Attention barking....

[Aria20]

My spaniel is 14 months old, we've had her since 10 weeks. She was spayed a month ago.

She is generally a lovely dog, curious still puppy like but gentle and happy. She has had lots of training and got her kennel club good citizen silver award. She is good with children and other dogs, generally walks nicely and good recall. Has a good hour walk mostly offlead in the mornings and another walk later in the day which can be 30-45 mins this walk may be more onlead but occasionally is offlead depending on weather or where we walk. She has most meals in puzzle feeders/kong/snuffle mat etc. I work at home during the week and after her morning walk she generally sleeps near me for the day until the kids are home after school. All good.

But - weekends/school holidays when my husband and kids are home she becomes a pain - barks a lot for attention despite having mental and physical stimulation. My husband is getting very stressed with the barking and it does grate on us all. As he isn't home during day he doesn't see what a different calm quiet dog she can be and just sees her as a barky nuisance. What can I do to stop this barking?? She has everything she could want and has lots of toys/chews, variety of walks etc. she is not barking to go out for wee as that would be fine, nor is she barking at door/windows. It is literally barking at me for attention which obviously she can't always have! She does know "quiet" but it doesn't really work in this situation, it is basically impossible to just ignore as it's so shrill and with DH/kids around can't just ignore it as it's stressful.... and she doesn't really do it when it's just me and her so it's not like I can practice it when they aren't around, so what can I do?? Help please!

I think your answer lies in this bit of your post he doesn't see what a different calm quiet dog she can be

She is over stimulated with everyone around at weekends and school holidays.

I would be working on enabling her to get more calm in these situations.

This may be by encouraging her to be happy in a quiet place for some of the time, maybe training mat/boundary work so she can happy stay in one place when everyone else is moving around. Actually cutting down on her interaction with others and giving her stress releasing activities eg sniffing and chewing.

Change her environment slightly and her behaviour will change.

Who is she barking at?/ how is she barking?

Is she getting anxious because there is so much going on she she can’t settle like she would in the week?

She is barking mostly at me for attention because I might be playing with dd and I guess she is used to it just being me and her in day. Or she drops a toy and barks for someone to play with her.

She seems to be getting worse since being spayed is this possible?!

She does know "on your bed" and "settle" but I just need her not to bark at me. It's driving everyone mad and DH in particular as he says he can't take it anymore and if it doesn't improve asap he'll be wanting her gone! I obviously do not want to rehome her as aside from the barking she is lovely and I love her!

I have never tried this method, but I know that some people recommend teaching a dog to "speak" (bark) on command since it can apparently be easier to teach "quiet" afterwards. Of course, that would be something you'd have to work on when she is calm.

If I remember correctly from the puppy threads, your DH has never been the biggest fan of your dog and has talked about wanting to rehome her before? Apologies if I've got you muddled with someone else.

@certainshepherdpups yes DH is not her biggest fan but the barking has gotten worse recently and it's stressing us all out. She does know "speak" and "quiet" but quiet doesn't work in these situations as it seems she just wants my attention.

We get this a bit just now. And it’s especially at the weekends too. Sometimes I think she needs to be left in the kitchen on her own to quieten down and have some calm space. It’s difficult though as the kids are always coming and going a lot

Two general ways to deal with it:-

Reward when she is not barking - so in this case reward nothing eg when she is quiet and on her mat minding her own business. Quiet treat delivery no words not interaction.

Remove yourself when she is barking. - dont remove her just all of you move to another room. (if you remove her it gets exciting and she still gets attention, if you leave her it is very boring)

Totally agree with Turguoisesol she needs to be able to be calm on her own. Can she be left in a room on her own in the week when it is just you and her. Eg you in one room her in another?

It sounds like she's hugely over-stimulated as her routine changes at the weekends - suddenly the nice, calm, quiet house is full of people doing lots of different things and it's just too much for her.

So, a few things to think about:

How much sleep is she getting at weekends?
Does she have a crate/bed/quiet space she can go to in order get a break and some sleep away from the chaos?
Does her walking, feeding and sleeping routine change at the weekend?
Are the children/DH doing anything in particular that's upsetting and disrupting her routine, and how good are they at just leaving her alone to rest?
What do they do with the dog that's different to what you do?

