I really need help with my dogs Barking or I may lose them!

[DogeSos]

I have 3 dogs, small breed. My neighbour next door is deaf, we are semi detached so never have any issues on other side.

However I am moving to a terraced house and I need to sort this before we move.

My dogs are wonderful, very loving but loud when they start. Which is whenever anyone knocks on the door or comes into the house.

Dog A is 5, daft as a brush. A shihzu mix. Very, very chill but always has an ear out for intruders (Aka DHL/Evri) He always barks if anyone comes near the garden. Or if a dog walks passed.

Dog B, is my baby. She is 4. Pug mix. She isn't really interested in people coming passed but when A starts Barking she joins in.

She is SUPER territorial and goes mad if nayine comes in the house.

Dog C is a Boston. 2 years old. Beautiful sweet baby who has just learnt that you bark when someone knocks on the door.

I have had trainers in.

First trainer HIT dog A as soon as he came in to stop him Barking. Obviously he was turfed out.

2nd trainer just wanted us to do the 'sit on the dog' technique.
But it was extremely difficult as you have to do it individually and it can take hours. I just didn't have the time to do it as I have kids and WFH.

I don't have the money to hire another trainer right now.

So was hoping so one in here has had similar issues and found a solution I could try?

Please don't judge. They are all rescues and A arrived super barky and taught the others.

Have you ever used something like this?

link

It’s literally compressed air that makes a loud shush sound. Doesn’t hurt the dog at all. You don’t spray it on the dog or at the dog. You just spray it when they bark.

I can now actually make a loud shush sound myself and it stops the barking.

So dog A is the one who always starts the barking, and the others just join in?

Sorry also meant to ask, are you able to stop them once they start?

We used to train “quiet” by getting something really delicious that the dogs loved to eat. someone would knock on the door, the dog would start barking and we would wave the sausage under the dogs nose while saying “quiet”. The dog would fixate on the sausage, go quiet and we would give it to them. We would just repeat that leaving longer intervals between waving the sausage and saying “quiet” before giving it to them. Sometimes the person would keep knocking while we held the sausage so they learned to ignore it. The down side is you need two people. You also have to keep calm all the time, as if you shout the dog just thinks you are joining them barking.

I'm following this. My 5 month pup is the same the minute someone walks past the garden she goes nuts the door goes she's goes nuts I'm losing the will with the barking xxx

So if A was out on a walk and someone knocked on the door, B and C would probably bark a bit but nowhere near as much as if A was there.

However, if someone comes in the house A and C would bark excitedly to greet person. B would be aggressivley Barking as she hates anyone in the house.

It's so embarrassing

It sounds awful but I had a water bottle and squirted them and that worked. It made them stop but it doenst detrer them in the long run.

I'd literally have to live with a bottle on my hip and I don't want neighbours to be knocking on or have friends round and I'm stood having a waterfight with the dogs.

I'm moving to a larger house and want to entertain.

They only bark like 3 or 4 times a day when people knock on.

But I want people to be able to knock and visit when I'm in my larger home.

I've almost blocked everyone out of my life socially because I can't invite them here.

So is dog B actually aggressive to people who come in, or is the only actual problem the barking? I know barking is annoying but I don't see why you've blocked people out of your life because your dogs bark at the door?

Anyway, firstly I would reduce opportunities for them to practice barking in general. When you're not home are you able to keep them in a room as far away from the front of the house as possible? E.g. I have a spare bedroom at the back of the house with a baby gate on and my dogs go in there when I'm out.

Can the dogs see out into the garden/street? If they can, I would suggest some frosted window film to block their view. You can get static stuff that just clings onto the window.

For the barking at the door, expecting no barking at all is a big ask, particularly when this behaviour is so entrenched. Most dogs will bark at the door. So rather than trying to stop barking altogether, perhaps think about training an 'enough' command (or whatever you want to call it) so they can have their bark, but will stop when you ask. This is going to be harder for dog B, if they are barking out of fear (aggression).

