Sheltie Barking at other dog.

beepbeep

Forums Novice
Hello. I'm new here. I have a question. Never having owned a Sheltie or been interested in the breed specifically, I rescued a dog that my neighbor was not taking proper care of. He's roughly 5 months. Maybe. I also have two other dogs. One rescue and one Pembroke Corgi.

The Corgi is slightly aggressive towards other dogs but never towards human's. So it's been 4 years since we've had a puppy! My question is this, I know Shelties have the barking reputation but he's constantly barking at my Corgi and then in turn the Corgi barks at him and my third dog when they're playing. Any tips for stopping the barking at the Corgi?

Thanks!
 
When I took Lucy to obedience school (she's a rescue) they taught us to shake a soda can of pennies when she barks unnecessarily. We then say "NO BARK" along with the shake. It took a few tries and she got it. It's been about a month since her last class and when we say "NO BARK" usually she stops. I don't use the penny can anymore, she gets the command without needing the can. Lucy used to be an all outdoor dog and I guess barking was her only way to get anyone to pay attention to her.

She still ignores us sometimes, but it's usually when we are walking and she spots another dog. It works about 90% of the time though.
 
Thurstin doesn't bark at any other dog, not even our other rescue! Not even dogs outside. Only at the Corgi. I guess because she barks at him. I don't know. We have a trainer coming next week to help me out especially now that I have 3!
 
That could be hard with 3 dogs. Shelties are so much louder in multiples. It does sound like barking at the Corgi is a play thing, which is a pretty common behaviour for a puppy. You could try leaving a short lead on your sheltie and whenever he starts barking lead him away for a short time out and when he settles let him go play again. It wont take him long to work out everytime he barks the fun stops.

I found shaking the can at my shelties just makes them bark more, and I tried the speak/quiet approach - my dogs dont need an excuse to bark! I also did the treat when they are quiet but it didnt take my male long to work out he should bark first and then be quiet to get a treat. Plus for a real barker it doesnt seem to have a lasting effect. The only thing I do find works is to not give them attention when they are barking - just to grab them and lead them into time out (or just threaten the time out)
 
I taught Deja to bsrk. Once she had a solid bark down, I then added the 'quiet' command. It's great fun. I can get her to start barking on command and then have her stone quiet the next. It's not perfect and depending on how distracted she is with what she is barking at, she is 85% under control.
 
This is a huge problem with my dog Finley.

She is turning two soon FYI.

I take her for 3 mile walks daily and she gets lots of playtime.

When I walk her and she catches wind of another dog around she goes into total psycho dog bark mode. Its like she is having a seizure. Ive tried everything and to be fair she has toned it down a bit.

She doesnt want to attack she just wants to go over and sniff nad get the dog to chase her and play.

I mean I live in pit bull central and sometimes the pitbulls and their owners wont walk on the same side of the street with me with this crazy sheltie.

Im at a loss for what to do.

I mean the dog is a genius as far as dogs go and she is still not catching on or she is purposely not catching on which I think is probably the case.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My little rescue girl doesnt bark at other dogs but does bark at everyone that comes in the house. I use the "no bark" command and most of the time that is good enough but when she persists I spray water in her face and that really works. All I have to do is go for the bottle now. The bad thing is that when she plays she likes to bark it is almost like barking is part of the fun and sometimes I dont discourage her because she is so happy but I dont want her to think barking at people is a good thing.
 
My dogs bark when they get really excited while playing. I let them do it. As long as they know the difference between barking because I invite them to (chasing them, etc...), and barking at me for no reason.

Also, I can stop my dogs from their crazy/play barking if necessary, though I rarely find in necessary.
 
Back
Top