Dog barking at neighbours/birds/squirrels/rain in the garden

[mintysmum]

I really need help to calm my dog down in the garden.

First thing in the morning he is chomping at the bit to get outside, he dashes out the door and races to the fence barking. He will bark at any noise from neighbours chatting to the rain dripping in the trees! This has been going on about two weeks and happens first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

Throughout the day it's not as bad - if I'm out he is shut in the kitchen and quiet (our neighbour is home a lot and honest) - if I'm home the back door is open and he spends a lot of his time sleeping inside/outside, pottering and occasionally zooming around barking.

My solution right now is to have him on a lead at 630am when he first goes out and after 9pm if he needs to go outside so he can wee but can't run at fences and no barking.

I can't disturb the neighbours with him barking before 8am and after 9pm but me and DH are getting fed up with needing him on his lead before and after these times.

Any ideas for getting him to relax a bit out there? He used to love the garden and over the winter has spent hours lying sleeping on the grass when I'm home.

i would look at what has changed in the last 2 weeks that has triggered this behaviour to be honest. has your working pattern changed? has his walk routine been altered for any reason? have you had new neighbours? are there foxes near by?

My dog is a nightmare for this, partly because she is a high needs breed but also because as a rescue dog she is constantly on protect mode so feels the need to protect dp, our baby and myself from everything from the wind blowing the swing to next doors cats roaming about. She has got a lot worse lately but i think we have a fox as we keep finding poops that are not our dog's (way to big and smelly) and are definitely not cat. She goes onto high alert when she senses the fox and goes bananas!

pets at home do a calming tablet or you can buy a calming band that goes around the snout if all else fails - we have one of these and whilst it doesn't stop it completely it does reduce it!

Do you walk him out is being out in the garden his exercise?

If you don't actually give him a decent walk he could just be bored so making his own amusement.

Our rescue dog was like that when we got her, she used to obsessively chase bees and butterflies, dig holes and dismantle sticks. I once had an enormous bit of conifer which she dragged in and dismantled under my table.

He loved the garden and was calm and relaxed from September when we got him to the start of spring when people started being out in the gardens. But even then he would only bark at actual voices so usually daytime.

The dashing out in morning and night is new and possibly a reaction to seeing a cat or squirrel on one part of fence as it's always the one section he runs to first then has a general bark off all the fence area.

He has over an hour walk each day so I know he is getting plenty for his age - 11 months. When we last had him at vets he said he had good muscle tone and agreed his current walk schedule was enough for his age and not to increase it.

My mum suggested a water spray and that one of us go outside with him with spray and treats - treats when he's pottering quietly and spray if he runs up to fence barking. He used to bark a lot inside and we occasionally flicked water on him as our dog trainer said it would help on occasions where his barking was attention seeking, not communication of a need IYSWIM. It did help and he rarely barks in house now unless he wants out or is excited by an animal on TV.

I always walk mine in the morning before I would let them in the garden, if I just took them down and let them out they would just have a noisy play/cat hunt, so out for half an hour first thing. Besides that way they is far less poo/wee in the garden, can't actually remember the last time I had to pick up poo from the garden.

I think you have answered your own question as to why not to spray him with water. He does not bark in the house but is now hyper and barks outside - that to me is not the water spray working. Just that you dog has found another outlet for the same behaviour.

I would agree with you and continue to take out on a lead and to prevent the behaviour until the calm behaviour becomes habit. Do not give him the opportunity to charge and lunge around. There could be nesting birds or squirrels that you are not aware of for example which he can hear or smell.

A single one hour walk is not enough and is more than likely the cause of the problem! He needs more walks throughout the day to get rid of the build up of energy. You should be walking him first thing in the morning rather than just releasing him into the garden, then again about lunchtime then mid-late afternoon and again before you go to bed

He is bored and over energised

Agree with Gobblers, dog really needs to go straight out for a walk. Our barky high energy rescue wakes up at 7am raring to go, really desperate for some exercise, would bark the place down if let out into the garden. We're lucky to live near marshes and river so go straight out for half an hour running off lead and ball chasing which calms him down.
He's never in the garden on his own. As soon as he barks I say "quiet", if he doesn't stop he goes inside. We've been doing this since we got him 9 months ago and things are much better but still got a way to go before we can trust him to be quiet in the garden on his own.

I think a morning walk would be ideal but it's not possible for everyone. I couldn't do it as they need to go out before I've managed to shower, dress etc and I live near a tube so it's not possible to sneak out with no one seeing me!

If it is an option, great, but if not persist with the lead in the garden to stop him rehearsing the behaviour.

I don't agree that four walks are necessary for most dogs but if you can manage two I expect it will help a lot. An evening walk really calms my barky terrier down for the evening and morning.

Do you do short interactive play and training sessions a couple of times a day? Just 10 mins at a time of using his brain will really help tire him and give an appropriate outlet for his energies and focus. On days you have time try doing this in the garden so he doesn't just associate it with barking at environmental stimuli.

We've worked on training a quiet command but as with ender, if he is too over stimulated to stop he is called in immediately as the barking is self rewarding.

This time of year is a challenge due to the longer days and increase in activity from neighbours and wildlife. We had screaming foxes at the end of the garden last night so bedtime wee was on lead.

The problem with using water flicking/spray is that you have suppressed the behaviour in that specific context but not given him another outlet for that energy. Like a leaky bucket it will come out elsewhere. Personally I would not use a trainer that relies on aversives to squash behaviour.