I don't think this is scenario where using speak/quiet is necessarily going to help on it's own - the reason she's barking is environmental and so that's what you need to focus on here. Either adjust the environment so it's calmer and suits her better (as it does during the week) or work on behaviours with her that will enable her to settle in busier, noisier environments.

Ideally I would change the environment first (to calm her down) and then slowly increase the amount of noise/bustle/movement so she learns to adapt and can be calm in an increasingly overwhelming environment, if that makes sense.

@PollyRoulllson it depends really if she's had a good walk and is sleeping then yes she'd stay settled if I left the room and went elsewhere in the house... if she's not tired though she'd follow me or bark if I closed the door. She doesn't bark if we leave the house and she is alone but she will bark if we say shut the door and all went upstairs - like she wants to be with everyone if they are home but if we're not home she'd just settle and go to sleep!

I do reward her if she's just chilling on her bed, but I do say "good girl on your bed" when I treat her so maybe I'm doing it wrong?!

Spray bottle. Like for plants? Every time she does it give her a squirt of water

She won't do it for long! And it's not really cruel. Just gives them a shock and stops the undesirable behaviour.

It worked for our collie who goes mental when anyone moves the quad or dares to move sheep without him!

@fairylightsandwaxmelts yes it probably is over stimulating as there are 5 humans when everyone is home. But two older kids who are generally just in their rooms, 4 year old who plays with the dog or equally will do her own thing if told to leave the dog. DH generally will ignore the dog other than give her the odd stroke or play for 10 mins. And me and I guess I'm "busier" at the weekends as opposed to sitting working on laptop.

Her routine does definitely change as normally she either comes on school run and we go for a walk after or I walk her once back from school run and it would be just me and her. The afternoon/evening walk would usually involve 4 year old or if I wait until she's asleep me and teen ds. Whereas at the weekend the walk times would be different - we may all go for a long family walk together with her so more late morning, or me and a couple of the children will take her out on one of her usual walks. Depending on the length of walk, if she's been offlead/ran around with other dogs etc she'll sleep for quite a while after this and id play quietly with dd but lately nothing seems good enough for her?!

It's definitely got worse in the past few weeks so the only thing that's changed is her being spayed but she's been signed off from vets all healed nicely etc?!

I have a thirteen month old spaniel who was spayed ten days ago. My lord she's been hard work this week. Very similar scenario in that she demands my attention when I'm around and gets very barky at the weekend. She's always been a bit like this, but it's definitely worse since the op. I suppose their hormones have gone from being all over the place, to non-existent which can't be easy. No advice I'm afraid but much sympathy. It's really stressing me out.

I think many young dogs struggle when their routines change @Aria20 - I know when mine was that age, weekends were really tough if we didn't stick to the vague routine he was used to during the week in terms of waking up, walks and naps.

As far as possible I would try and keep her routine similar to the weekdays - so up at a similar time, walks at similar times (and of similar lengths) and the same for naps, meals and any play or training sessions you do with her.

I often think dogs are a bit like small children in the sense that they often need a sense of structure and routine in order to feel safe and secure.

Mine is four now and we can vary his routine a lot more, but certainly up until about two, we had to be fairly rigid or he just really struggled with all the changes.

She's slept quietly by my feet all evening typically lol but she was very barky at various points throughout the day today so god knows... I'm hoping it's a short lived phase or I can figure it out....

Give attention before the barking starts?
Ignore barking. Ask for a different way to get your attention. I ask mine for “touch”. Barking gets nothing. Like a whining child!
Brain games and something to chew (calming) at the weekend.

She's definitely barking directly at me as has been doing it today as well.... she was only at the vets for final sign off re her spay and ear infection just over a week ago could they/I have missed something? There's no limp or anything I've checked her all over and no obvious sign of pain anywhere. Is she just being demanding of my attention or is there something wrong?

If you're worried, take her back to the vet, but I suspect it's just attention seeking - I found the teenage stage really difficult with my dog - his behaviour really went backwards for a good while before he calmed down around 18-24 months of age.

