in the street. I think the effect of the aboistop is wearing off now so i'm a bit stumped as to what do next :?                    

Jane S:
There is no magic way to stop a dog barking though its much easier to teach a puppy to be quiet than an adult dog where it's engrained behaviour (sorry Gill :)) Some Cockers are noisier than others - this can be down to genetics in part as some lines seem to be "barkier" than others. With a young puppy, the worst thing to do would be to shout at the pup to try to shut it up - puppy just interprets this as you joining in :wink: Most trainers seem to agree that the best way to curb problem barking is to teach the dog to bark on command, the idea being that once you can get a dog to bark to order, you can also control the "off switch". This takes time & patience to achieve but it's not impossible. For more info on barking generally, this is a good little article by David Appleby:http://www.priory.com/vet/vetbark1.htm                    

Shirley:
I've tried the method that Jane has mentioned and managed to teach Morgan to bark on command when he was about 6 months old (when you tell him to 'speak' he starts barking and say 'enough' and he stops).  Unfortunately this is a trick to him and if he starts barking of his own accord (say at the post coming through the letterbox  :oops:  :roll:) I can say 'enough' till I'm blue in the face and he won't stop til he's ready to stop.  I'm not sure what I did wrong  :?  :?:   In saying this, I stayed a night with his breeder when I went to collect him and he definately comes from a long line of "barkers".  Although I mainly keep in touch with his breeder by e-mail, we do speak on the phone sometimes and Morgan has barking contests with his family over the phone!!! :?  :wink:  
I've kind of got used to it but it bothers non-doggie visitors, but then I get quite irritated by crying babies.  
He never barks at people in the street, which is one thing that I'm quite glad about.  
I hope you have some luck in quietening your pup, either that or you manage to get used to it as background noise :lol:
Sorry I couldn't be of more help  :(  

Shirley and Morgan  :D                    

Daisydoo:
Jane

Thankyou for the interesting thread - it totally makes sense and I will try to act on the advice - Im not sure yet about the barking on command - its sound advice but Im not sure if I want even more barking in the short term !!
Heres to ignoring and reinforcing the right behaviour :)
....interesting because the cat takes no notice of the barking she has started to bark far less at her !! The cats not daft                    

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