I have a collie (so high energy) she doesnt have four walks a day - she has one really good one in the morning, when she runs around like a maniac playing with other dogsm, and she is no problem. If I couldnt walk her I would pay someone else to - but for me the walking is part of the joy of owning a dog.

Just realised my first paragraph is unclear - we have a morning walk but they need to go out into the garden for wees first thing. I would struggle to get them straight out for a walk first thing for morning wees.

I get up at 630am but at that point I can only let him out in the garden as I have two kids to get ready for school before we leave, with dog at 8.

He used to go out at 630am often reluctantly, have a wee then back inside where he lies on his bed while we have breakfast, but he usually lies snoozing so not desperate for exercise. He now is chomping at the bit to get out and run to fence, bark but since I've been putting him on lead he wees then comes inside with me and flops. I really don't think he needs a walk before 8am.

I don't like the water spray idea so will ditch that.

I do think we should keep going with the lead until the habit is broken.

He is a barky dog so I understand that maybe I've suppressed it with water inside - I'll try the increase in training. Training in the garden is a good idea too as it has become his territory - the first BBQ this spring caused him to be hyper - he just couldn't settle with us eating outside but was excited. So training in the garden might change the focus.

Thanks all

Hi Mint,

I know it's a pain in the proverbial, but I would persist with taking him out on the lead for now, as the less chance he gets to do it, the more likely the behaviour will go to extinction.

As SpicyPear suggested, try doing some calm training out there and you could also perhaps try spend some time sitting quietly in the garden with him, stroking, massaging etc so that he makes calm associations with being out there.

In the evening, adding in a lead walk will probably help, as not only will he most likely eliminate while you're out, the stimulation of smells etc on the walk will help wear him out, so he should be less likely to be hyper when you let him out last thing (although I would still be taking him out on lead for now anyway).

There's no way I could walk my dogs before they go out for first wees. Dh leaves early for work and I have three dcs at home. We get up at 6.00 am as it is to get my eldest ready for his school transport, which comes ridiculously early. I would have to get up at 5.00 am or earlier to walk the dogs and have never needed to. They get two walks a day, a shorter one in the morning which is more on than off-lead and a longer on in the afternoon which is mostly free-running. I did used to get up at 5.00 am and drive to the meadows with my dogs when I worked mornings (awesome time to be dog walking, as everything is so beautiful and quiet) but that was pre-dcs and I knew my dogs were going to be left for a couple of hours, so needed to be tired and relaxed while I was gone.

Cross posted Mint.

Sounds like you do need to reclaim the garden, so spending some time out there with him sounds like a plan - and has the added bonus of giving you an excuse to sit in the sunshine. Don't feel you have to be doing something with him every time you go out there, just sitting quietly so that he learns to relax out there too will also be of value.

SpicyPear, know what you mean about needing shower etc before going out in the morning. I wouldn't have dreamt of going out without full ablutions, make up and hair done until got 2nd dog. Now don't even wash my face. Wake up, dressed and straight out the door in 5mins because he's bursting for a pee and I don't want him in garden barking at 7am. We have to walk through station car park full of London commuters all smartly dressed so am always pleased when its sunny and can hide behind sunglasses .

Yes I shower when I get back too, in the winter I just pull on full walking gear over my pjs, I also have to go out at five to be able to do it before dp leaves and I have to do the school run but I have insomnia on my side, one of its few benefits.

Yes probably more exercise would be good.

My pug was an annoying yapper in the garden. Barkso was her nick name for a while!

It's a pain but what I did worked (mostly). Every time she barked for more than about thirty seconds (dogs are allowed a bit of a bark!) I'd bring her in. Every single time. It's a chore don't get me wrong but she soon got the message to be quiet in the garden :)

Haha my sympathies ender. One of mine would really enjoy doing a big poo in that car park in front of the commuters

Luckily the barker is greedy so once he's peed he'll rush back in for breakfast before getting distracted by the birds, police helicopter, dogs barking in the park...

It may be that something in the garden has excited him. My dog suddenly wanted to keep going out and it was because a new neighbour had cats and a Fox was using the garden at night. Luckily she isn't a barky dog, she just shoots out like a Bullet out of a gun and disappears down the side of the shed.

Had to laugh at your last post Spicy.

Lurcherboy loves nothing better than doing an nice big poo in front of horrified non-dog owners - or even better, a crowd of teenagers - he'd relish a whole carpark full of smartly dressed commuters to perform for!

Muzzle could work to train the dog out of it.

My most embarrassing dog experience ever was when my lab produced a massive runny poo in front of a crowd of people waiting for a bus. Still trying to blank out the memory of trying to clear it up...

Oh goodness do not use a muzzle. It's lazy and a a sure fire way to increase your dog's frustration levels.

Nope not lazy. Only had to use it a couple of times along with a verbal instruction before dog understood it's antisocial barking wasn't acceptable. I think if they are allowed to yap they get worked up. My dog is very calm.

You do not want your dog barking at 6am in the morning when you let it out for a wee. That's not acceptable for your neighbours.

Wish my neighbor was as considerate as you OP, he lets his dog out at anywhere between 6-7 and let's him bark constantly. It is so infuriating.

Oh ender - been there too. Lurcherboy again, on the pavement right outside the driveway of a particularly pedantic retired gentleman that lives near us. Ended up using a whole pack of tissues and hand wipes, half a bottle of handgel and a bottle of water to clean it up while he stood in his bay window and supervised. I never walk the dogs without my fully stocked training bag now after thanking my lucky stars I had it with me that day.

Milmingebag muzzling is definitely not the way to go.