Barking help!

[DarlingWithoutYou]

Our dog is a just-turned-1 mini poodle. He's generally brilliant and we adore him. BUT in the last 6 weeks or so he appears to have really found his voice and is using it! It's much worse when he's tired. But if he sees a dog when we're in the car, or a leaf goes past when he's in the garden, or if another dog barks- he is OFF.

I've been doing some googling but getting confused. it says to reward them when they're not barking, which I've been doing in the garden. But I'm worried he thinks he's getting a treat because he's been barking!

Any help appreciated.

bump!

Love poodles very clever busy dogs and can be pretty vocal Does yours make that really sweet whinny, purring noise?

Back to barking. Dogs bark for loads of reasons and sometimes just because they like it!

To start with I would just scatter/throw a few treats on the floor when he barks. Say nothing. Do this ever time he barks.You will need to have treats on you at all time!

The plan is that when he hears or sees something that would have made him bark he will turn to you for the treats. If you do this religiously to start with you will be able to drop of the treats over time (but dont rush or you will be back to the barking again).

Its good old fashioned classical conditioning like pavlov and his dog. So no you are not rewarding the barking. The trigger, a leaf blowing or whatever, is an indicator to your dog that treats will follow and it is more important to search for them than to bark.

Thank you Polly, that's really helpful. I'll have to start wearing a bum bag with treats again like I used to when he was smaller!

Do also consider what you can do to prevent barking. Can you stop him being able to see dogs when he’s in the car for instance?