help with a yippy dog!

[Jessica12345]

hello!
my little doggy Jewels, a maltese, is the sweetest thing on four paws! BUT SHE NEVER STOPS BARKING! she barks at anything and everything, including, well, AIR! i knew small dogs were yippy, but not this yippy! is there any way to get her to stop??? thank u so much in advance! i appreiciate it!



~ Jess ~

[Karen]

How old is she? When specifically does she bark? Does she have toys to play with? How long have you had her?

We need more info before we could hazard a guess at help!

[Hbrika]

I am very interested in this topic.

My neighborus dog is like that and he riles my normally calm and quiet dog to no end.

Any advice for Jessica might help us too.

[skpaw]

My shih tzu's bark when they are excited. One idea is to tell her shhhh in a calm way and pet her when she is quite. In a very calm voice, tell her what a good girl she is while she is calm. Say no barking when she yaps. Reward her with pets when she is quiet. After a while, she will start to learn that you like her better when she is quiet. Of course, when a visitor comes or something like that, she is going to have her say!

[gotta_hava_dog]

I have a little dog and 3 medium size dogs. They are competitive and sometimes become too noisy and overzealous in their enthusiasm. What works for me is ignoring them when they're noisy. Specifically, if they want a treat and are noisy, I do not respond until they quiet down. Yelling at them just gets them more excited. The instant they're quiet, then I respond to whatever it is they want. The only exceptions to not responding to excessive barking is when they are asking to go outside or are warning me about something. The bottom line is, if you want to encourage the behavior then buy into it and bark along with them. If you want to discourage the behavior, then don't respond until they're doing what you want them to do. This is a very oversimplified answer, though. But with excessive barking, trying to talk them out of it can be interpreted by them as you joining in their barking fun.