What do you do when she barks at you?

@fairylightsandwaxmelts sometimes I am able to ignore if I know she's recently been out for toilet, walked, fed etc as I know there is technically nothing she needs. Other times I will take her out in garden to see if she needs to go - usually not as she'd generally go to the back door if she needed to go out! It is very hard to ignore! I guess you are right it's probably demand barking as she knows that she'll get taken out to the garden if she persists.

Often when you start to ignore barking like this, you get a bit of "extinction barking" which is when it gets worse (because it always worked before, so they don't understand why it's not working now) before it gets better.

I know how hard it is to ignore the barking but you really do have to tune her out, and consistently reward her when she's quiet instead.

If she doesn't need to go out and she's had everything she needs, I would look into occupying her with brain games instead - so she has no need to bark for your attention because the attention comes via games and training instead. Have a supply of frozen kongs, lick-mats, chews and snuffle mats that you can load up and give to her after her walks - it really helps to calm them down.

My beagle is four now and he still gets some kind of food treat after a walk - that could be what I call "sniffy snacks" (kibble scattered in the garden for him to sniff out), a natural chew of some kind, a stuffed cows hoof, a kong, a lick-mat - anything that will distract him and calm him down after the excitement of exercise.

Sorry I have no advice @Aria20 but I feel your pain. My dog is exactly like this and as a Jack Russell he has a very high pitched bark. If there is just myself and DH in the house and we are sitting working or watching TV he is fine, but if we start moving around the house picking things up as if we are going out, or we stand together talking, or we have visitors, his barking is sometimes unbearable. I have always thought it stemmed from anxiety that he can see a difference to routine and doesn't know what is happening, or whether it is going to include him. Actually I've resolved the going out thing in that if I pick my handbag up he knows he's not coming so he goes back and watches in the window . He is also very similar to your dog in that it's mainly me he barks at!

@fairylightsandwaxmelts thank you I think I do need to increase brain games, she does get natural chews like goats ear or lamb braid most evenings but they don't last her very long anymore! Maybe I need to change the timings of her things as she normally has lick mat around lunch time and perhaps evenings would be better! She's not as interested in snuffle mat unless it's something other than kibble but maybe I can chop up some other stuff really tiny to make it last longer. We had a puzzle toy from pets at home before but it was too easy and some of them are so expensive I'm reluctant to shell out if she destroys it or it's too easy again - do you have any recommendations? Treat dispensers aren't exciting enough!

I would try some longer lasting natural treats - ostrich braids, ostrich bones, pizzles, hairy beef skins, camel skins, buffalo skins - they all last mine about an hour on a good day and he goes right to sleep afterwards! I also stuff cows hooves with things like his wet food, or occasionally doggy pate, cream cheese, natural yoghurt with bits of his kibble in it etc, so once he's finished the "stuffing" he can chew the hooves and they can be re-stuffed ready for the next time.

I never bothered with puzzle toys with mine either - he just found them all way too easy, even the so-called "advanced" ones

We also scatter his kibble around the garden to sniff out, or on rainy days we make him wait in the kitchen and scatter it around the living room instead.

We have an ostrich bone but she's not that interested. She likes buffalo horn which I do stuff but again doesn't take long. Pizzle and paddywhack are out unfortunately as beef gives her itchy skin and terrible wind and upset tummy lol the only chews that seem ok for her are the lamb braids and goat ears but sadly only last 20 mins if I'm lucky!

I would try some longer lasting natural treats - ostrich braids, ostrich bones, pizzles, hairy beef skins, camel skins, buffalo skins - they all last mine about an hour on a good day

Ostrich braids last about 10 mins if that around here, same for camel/buffalo skins.

@Aria20

We have an ostrich bone but she's not that interested. She likes buffalo horn which I do stuff but again doesn't take long. Pizzle and paddywhack are out unfortunately as beef gives her itchy skin and terrible wind and upset tummy lol the only chews that seem ok for her are the lamb braids and goat ears but sadly only last 20 mins if I'm lucky!

You can freeze the buffalo horn to make it last longer :)