I nned HELP, now! Barking dog!

[Disenchanted3]

I have 2 pugs, they bark ALL the time, 1 of them especially.

They play in the garden all day, have acess to the house and food/water of course.

The kids are with them as are we, but they just bark constantly,

they are out there now,

I don't want to bring them in, they get sad in the house but as soon as they are outside they bark.

At the trees, at the flag on the play house, at the sound of neighbours.

My mums pug is not a yappy dog at all, so Im surprised Lily is so noisy!

I'm scared someone is going to complain because if they are doing my head in they must be annoying neighbours!

I'm not going to be any help, sorry. Patch is generally not a barky dog, but he is in the evening. At about 8pm he has an hour of barking at the wind. It is very annoying, so all I can offer is sympathy.

Tell them NO! but don't make a huge loud to-do as they will think that you're joining in and take it as encouragement. Try taking them away from the cause of the barking immediately they start, making them connect barking with the removal of playtime/your company. Some would suggest a shock factor tactic, whereby you drop a noisy object (stainless steel dog bowl, for example) onto the floor with the NO, which shocks the dogs into silence. Having done so, distract with chat and fuss. Soon they will just associate the NO alone with the need to be silent.

As a long term strategy, teach them both to "Speak" on command. Best taught individually, once you have this established you can reverse the command and stop the "speaking" as quickly as it starts.

Tips for teaching "speak" (but don't laugh!) - holding a treat out, make a woof noise. Repeat and within a couple of moments most dogs will woof back, if only to get the treat. Reward and repeat.

I've just learned that my new foster GSD can speak on command.

I have found that a squirty bottle filled with water helps. You need only squirt a couple of times before they get the idea. Now I only have to shake a bottle at my dogs and they stop.

The lady my dog came from recently moved from a farm with no neighbours to a house with neighbours. She's got a few dogs and they started barking at everything .

Her strategy was the minute they bark she goes out and firmly says 'in' and they have to go in the house. She said you need to be consistent and did it loads the first couple of weeks but they have now learned barking = having to go in and they don't now.

I have recently moved from a semi-rural house to an estate and my dog barked at everything that moved when we got here.

I have been using the same method as Wynkens friend which seems to be working but unfortunately it took around a month for any noticeable difference.

He still barks at cats, folk walking by, etc, but that's not necessarily a bad thing as it will deter any would-be intruders.

Do they get any exersize outside of the garden? They may need more exersize to help tire them out. excess energy = excess barking.

CG they have walks everyday.

I will try some of the advice on here

thankyou

Hi

I am a dog trainer and I would advise that you establish the cause of the barking before you try to stop it. That's really important because if the barking is fear based and you punish it, you could be in a worse situation if they are then fearful of going outside and they start to mess in doors etc, so be careful that you get it right.
In my experience harsh methods will work for a short while and then further problems will arise.

I can recommend you look on the apdt.co.uk website to find a kind, reward based trainer in your area who can help you.

Good luck x

"Her strategy was the minute they bark she goes out and firmly says 'in' and they have to go in the house. She said you need to be consistent and did it loads the first couple of weeks but they have now learned barking = having to go in and they don't now"

This is what we do with ours, if they bark whilst outside, they are immediately called indoors. They soon learnt not to bark outside. They do still occasionally have the odd bark, (usually if the neighbours cat comes into our garden) but bark very, very rarely.

I fell your pain, I hate dogs that bark constantly (not to mention very few of them are probably actually happy) and can only imagine what dogless people must think of them.