Training techniques: Caesar vs. the rest???

corbinam said:
You know, you'd think that...but I'm not sure it works. Since we have moved into our new house I have literally *never* answered the door when the doorbell rings (which is rare anyways). But, there have been a ton of instances where the doorbell rings on TV.

Bentley goes absolutely crazy every single time. I don't move or flinch or stop what I'm doing, but he still goes nuts. He still hasn't figured out that nothing happens when the bell rings.
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We don't have an actual doorbell, just a knocker-thingy, so Miko doesn't flinch about a doorbell on tv. A barking dog on tv (or the computer) that's a whole other story.

I was trying to watch episodes of "It's Me Or the Dog" on youtube the other day... YIKES... my house was a mad! Between the 2 dogs present barking their heads off and the dogs on the show barking... well let's just say that I'm in the market for a good set of headphones :wink2:
 
corbinam said:
You know, you'd think that...but I'm not sure it works. Since we have moved into our new house I have literally *never* answered the door when the doorbell rings (which is rare anyways). But, there have been a ton of instances where the doorbell rings on TV.

Bentley goes absolutely crazy every single time. I don't move or flinch or stop what I'm doing, but he still goes nuts. He still hasn't figured out that nothing happens when the bell rings.
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Hah! Now that would be a different approach to training. Have someone rigng the door bell over and over again, and I don't move a muscle ! I know that's not what you meant, but I think it might actually work for my dogs!

They think the doorbell means "alert". What if the doorbell was just some noise that meant nothing. Hmmmm!
 
BarbV said:
They think the doorbell means "alert". What if the doorbell was just some noise that meant nothing. Hmmmm!
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That goes along the same lines as me knocking on cupboards, counters, doors inside the house, etc.... It all means nothing... Yet he still barks his food head off at all of it.

If you could stand it... a CD of all different doorbell sounds might work for Indy and Bacca. One that is the same as yours (ie. Ding Dong.. or whatever you have) and the others all different. Maybe they'd get desensitized to the sound and even confused about which of those actually even means something in their own house.
 
Mikos_Mom said:
That goes along the same lines as me knocking on cupboards, counters, doors inside the house, etc.... It all means nothing... Yet he still barks his food head off at all of it.

If you could stand it... a CD of all different doorbell sounds might work for Indy and Bacca. One that is the same as yours (ie. Ding Dong.. or whatever you have) and the others all different. Maybe they'd get desensitized to the sound and even confused about which of those actually even means something in their own house.
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Just to make things worse....my doorbell sound is Big Ben in England! Very annoying!

Listen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1LVk-Bf6CY

Must change this doorbell!
 
With door bell/ knocking on the door/ mail/ people passing etc any distractions outside the window what worked well is acknowledging dogs request during those first two Woofs that John Rogerson demonstrates in his clip. I literally say " Thank you, I see/ hear it, I will take over from here." It makes my boys happy and they stop barking. You have to be there though and take over when it is just a warning, not in the middle when entire tirade going on.
Few other things to try is to find a spot where your dog will normally take lets say marrow bone if you give him one. Often it will be back of the room etc. Put a doggie bed there and keep basket of milk bones or something that they will need some time to swallow but highly desirable on hand.
It is especially helpful for dogs who do not want to meet strangers, you actually stimulate their flight response and take fear out of the way- they do not have to be at the door when bell rings.
Dogs do become less territorial when resources are plentiful so putting 3 dishes with meal divided for one dog is helpful, when giving bones/ chewies, give each dog 2, put 5 dishes with water for 3 dogs etc. Put basket with kibble/ treats outside on your door for delivery man to bring resources into house etc.
In our house barking is easily controllable, but that is because I am intolerant of the noise:biggrin2:
 
dmeyer123 said:
WHOA...it sounds like a calling!! My dogs barked when I played it on the computer...:biggrin2:
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I played it and none of my dogs reacted. But ring my doorbell and all hell breaks loose.:lol:

Ember will bark at the doorbell if it rang every minute of the day. I tried desensitizing her to it but it hasn't worked. Justice and Diva do well unless Ember revs them up. Though she is not longer barking at doorbells on TV.:smile2:

I am currently also revisiting Ember's demand herding barking. This is the barking that she does when I am moving around the house and she wants something. It is really bad in the morning. I am just stopping and staying in place until she is quiet and then I move. I don't take a step if she barks at me.

It is working quite well and she is barking at me about 50% less. I had it under control last year to almost nothing but let it get out of hand again.
 
Justicemom said:
I played it and none of my dogs reacted. But ring my doorbell and all hell breaks loose.:lol:

Ember will bark at the doorbell if it rang every minute of the day. I tried desensitizing her to it but it hasn't worked. Justice and Diva do well unless Ember revs them up. Though she is not longer barking at doorbells on TV.:smile2:

I am currently also revisiting Ember's demand herding barking. This is the barking that she does when I am moving around the house and she wants something. It is really bad in the morning. I am just stopping and staying in place until she is quiet and then I move. I don't take a step if she barks at me.

It is working quite well and she is barking at me about 50% less. I had it under control last year to almost nothing but let it get out of hand again.
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Well, keep in mind, my dogs bark at the phone, the door bell, knocking, the garage door opening...They bark at door bells on TV, phones on TV, dogs on TV ...etc.

I really think the instigator is our little Shih/Poo, Kenzie....couldn't be my perfect shelties....:biggrin2:

We had a huge bark fest tonight. There was a cat on the fence hidding in big bush. Kenzie found her and all heck broke out.....at least it was early...
 
dmeyer123 said:
Well, keep in mind, my dogs bark at the phone, the door bell, knocking, the garage door opening...They bark at door bells on TV, phones on TV, dogs on TV ...etc.

I really think the instigator is our little Shih/Poo, Kenzie....couldn't be my perfect shelties....:biggrin2:

We had a huge bark fest tonight. There was a cat on the fence hidding in big bush. Kenzie found her and all heck broke out.....at least it was early...
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Oh I feel your pain... We've got a shih-poo in the house too! Miko never barked at the door or the tv before... Since Tasha arrived (she barks at the door, the phone, the dryer buzzer, the cat meowing, etc.) Miko's barking has gotten WAY worse. He used to be just an outside barker... now he's an equal opportunity barker :rolleyes2:
 
My issue at the moment (aside from Yogi's ondoing dog reactive one) is Revel barking to 'control' the others. He's always done it when 'his' (mine and my friend's) shelties get together and have a play but the older he is becoming, the worse it gets. Yogi never barks when playing and neither does Epic-so far. Revel does stop if I virtually shout at him (he's getting deaf as well), but my only other solution is to shut him inside when Epic and Yogi are playing outside to be mindful of my neighbours!

It's definitly a control thing as he has a completely different playing bark and he also dives in and tries to stop the play. It's not that he's getting a grumpy curmudgeon in his senior years as he has always been the top dog and very strict in what he 'permits' Any thoughts?
 
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