There's lots of ways to do this, depending on how your dogs respond and how obsessive they are with their barking - whether they can 'hear' you when they're nutting off. Are they food-motivated? What would they do if they were barking and you threw a handful of treats on the floor? (Not actually suggesting you do this, particularly as they will already be over-aroused and we don't want to create resource guarding! Just wondering if that would distract them from barking or not).

Management is always a good place to start. Obviously I don't know your house layout but can you put a babygate in the hall as far away from the door as possible, so they're not right at the door when people knock? Keeping them further away from the trigger should have a slight effect. Likewise, can you keep a houselead on them (light lead without a loop) so when they do start barking, you can move them as far away as possible - again proximity to the trigger.

I know you've had bad experiences with trainers but I really think getting a reputable behaviourist (not trainer) is going to be worth your while. You can ask your vet for a recommendation for a behaviourist. Stay far away from anyone who talks about dominance/alpha, and they shouldn't be suggesting negative methods like water squirting, bark collars, noise blasters etc. - that's all just going to create more anxiety around the situation which you definitely don't want with dog B.

Sorry I'm just replying as I'm reading.

I don't let people in because they don't stop barking at people.

They stop Barking once post man walks out of garden.

If postman came in for 30 mins they would bark at him for 30 mins.

If we met postman at the park they'd say hello silently and get a scratch.

I have frosted film on the window. They get up on the couch. The couch can't go any there else.
It's a small house with kitchen and living room so I have nowhere else to put them.

Theyre seperate from the door. There's a living room door that's shut at all times. So

Unfortunately I really don't have the money for a trainer or more so a behaviourist, my money situation is quite bad right now and every penny I have is needed for moving.

can the charity’s you rescue them from help? Most have behaviourists

there won’t be a quick fix whatever you try but you probably need someone to see if person to give the best advice

Ah so the problem isn't actually barking at the door, it's barking at people in the house.

What if when you had people in the house you put them in a different room (bedroom) with a frozen kong/lickimat? Assuming they don't resource guard / steal food from each other. Are they crate trained?

You said dog A and C bark from excitement - do they not settle down when they've had a chance to greet the person then?

Your situation is harder than mine as you have 3 barky dogs, but we have a rescue dog (already had other non barky dog) who is scared of men and barked furiously and launched herself at door/window even if someone walked past. We then got a terrier mix puppy and obviously didn't want her to copy especially, as you know, some dogs are more prone to bark.

So what I did was clicker train, literally took a day for all 3 of them to learn that any good behaviour meant a click then a treat.
Then anytime the door knocked, someone walked past etc I clicked and treated. At the beginning I had to distract her, as she was so in barking zone that she didn't care I was there with a treat, so I would calmly stand in front or take her collar and guide her away. Only when there is no barking did I click and treat.

It has taken several weeks but she is so much better, she does still bark at door knock, but stops when I say. The puppy now can watch people walk by with no reaction.

It does take time and consistency but I would not use any negative techniques such as a loud noise etc as it can cause other behavioural issues, and you could end up with more problems.

I think it is really good you take this seriously and are considerate to your neighbours but I wonder if either the barking is worse than you describe OR you are feeling excessively anxious about it.

If you are very anxious that may be making it hard to deal with. I have a light barker, she isn't territorial but she barks if she hears dogs barking outside which happens a lot as most of our neighbours have dogs. I asked my immediate neighbours if this was a problem for them and they said no as it's occasional and we always shush her quickly. I think with dogs barking constant barking or whining when a dog is left alone is very hard to cope with and lots of repeated episodes of loud barking are hard.

But if your dogs main triggers are people coming to the door that can't happen more than once or twice a day and if you are home to reassure them presumably it settles fairly fast? I am not saying don't work on teaching quiet as people above have advised - I like clicker training it is fiddly but it works really well for my dog and it makes you feel a bit magic when you get it right. I am just saying if it's a couple of loud episodes that you quickly try to calm down and are working to control most neighbours will tolerate it, just as we tolerate toddlers having noisy tantrums, occasional parties etc.

