How to deal with barking?

Ok, Vallis is a barker. When we first got him he would bark right at you for you to pet him, but we have been ignoring him and it has stopped for the most part because it doesn't get him any attention.

How do we get him to stop barking at everything outside and inside when he hears a noise?? Eric works from home 3 days a week doing tech support (he takes calls) so he can't have a lot of background noise and we don't want to have to crate Vallis while he works. I have thought about squirting him lightly with water, but I don't want to have to do that until I hear other suggestions first. Is there better way to get him to stop barking every time he hears something (more pleasant for him anyway)? Thanks!

:) Boy howdy if we can get some good advise on this one Hey count me in...
My Brandy is the barker & I spend lots of time at the back door at night & 1-2 am with her barking & telling her to hush up & dont wake the neighbors.. I bought one of those collars & never put it on her.. I cant stand having to shock her all the time..

Louie is a barker, too. That's why he is called LOUD Louie. He is the Informer, The Doorbell (Unreliable, as many times we have answered the door for Casper the Friendly Ghost - ;) ) We've been through school, videos, books, etc...
We've learned to embrace the barking ... We work from home also. We do remind him that he does not have to inform us of everything, we realize he thinks it is his job... we try and find him other things to do when he gets too Barky.

Duke barks at anything out of place!! he even has been known to bark at the moon if it sneaks up on him!! he he he!!(true story!) he has also woke his self up by barking in his dreams!! such a dufous!! oh well we have just learned to deal with it!! but if he would bark all day long non stop!! well that would be a different story!! besides he dosent bark he bays and howls!!! :D

Squirting him with water is one way- though that would likely be one more thing to bark at. Spray bottle doesn't work n my dogs- they catch it in their mouth- think it is a game. Teach him to speak on command would be a better idea. Once he knows the command to speak, you can get him to understand 'no speak'- or, as our Natalie knows the command- 'mime dog' and she changes her bark to a whisper. This was the only thing that helped us. When I talked to the vet about it- he wanted to do surgery on her vocal chords. I definitely wasn't keen on going that route.

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Originally Posted by jennawing

Squirting him with water is one way- though that would likely be one more thing to bark at. Spray bottle doesn't work n my dogs- they catch it in their mouth- think it is a game. Teach him to speak on command would be a better idea. Once he knows the command to speak, you can get him to understand 'no speak'- or, as our Natalie knows the command- 'mime dog' and she changes her bark to a whisper. This was the only thing that helped us. When I talked to the vet about it- he wanted to do surgery on her vocal chords. I definitely wasn't keen on going that route.

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so how does one go about teaching a dog to speak??? we got rotti from a rescue who already knew the command, and we have been trying to teach duke to speak. but to no avail!!

This really is a hard nut to crack, but some dogs do learn the *no bark* command. I would get a couple good dog training books from the library and look up the techniques which are recommended. If all else fails, you could get one of those collars which allows a free bark and then gives off a warning and a mild correction. One of our friends uses it for his little dog who we sometimes care for when they are on vacation. Rita doesn't mind wearing the collar and it really does work. I don't like the idea of it because it has these two prong things that seem to poke into the front of the neck, but like I said, Rita doesn't seem to mind it.

Try this:
Get a handful of yummy treats and have them in your pocket. Get a can of some sort and put 10-20 pennies inside. Get ready. When your dog barks, shake the can immediately. That should startle him enough and get his attention. Then tell him to sit, and when he does, give him a treat immediately. Be consistent. Eventually you should be able to tell him to sit--or down, if you prefer--after the first warning bark.

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Originally Posted by critter crazy

so how does one go about teaching a dog to speak??? we got rotti from a rescue who already knew the command, and we have been trying to teach duke to speak. but to no avail!!

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Marta knows how to speak. Find something that makes them bark, and give a treat everytime he barks after you "speak," he will probably pick it up pretty quickly!

Thanks everyone for the advice. I think the hardest thing is going to be consistency (for me), since I don't really mind when he's barking too much, I just don't want him barking when Eric is at work.

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Originally Posted by LoudLou

Louie is a barker, too. That's why he is called LOUD Louie. He is the Informer, The Doorbell (Unreliable, as many times we have answered the door for Casper the Friendly Ghost - ;) ) We've been through school, videos, books, etc...
We've learned to embrace the barking ... We work from home also. We do remind him that he does not have to inform us of everything, we realize he thinks it is his job... we try and find him other things to do when he gets too Barky.

