Looking for some ideas and guidance as to how we can stop our 3.5 year old dog to stop barking at anything that moves in the garden/street. Okay anything is an exaggeration but it really doesn't take much to start him off.
There is probably 3/4 main things that start him off (1) the minah (sp??) birds start up and that means he knows that something is "happening" in the garden so off he goes barking barking barking down the stairs out the doggie door to see whats happening (2) possums - goes off if he hears them running accross the roof or if he discovers one of them in a tree in the garden (3) pigeons - we have a rock wall at the end of our garden and there are a number of pigeons that roost there and again he'll stand under where they are barking barking barking until eventually they fly away (not becuase of his barking mind but just because they wanted to!).
However main thing that sets him off that I want to be able cure is people walking up and down our street. We live in a battleaxe and have a living room upstairs with big windows/sliding door onto deck that looks down the drive to our road. J will stand at the window/sliding door watching out and will just start barking and barking if he sees anyone walking up or down the road! With the stair gates still up it means he can't always get outside to bark at them but if they are open its bark at the window first then head down the stairs barking as he goes to the gate until they are gone.
I understand from something I saw previously that in his mind the barking works. He sees them, he barks, they go away .............. so its obvious he should bark! He doesn't they would have been going anyway.
Has anyone any suggestions on what we could try to do to stop the behaviour? He was quite strong willed as a puppy and DH and I probably were a bit too soft on him in regards to his training. This barking thing has been going on for a good while now (but not since birth) but I think its been getting worse over the last little while.
I may just need to get a dog trainer in the teach me/us/him what to do but thought I'd try here first.
We have the same problem with our dog, to the point of hearing a car door slam down the street will set her off, living just down from an intersection where the traffic queues past the house every peak hour it quickly wears my patience
We were thinking of trying a citronella collar that squirts citronella under their chin when they bark, yet to research it tho...
A barking collar works well if your dog doesn't like citronella My parents have one for their dog who whines uncontrollably. It was a last resort as nothing else was working and nasty letters from neighbours weren't helping the situation (he is horrendous!). The collar costs quite a bit (close to $200 for memory) but it definitely works.
We tried professional training with my dog and it really helped but you have to be so diligent and persistent and unfortunately, we just didn't keep up with the training as DD kind of took over our lives. Poor excuse, I know! Thankfully he's not really a nuisance barker but when he is, we also use a collar on him. Generally the collar alone is enough to shut him up (it doesn't have to be on!) and we hardly ever use it TBH but having it there sure is handy at times.
Good luck hon. Barking can be very annoying for all those in ear shot!
You are part of a pack..... You have to make sure that he is 'below' you. So when he barks.... If you quickly tell him to stop it, then he kind of just thinks you're joining in.... Sometimes IMO the best thing to do is ignore behaviour you don't want.... Then there is no incentive to continue it.
Sometimes you're going to want your dog to alert you to things.... But if you don't react to the things like barking as possums, birds, or people walking past.... Then he might realise that there is no reason to do it, coz all is well.... You're in control.
It's really hard to explain.... Don't want to sound like the dog whisperer or anything, but this is how I treat my dog and he is the most relaxed mountain of fur going around!
We has this with our 3 yr old. He was fine until we had new house built beside us. He would bark at anything, we actually nipped in the bid quiet quickly and were able to borrow a bark buster and only pop it on during the night.
It omits a high pitched noise that doesn't hurt the dog and is quick, so it breaks their attention. We like him to alert us at what's going on. So as soon as it sounded like he was settling, we turned it off. He still barks but he barks at things he is meant to.
It helps that he doesn't like upsetting mummy, he knows when I am displeased with him, by the tone in my voice, and I suppose my energy too. See if u can find some information on Cesar Milan the dog whisperer. The way he explains things makes things so much easier.
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Dog barking - ideas wanted to get him to stop!
My parents have one for their dog who whines uncontrollably. It was a last resort as nothing else was working and nasty letters from neighbours weren't helping the situation (he is horrendous!). The collar costs quite a bit (close to $200 for memory) but it definitely works.
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