Barking when someone comes to the door is fine in my opinion, the issue is not stopping if you have someone round and the aggressive one.
if water works why not carry a spray bottle with you, ask a good friend to come over, explain you’re training and start to get them used to someone coming into the house etc

Maybe I'm being a bit dramatic saying I may lose thwm

But it's driving me insane and I would love to have a visitor knock and walk in and just have pleasant dogs that get up say hello and get on with their day.

Can you get someone to help you when you have a guest?

So put the dogs on leads and tell the visitor to not engage with the dogs at all, if Dog B is scared the keep as much distance as you can between them.

The idea is to make it boring to your dogs, so if they jump up the visitor turns their back and doesn't make eye contact.

When the dogs turn away and put their attention on you, click and treat.

If Dog b lunges and barks put more distance between them, keep sessions short and hey should make the association that visitors is a good thing if they are calm they get treats from you, not other people.

@Cece92 I really recommend using a clicker, and also cover all windows as for a puppy it takes a lot self control. So with ours if she was good at watching people outside, but responding to her name all with no barking, for say 5 minutes we would close curtains.

Then a couple of hours later we would open them and keep repeating through the day.

But you've got the dogs you've got.

You've had plenty of good advice on this thread, but as you're probably realising, it's going to be slow, hard work if you want to make progress - particularly with 3 dogs.

Do you have insurance for your dogs? Insurance will sometimes cover behaviourists so might be worth checking your policies if you do.

If it really is a significant problem for you, then you need to do the training, or at the very least the management. Otherwise you have to find a way to accept their behaviour.

@DogeSos generally I think it's ok to 'allert' you if someone is at the door.

However it should only be less than a minute!

The clinker training- if done correctly- is a good way to get them listening. I would then expand on the training to: doorbell rings, dogs behind you and quiet while you open the door.

This can be followed by inviting visitors in and dogs are send to their beds.

Obviously each command has to be taught separately: word & hand signal (at the same time), followed by clicker and treat.

Each dog will have to be taught individually before practicing with 2 and then all 3.
Over the course of a few weeks, you'll be able to just give hand signals for "quiet" , "sit" in designated spot or behind you by the door and "go to bed".

I find working with hand signals gets the dog to focus more on you. You are also taking away any emotions that are carried in your voice keeping things more calm and quiet.

With three dogs, all with seemingly different issues, there's not going to be a quick fix.

Ideally, you need work with each dog separately but that's going to be very hard when it's just you in the house and they all set each other off.

You really need someone to take B and C out for a walk so you can work on desensitising A to the door. Then rotate the dogs that are out walking so you can do the same with B and C.

Then do the same again but with visitors entering the home. Once all dogs are consistently behaving well alone, you should be able to have two, then all three there together and listening.

For a lot of dogs, it's an issue of someone crossing the boundary and being a threat because of that - boundaries are really important to dogs!

Next time you want to have a visitor, try meeting them up the road with the dogs, introduce them, walk back together and all enter the house together.

It's also worth reading up on what constitutes the sort of noise nuisance the council would get involved with - continuous barking (e.g. all day due to separation anxiety) but not the occasional outbreak because the doorbell went.

so dog A is the pack leader. I'd get trainer 1 back in and realise that some pack animals need negative reinforcement. This is not cruel, it depends on the personality of the dog you are dealing with. Alternatively you could manage it yourself if you change your mindset.

Do they bark when they hear the door bell or knock on the door?

If so this is very very easy to sort out but does take a bit of time.

If you are moving to a new house get a new door bell sound.

Do not fit the bell to the door just have it in your house to start with.

Ring the bell and give your dogs a treat what ever they are doing barking or being quiet. Do this a lot.

All you have to do is that every time they hear the bell they get a treat. Over time I would start to put the treat in their bed away from the door.

End result is the door bell goes, this is their learned cue to go to their beds to get a treat.

When they are doing this happily you can then start to introduce people into the house and they same thing will happen. They hear the door bell run to their beds kepp treating them in their beds when the new person is in the house. Over time you can decrease the time between the treats.

But it didnt work the first time doubt it will this time.

It will just increase the anxiety and stress when people arrive