Excessive barking

[Milopoo]

Hi all,

My dog barks whenever people walk by my suite. I believe he barks because he percieves them as intruders. I've received complaints from my neighbors and i would like to stop my dog from barking excessively. Are bark collars effective? Is there a way to train my dog to stop barking without using a collar?

Thanks in advance

[dashn'us]

We had a very similar problem with neighbours in our apartment complaining about Dash's barking. He never did it while we were home but one day we video taped and figured out he barked the entire time we were gone. What breed of dog is it? Dash is a miniature schnauzer and we didn't feel comfortable using a shock collar on him. We bought a citronella collar, a collar that sprays citronella every time he barks and it stopped his bad habit right away! Just some food for thought!

[Digston]

I have issues with one of my dogs barking too. I have tried working with him to fix this behaviour but I unfortuately haven't had any lasting luck. I tried the spray collars but his long fur prevented it from working properly. I didn't try the citronella one as I figured it wouldn't be anymore effective than the plain spray. He knows he isn't supposed to bark at people and stops as soon as you tell him to but that does nothing when I am not at home. I gave up and bought a shock collar, and while that isn't the route a lot of people here would take, it worked... kinda. He knows what it means when the collar goes on and he'll stop barking... take it off and he's back to being a barker.

If he barks non stop while you are not home it may be separation anxiety, which is the problem that would need to be addressed as the barking would most likely a result of the anxiety.

Is your dog crate trained? That might be somewhere to start. Just make sure his crate isn't against a hallway wall so he can't hear people walking out there, or have a radio or a tv playing in the room.

Hope you can find a solution without needing to turn to collars, keep us updated on how it's going

[BenMax]

We trained one of ours to pick up a toy instead of barking. She will pick it up and walk around with it until the urge to bark was over.
Teach the dog to retrieve. If the dog is toy motivated, then teaching this will be easy.
Good luck.

[Digston]

BenMax.... how?!?! LOL I would love to use this method with my dog as he does retrieve and loves to show off what he has retrieved. How did you get your dog to associate retrieving with barking?

[BenMax]

Originally Posted by Digston

BenMax.... how?!?! LOL I would love to use this method with my dog as he does retrieve and loves to show off what he has retrieved. How did you get your dog to associate retrieving with barking?

She is very toy motivated so it was pretty simple actually. Everytime she would start to bark, we gave her that favorite toy. She runs around with it to entice us to retrieve it. We kept that toy handy and had another member of the family ring the bell, entice her with the toy and she would stand at the top of the stairs with the toy in her mouth. We did this frequently.
So now, whenever someone is passing by or someone at the door, her toy box is right next to her to take the toy and keep her mouth occupied.

[Digston]

Thanks! I'm going to give this a shot! Great idea!

[BenMax]

Originally Posted by Digston

Thanks! I'm going to give this a shot! Great idea!

Let me know how it goes.
Now if I could do this with my min pin...well then I would be the next television show...sadly - I hardly think that this will happen..EVER.

So it boils down to the dog really.

[evanora]

Sorry for kind of high-jacking this thread, but this was what I wanted to post about as well...

My dog is great in the house (stops barking the instant you tell her and actually gets a toy when people come to the door and barks in a "muted" way which is quite cute), but outside is a different story. About 80% of the time I have no issue with her, but with new dogs it's a mix of excitement/being unsure and it always escalates to me "shushing" her and correcting her but her looking at me and continuing to bark (and she knows she's in trouble - I just don't think she understands what for) or barking at the other dog.

I'm a relatively calm person so she's not getting any nervousness off me and every time she barks I just look at her and think "really? why?" -- So my question is about the citronella/spray collars. Are they suitable for outdoor use and also does anyone know if, lets say, she barks while out on a walk and it sprays her, will that deter the other dog we want to meet from saying hello (due to the spray/scent)? I've been taking her to a calmer off leash park and for the first 30mins all she does is bark. People have been really nice about it (and I know it bugs me more than them), but I really just want her to have proper manners, but I don't want a collar that will also scare off potential "friends". Thanks for any help!