What is the best thing I should do to train them not to bark?

J

jasonsjwou

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It's been a week since I brought my 5mo. old female puppy home.

She was completely silent for the first few days. I understand that everything was sooooo new to her, so she was probably a bit reserved. But I can tell that she is not timid or shy. She likes visitors (wags tail, approaches them and plays with them) and doesn't seem to show shyness when i take her to a pet shop full of dogs or even bring people into the house.

And today my dog Eevee started to bark a bit more. This happened in my back yard, when she heard the neighbor's dog barking (3 houses down so we couldn't see that dog, but we could hear the bark). She even growled a bit between barks.

I felt almost like (well. to be honest, I'm hoping..) ... my dog was telling the other dog "I'm here, and don't mess with my people" or something.

She stopped after exchanging barks 10 times with the other dog. The neighbor's dog kept on barking but mine just walked off with her toy. I played with Eevee for another 30 mins right there, but she didn't bark anymore.

She seems pretty happy and content around the house all other time.


Now Here's my question.

1. One sheltie VS multiple shelties : If you have only one dog (no cat or any other dog), would they bark less? Many postings I read about incessant barking, are from people with multiple shelties and/or other dogs.

2. What's the single best thing you can do to a 6mo. old puppy to train her not to bark too much? Few examples would be nice.

3. At this stage (been in home only for a week), how much of calmness I see, is "adjusting to new environment" and how much of it is "well socialized & content" traits?


I don't want a mute dog - they should bark if they feel the need to alert the owner. But I definitely don't want the dog to bark incessantly (who does?). These days, people sue neighbors for barking dog for like $500,000.
 
it is much easier with one dog to keep the barking to a minimum! That I can attest to with my 6 here..although when I remove my instigator barker it is actually very quiet...shes just a pain in the butt! Even de-barked shes still loud and annoying!

But anyway the best way to teach them to not bark is actually to bark. Teach them the bark command and than add no bark and they will stop. Shelties are pretty smart and are capable of a pretty good size vocabulary!! :) Take advantage of it!!

Mine are typically pretty good, of course if they hear a strange dog barking that will set them all off into a barking frenzy...or the mail truck...either one:lol:
 
Okay ... dum dum here... how do you teach them to bark? I think I need to be taught. So do I say bark when he is barking and then say no bark?
Zak has been very reactive to noises that he used to totally ignore, not sure why the sudden change, some times if you try and get him to stop he barks even more.
 
There is a small local "dog bakery" where the owner has a rescued 7yr old sheltie in the shop all the time. it's a beautiful blue merle female.

In the past week, we went there several times with Eevee. They sniff each other's butt for few minutes, and they are just happy together. No real issues.(well we don't stay there for more than 30 mins)

But every time I take her out for a walk, there are few dogs where Eevee will start to bark (and growl sometimes) at, and few where Eevee will be quiet and approach the other dog and sniff the butt etc.

May be she knows who she likes and not. Interesting.
 
The way I got Buffy to knock off the barking was to ignore her when she did it. She usually just barks for attention, so if she barks in the house we walk out of the room (or sometimes we gave her a time out). Spray bottle also works. She used to bark during dinner, which was a big pain. We praised "quiet" over and over and treated it, and when she barked we totally ignored her and kept talking to each other. It was one of the harder things to train and it took at least a month or two of consistent reinforcement, but she now is pretty much always quiet in the house. Outside it's different, but she's never been a big barker outside. She just barks when she's playing around or giving me attitude. :biggrin2:

I think Sheltie barking gets worse if you have more than one, yes. It's worse in some Shelties than others and because it is an inborn trait I think that's why it's tricky to train away. But is definitely is possible. If I remember right Buffy was about 5–6 months old when she went through her "barky" phase too. She has actually calmed down a bit since then, although she still does do her happy yip when she's running around. She also barks and does funny bark/whines to "talk" to us, which I think is pretty cute. She also does this funny huffing - it sounds like a chicken cluck - when she wants to bark but she's holding herself back. Like when another dog outside is barking and she thinks it is misbehaving. It's like she's shaking her head and tut-tutting at it.
 
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I've got Indy mostly cured of his barking as people and dogs walk by the fence. It just took due diligence.

Everytime he started, I got up and confronted him. Stood in front of him, snapped my fingers than pointed at him with two fingers. Occasionally, gave him a mild poke

He still barks sometimes, but not as crazed as he was.

Now I just need him to chill out on the dock whenever Sea-Doos go by. He goes INSANE and races up and down the dock in a barking frenzy. I'm forever worried that he's going to fall in. Yes, he can swim....but the water is 30 feet deep, the current very strong. I'm not sure he could swim to shore on his own.

All to say, that barking is situational. You might cure one kind of bark, but another will surface at some point. Eventually, you just whittle them away, one by one.
 
jasonsjwou said:
But every time I take her out for a walk, there are few dogs where Eevee will start to bark (and growl sometimes) at, and few where Eevee will be quiet and approach the other dog and sniff the butt etc.

May be she knows who she likes and not. Interesting.
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It's the same with Vinci, but the dogs he starts to bark and growl at, are the ones he wants to play with (like an "awww, let's go, mom, let me to him/her!") and the dogs where he doesn't are the ones he wants to pass quickly... :rolleyes2:
 
I have a barker also

I also have barking issues. Mine are due to being scared or timid. Cooper barks when someone approaches the house but the problem is that he then doesn't stop if he senses that they are friends. At this point he is still nervous about having them there.
I am encouraging the socialization but was warned that I shouldnot overdo it so have not forced it. How can I get him to understand that if it's OK with me it's OK for him.
Also barks at the kids when they leave for school. They hate it.
 
Bailey was much quieter when he was alone, but he was lonely. When the dog moved in next door his barking got worse. Since we brought Katy home the two of them have created a barking choir.

I started training them with treats. We are working on a leave it command when they get started and get treated for response. It is working as they are both treat motivated.

They were barking out at the fence today, I shook the treat box, they stopped barking and came running for a treat. Eventually I am hoping we will move to no treat responses, but for the time being I am sure the neighbors are happier. That has been one of my main concerns.
 
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