Dog barking at, well everything really!

[Wishitwaswarmer]

Hi, I'd appreciate some help on this. We have a 3 year old Jack Russell. Generally well trained, friendly with other dogs, good recall. She has a shorter walk in the morning and a long field walk during the day as well as company during the day. Saying that, she is a Jack Russell so rests for about an hour after an exhausting walk and is ready to do it all again! The problem is that in our garden she will bark instantly and continuously at everything (unseen noise on other side of fences, distant car starting, bird chirping, other small dogs barking etc). She does stop when called to come inside. What would be nice is to be able to leave the back doors open on nice days (when I'm at home) without her barking at everything and me needing to call her in and also when letting her out late at night for her not to be noisy due to neighbours. Is this completely unreasonable?! She obviously is a dog so I expect her to bark but is there anything I can do to help her not get so worked up about every unknown noise? Many thanks in advance

[Gymbob]

tricky. how old is ddog? I had a can full of stones I launched in his direction. the noise stopped him in his tracks, but it never hit him. don't suppose that will go down very well here he doesn't bark at anything now though, except maybe the postman now and again.

[Wishitwaswarmer]

Thanks for your reply. Someone else has suggested a "Pet Corrector" spray to me (I think it makes a hiss noise) which sounds like a similar tactic but has very mixed reviews so would appreciate if anyone has opinions on it

[Wishitwaswarmer]

Sorry, dog is 3 years old. She has always had this tendency but it's got a bit worse and I think with summer coming it just highlights it as there are a lot more outside noises, with people being out in their gardens more etc. It's probably something I should have tackled earlier to be fair

[Floralnomad]

I have a Patterdale x who is very barky and what I do is reward him for going into the garden and coming back in without barking - he gets half a gravy bone out of his treat jar . The only problem is he now just goes out to the garden walks round for a few minutes and comes back in just to get a treat . I won't say he doesn't bark at all but he definitely barks less and it does work well at night when he is only going out for a quick wee .

[thecatsm0ther]

Watching with interest, as my cavalier does this too.

[Shinyshoes2]

Before I opened this thread I wondered if it was a jack Russell you were referring too
We have one who is EXACTLY the same . He's 8 and we haven't found a remedy yet
Plus on topic all the barking he does at fresh air He also just stares at me and barks..
A lot
Perhaps Jacks just have supersensitive hearing

[marmaladegranny]

Watching with interest! Since moving to Surrey my boy has become very annoyed with the many planes that fly over - they take absolutely no notice when he barks at them, unlike the pigeons who go away...

[Wishitwaswarmer]

Thank you for the tip Flora, she is quite treat driven so I will definitely give it a go. Sorry others have the same problem too, although I'm glad it's not just mine!

[fieldfare]

I'm not sure if it would work with yours as he's a bit older but we taught our German Shepherd to 'speak', and then 'quiet' when he was a pup. He's very treat focused so it was easy enough.

[villainousbroodmare]

This is tricky.
As Fieldfare says, one way of tackling it would be to actually teach your dog to bark on request.
I would try this with a clicker, for clarity. Initially teach your dog how the clicker works - ie, click is good as it is followed by a treat, then 'Guess what, I can control this by doing things that cause them to click me!' Google for more info on how it works.
Then you click and treat the chosen behaviour, in this case barking. You will initially get more barking. When you get the impression that the dog will bark and look expectantly at you (as opposed to at the neighbour's cat or whatever was the previous trigger), you start to attach a command to it.
Ask for "bark" or "shout" or whatever you want. Start to only click and treat a bark when you have asked for it.
In theory, this puts you in control of the behaviour. You can (and should) then ask for a bark at certain times, as clearly your dog likes to hear his own voice. Harmless times would include when a member of the family comes home, or if a prowler is about, or when you are on the beach and not in people's faces.
You could enhance this further by teaching "Shhh!" in the same way.

It's probably one of the most difficult behaviours to control as it is kind of self-fulfilling. If you were to add into the mix a second dog, I think you could nearly guarantee that the barking would be enormously increased.

[fieldfare]

Exactly as villainous has explained it, but we used small treats instead of a clicker.
He now also 'sings' as well. Pure silliness.

[releasethehounds]

I have this problem with one of our border collies. She is 6 and sometimes barks repeatedly, but only when she's in the garden. A bridlepath runs across the bottom of our garden and she barks at passers-by and particularly cars, but sometimes she just barks for no reason. She never barks on a walk, so I think it's territorial. It drives us nuts. Our younger BC doesn't bark like this, but has an altogether more relaxed personality.

Sorry - I have no solutions for this but I'm watching with interest!

[villainousbroodmare]

I think it's something dogs tend to do when they can't fully access the object of their interest. Sometimes they perceive that their roaring makes it react, or go away, or it elicits an owner response; worst case scenario, it changes nothing but doesn't it sound magnificent?!

[CaTsMaMmA]

mine tend to bit a bit barkier as they get out into the garden as the weather improves, and as you say they hear everyone out and about, but they really like it out there and so being made to come in is punishment enough, especially if you send in the barker and not the one who is being quiet.

if i am out there and they look like they might be thinking about it I call them over and make them wait/concentrate on me or just chatter to them quietly

after a week or so they are pretty good, but they do like making noise when anyone comes home.

[Wishitwaswarmer]

Thanks so much for all the advice, I definitely have some ideas to be getting on with. I did do some clicker training when she was a puppy but never really followed it through so will try that again.

[Stellios14]

I used a water pistol with a firm no, this stopped her barking in the garden pretty much imediately... she still will chase up and down at passers by and other dogs but the very annoying puggle howling and barking at EVERYTHING has stopped!!

[muddymary]

Thanks for this thread. My staffy has just started doing this unfortunately it's not just in the garden but at anything and anyone who goes past the window so I'll be trying out the advice on here!