barking puppy

[misdee]

yes i know dogs bark.

but one of my pups is very vocal. he barks when i leave a room, he barks when other pup has a toy he wants, or when i go out walking other pup. he barks when i am in the kitchen eating lunch. he barks and barks. and its one that goes right through you.

how can i help him not bark. i dont mind him barking at the door. or being protective. but the constant barking is driving me mad.

i cant even walk him in the mornings as when i get back to walk other pup, he will spend the whole 30mins in the house barking. and i dont want to annoy the neighbours.

he gets walked in the afternoons and evenings.

Two ways one is quietly take him by the collar and time out when he is barking put him in a safe place on his own. Leave him and let him out when he is quiet. He will probably bark the minute you let him out to start with so again calmly put him on his own. (what can also happen is that the dog will bark see you coming and run away - to stop this put a house lead on him for a few days so you do not need to go so close to him to catch him in the act of barking)

Or you could teach him to speak. When he barks click and treat, he will learn this very quickly bark and get treat then add the word speak so he barks on command. Then teach him quiet so click and treat when he is quiet and say quiet.

I prefer the first method as although the second one does work you do go through a stage of a large amount of barking and it can encourage a dog to bark when introducing new behaviours with the clicker. You know how they go through there repertoire of tricks when you teach them a new behaviour you can add barking to it. So personally I would try the first way (you will need patience) but it does work.

is the first way quicker?

he no longer barks when dh gets up at 5 for work, so had some improvement (dh just ignored him basically).

he does seem more highly strung than other pup, who is more chilled out.

I think the first way is quicker and with two pups I think the easiest.

How old are they now?

5months.

It is an interesting age(!) as they begin to find their feet and in some cases their voice! You can sometimes see the dogs just loving the sound of their own voice.

If the barking is from being highly strung you could also try a DAP collar - it can help some dogs who seem to go through a fear stage around this age.