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Louie sounds very helpful, being your doorbell and all. ;) I know corgis are somewhat known for barking, but Marta has never had much of a problem- (Vallis is another story...) she only barks at things she finds unusual (people loitering suspiciously, and dogs that are being aggressive. we call her a police dog).

We've had luck with both the coins in a jar and with a squirt of water. The jar works great when they're all barking. The water bottle works better when it's only one of them barking. We keep both handy. Mine rarely bark when they're inside. When they're outside they often bark at specific things (ie: a motorcycle, diesel trucks).

For a long time I worked in an office with a Sheltie. He was a barker, and not consistently trained by his humans, so the problem persisted. If I was on the phone with someone when he was being particularly barky, I'd say, "Excuse me a second, please" and hush him, then come back to the phone. Or I'd say to the person "Don't mind the noise, that's just the office dog," and 6 times out of ten the person would say "You get to have a dog at the office? You're so lucky," and the other 4 of the ten would say "No problem."

Here is how I taught Ginger (a Beagle) to speak. Of course Hounds (Beagles and Bloodhounds too) love treats - even a little kibble of their regular food, so use it as an incentive for your commands.

Take a Kibble (one Kibble) in your hand - either left or right, but be consistent at first, and hold some more in your other hand. If your dogs sits, then start here. SIT - when he sits praise him and give him a treat. Now while his is seated, hold a Kibble between your thumb and forfinger (clearly visible) just above his snout but out of reach. He will turn his had upwards and be reaching for it. Slowly pull just out of reach and keep saying, SPEAK. He will lick his chops and maybe lunge at it, but be persistent. Don't let him have it. SIT him back down and start over. SPEAK. He will get so excited and frustrated that he will eventually bark. NOW you've got him. Just keep repeating this process over and over and pretty soon, he will know the routine inside out and will speak upon command. He will even speak when you assume the same hand position without a treat and say SPEAK!!! :D

I have an Eskie, they are known for being barky (and quite honestly there are some Saturdays when Ginger drives me crazy), but generally speaking she is a pretty quiet girl (even my neighbors tell me that :) ). Here is what worked with both her and my first girl. When she barks, get up and go over to her (assuming she is looking out a window, if she is looking at you, you won't need to get up). Tell her "shhh" the noise should make her tilt her head (if it doesn't make some kind of sucking sound, that should make her alert on the sound). Immediately tell her good girl. Then if you can, make the sound before she barks again when she looks tell her good girl. Do this everytime she barks for a couple of days. After that you should be able to stay seated and tell her "shhh" or whatever sound worked and she will stop barking and run to you for praise. Then after a week or so, she will just "shhh" when you tell her. Until the next squirrel runs in front of the window to make her bark. :rolleyes: It will take a while until he/she learns what he/she should or shouldn't bark at, but at least it is a good start. Good Luck, I think Corgis are natural vocalists, too. :)

(Sorry, I realize that Vallis is a boy, but I was thinking of what I did with my girls when I wrote this that is why it all says "her" and "she".)

To get some needed relief sooner you could move the computer into
a more private room & then work on the problem barking from another
room.Good luck.

We moved from a quiet country setting where anything out of the ordinary needed barking at to a neighborhood, and our dogs were totally freaked out and barked at everything. One of our new neighbors actually came over and (without even introducing himself, grrr! :mad: ) told us that the dogs would be a 'problem'. He later came back and said that he realized that he should have waited a few days to let them settle in before he said anything.

My solution was to bring the dogs in every night (we had let them in most nights at the old house, anyway) to sleep. That way we only had to deal with the barking when loud strange noises, etc were happening, and they were not waking the neighbors. They have since settled in and only bark occasionally (at night anyway). During the day, I don't worry about it; they go out in their 'play'pen during the day and that is free time that they can bark and romp and play to their heart's content. There are so many other neighborhood dogs that carry on that I don't worry too much about the neighbors being disturbed unless it's past 9:30 or so at night (if we go out somewhere for dinner, etc. and are late bringing the girls in). So far no other complaints from neighbors. :)

I have read about the water squirting and the coins in the can....I have a puppy pitbull and he stays inside and barks...i think mainly because he wants attention...but he isn't house broke yet either so i keep him crated most of the time and when someone walks in the room and walks out...he whines and barks wanting out but i can't watch him all the time....so i am gonna try the water thing first and see how that works...

this has been very very helpful!!!