stop the barking

Any suggestions on how to teach Autum not to bark? She doesn't even qualify as an excessive barker but my stepfather would like her to be mute like our deaf cocker spaniel. I personally like it when she barks at the door becuse I never hear if somebody is at the door. However I am at college half the year and Autumn is at home with my ass of a stepdad. He says I have to stop her barking or she goes out. I tried training her and using something that makes an anoying high pitched sound when she barks but she doesn't care. Last possibility is a shock collar but I don't want to do that to her. Help.

The problem with using aversives is that the dog eventually becomes immune to it. Then, you have to use a higher frequency and the dog will stop temporarily. Then, the dog once again develops immunity and you have to keep increasing the frequency of the aversive until it eventually reaches a physically dangerous level. On top of that, aversives often produce aggression and fear. I would never use neither shock nor citronella collar on my dogs. Instead of DON'T BARK OR I'LL SHOCK YOU (which creates fear and other mentally unhealthy stuff), try When the doorbell rings, look at me for treats. You can gradually shape this by doing a Sit-Stay or Sit-Watch Me when a person walks through the door. Have your dog on the leash and have a friend there to help you. Sit on a chair in front of the door and command a Sit-Stay from your dog. Have your friend knock on the door and command a Watch Me at the exact same time. If she doesn't perform because the urge to bark is stronger than the urge for treats, go back a few steps and use extremely high value treats. I personally haven't done this, but a trainer I know uses this technique. You can even do this by yourself by knocking on the wall to imitate the sound of the door. I know this always fools my dogs ;) Eventually, you can go up to the actual doorbell. Hope this helps.

My dog won't bark if she sees me knock or if I ring the doorbell. I try using this method when I am home but it won't work when I'm away at college and she is at home with my parents. I think I'm just going to tell my mother to crate Autumn whenever my stepdad is at home, he's gone most of the day. The problem is she is scared of cages bacause she came from a puppy mill and she always gets really sressed out and finds ways to escape. She also barks the whole time she is in the crate and you can hear her even if the crate is in the basment. No problem solved there. I think the collar is my only option since I don't want to surgically remove her vocal cords.

kick step dad out.....:D

seriously,, dont put her in the crate of she is scared of it,, she could hurt herself and or make life even worse for everyone including her..... your step dad will have to help in the dogs training if he wants the barking to stop,, try asking him to help instead of bitching... excuse my language....

surgery wouldnt be an option for me either,,, its un necessary when your baby can be trained to not bark with some co opertion with your family....:)

I would go with the citranella collar before a shock collar. Shock collars can malfunction. You could also unplug or whatever it requires to make the doorbell not ring. I'm kinda at a loss for answers cause I like dogs to bark when someone is at the door. God forbid this ever happen, but what if someone is trying to break into your parents' house and Autum has now been trained or discrouraged from barking or has a shock collar on and won't bark. He could just try telling her to hush in a loud dominating tone when she starts barking. :confused:

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kick step dad out.....

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Ha! That was funny! That would be my choice too. I tried a citronella collar on my previous dog Ripley but he was too smart for it....He would bark and it would spray citronella and then he would bark at the citronella and it would spray again and he would bark at it again and so on and so on until the collar was out of citronella!! (Doesn't take long, it only squirted about 15 times per canister)
I would try what Giselle said also. I for one, like the dog barking at a knock or a doorbell. Duncan does the same but he also bum rushes the door and will knock the person down if I open it without restraining him...but that's a whole other story...;)

Duncan even barks at a doorbell on TV. There are certain commercials I dread!! Like some of the pizza delivery one!! :D ;) :p

Good Luck. Don't give up!

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Originally posted by jennifert9
Ha! That was funny! That would be my choice too. I tried a citronella collar on my previous dog Ripley but he was too smart for it....He would bark and it would spray citronella and then he would bark at the citronella and it would spray again and he would bark at it again and so on and so on until the collar was out of citronella!! (Doesn't take long, it only squirted about 15 times per canister)

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lolololol
Hopefully Autum won't figure out how to outsmart the collar. There is this dog at adoptions (Petsmart) who barks non stop all day while in his crate. One of the volunteers baught him a citronella collar and he figured out that if he held his head up while he barked, he wouldn't get sprayed. :rolleyes:

If he only works for you, involve your step dad. Tell him that if he gets involved with the training, she'll listen better. I would personally start from Square 1 and command a concrete command that she KNOWS. Down and Sit are two concrete commands in this household. I would command a Down-Stay on lead and attach a lot of dog tags on her collar. Click and treat. Watch Me. Click and treat. Have step dad knock on door. If she starts to turn away, give her lead a little tug and gently "pop" or shake it to rattle the tags. If she looks at you in surprise or turns back around to face you, click and treat. Eventually, you can work your way up. I LOVE having my dogs bark at the door, so I'm not very good in this area:p