# Alert barking - Need help



## robertsonse11 (Sep 6, 2018)

I am having issues with my 8 month old puppy barking in response to sounds and I am wondering if anyone here has suggestions for how to handle this.

Here is some background:

When Ned was a little puppy, he didn't bark at all. Then, around 5 months old, he started alert barking when I was home alone with him. We just moved into a new home which is in a more compact neighborhood, so I am worried about him bothering our neighbors. I work from home at least once a week and it does hinder my productivity on those days. 

Here are some trends I have observed:

He only barks at sounds when he can't see what is causing the sound. For example, if we are inside the house and a neighbor slams a car door, he will bark. But, if we are sitting in the front yard and he watches the neighbor slam their car door, he will watch it without reacting. He never barks at things while we are on walks outside.

He only has barking episodes when I am home alone with him. He never does it when my husband is around, but my husband is a surgeon, so I am usually home alone with Ned.

He tends to bark the most late morning and midday (10am-1pm) on days that I work from home. I have no idea if he barks like this while he is in his crate during the day. I do have a fan blowing into his crate, so that may drown out external noise enough that he doesn't hear other stuff. Occasionally, he will have sleepy barking episodes in the evening if my husband is late getting home from work. 

He tends to bark the most when he is sleepy. He will typically be sleeping at my feet while I am working on my computer and he will wake up and start alert barking in response to the slightest sound. It's like watching a sleep walking person mumble about something...but way louder.


Things I have tried:

Ignoring him. This has not helped at all.

Disrupting the barking by calling him over to me and giving him a treat, or by giving him a toy to play with and playing tug for a few minutes. This works temporarily, but it hasn't seemed to reduce the frequency of the barking episodes.

Playing music or TV to drown out any external trigger noises. This works sometimes, but if he is in that sleepy mode, he will react to noises from the TV or music. He will also still react to external sounds. 


Things I've considered doing:

Buying a white noise machine. I'm wondering if anyone else has had success with this before I spend money on one. 

Desensitization training using Youtube videos of common external sounds (doors slamming, trucks driving by, etc.). I should have already tried this, but my husband isn't around much, and it seems like it would be important for the sounds to originate outside of the room we are working in. So, I guess I would just have to get a friend to help with this.

Bringing in a private trainer to help. I have worked with someone 1:1 before to improve my clicker and shaping skills, and I think she would be willing to help with this. 


If anyone has any suggestions or thoughts. Please let me know. Thanks! 
Susan


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Bumping up


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

I'm not really too sure what can help with this. I personally like a little bit of alert barking but I can see how it could get to be excessive. Have you taught him a quiet command? Calling him over for a treat without making a new command like quiet could be interpreted by him as a reward for barking. I think I would have your trainer come help. It sounds like maybe he is afraid of what he can hear but not see.


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## robertsonse11 (Sep 6, 2018)

cwag said:


> Have you taught him a quiet command? Calling him over for a treat without making a new command like quiet could be interpreted by him as a reward for barking.


Yes, I have tried to teach the Quiet command. As soon as I get his attention, I say "Quiet" and wait a few seconds before rewarding him. If he is really worked up, it's hard to get his attention with a verbal command though. 

Thanks for your input. I think I am going to contact the trainer. Since we moved into our new house, we are having some other training regressions (jumping on people, no interest in mat work, etc.) and it seems like a good time to have an in-home training session to get back on the right track. When we are in group obedience class, he puts on a good show, then we get home and he forgets everything.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

With time, you might find he gets used to the regular noises (the car door slams, etc). I live in a townhouse, so we have a lot of "regular" noises - like I can hear when my neighbours go outside, and we can hear their garage doors open, and their cars. But all of those noises are "normal" and Shala doesn't bark at them. She does alert bark when I am home, which I don't mind, when someone unfamiliar walks by (but as with the regular noises, she doesn't bark at my familiar neighbours), or when someone rings the doorbell. I have a feeling she doesn't bark as much when I am not home (no one to protect) based on what my neighbours have said (that they never hear her). When I'm home, she barks a few times, and if I feel it's too much, I find just saying a firm QUIET works, or actually going, Shhhhh, helps. 

I find that if she realizes I am not reacting to what she heard, she tends not to worry about it (if that makes sense?). I know you said ignoring seems not to help, but I would continue ignoring - don't react in any way, to the sound, to the bark, etc. Just carry on with what you are doing.
Also - it might help to take your dog for a good hour run and play before you sit down to work. He'll be more likely to sleep and maybe the noises won't bother him as much.


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

At 8 months, some of his not listening may just be teenage attiude.


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## savannabanna (May 22, 2018)

I wish i knew. Charlie is going to be a uear soon and has been doing that since around the same age 5 to 6 months old. Hes weird about any noise that sounds like a knock.. The neighbor shoveling. The walls settling.. Ive tried tons... The best weve got is to tell him "charlie quiet. Come, down, good boy" it tells him what i want him to to.. Gives him a different behavior than barking (come to me and lay down) and then praise as a reward. The way I.see it is that he doesnt feel confident in his environment. I dont know why but its either that or a form of gently gaurding.. But either way he barks or growls I give him our commands and hopefully he feels like I aknowledge his "concern" and i know its there... He usuallt settles with just a quick loud bark and now he'll come over and look at me.. We are getting there.. This has been pur best.. Ive been trying excersie and calming supplements and ibe tried to ignore I've tried to ... Not my best moment but shout.. Haha at one point id randomly bark just so he seed how crazy it is... Who knows if he even understands me but eh... It is something at least!


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

To be honest with you I don't mind a dog barking. As my father used to say "He is doing his job". There is construction on my street and the workers are all over the place and some of them look sketchy to me. That being said I believe that this is one hard thing to train. Info can be found on the internet. BTW, what kind of bark---single, 3 or 4 barks, several barks in rapid succession?


My experience is with my dog Thor barking while crated while I trained his mother Buffy. I was very successful in stopping it. My protocol was: 1) Place in crate, reward for quiet, baby steps---20s, 30, 40s and so on. Build up. 2) Any time he was quiet I would randomly reward. 3) Place Thor in crate, put treat in a cup in view. If he was quiet I would say good quiet and reward him. If he barked I would remove the cup. I would wait a couple minutes and repeat. Again, build up the time.


My method depends upon the dog knowing he can earn a reward, it is in view. Barking removed the reward but he had another chance to earn it. This takes time. The next step was to start to generalize "quiet".


Finally, don't yell at him, he will only think you are barking back and conversing with him.


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