# Puppy Barking problems!



## Redroo (Nov 15, 2018)

My 11 week old puppy is having some issues with barking. A lot!

The worst thing is definitely the morning barking. He wakes up usually 2 hours or so before we get up. He needs the toilet at this time so we take him out, making sure he is quiet before we enter the room so as not to reward him for barking. Then after he goes to the bathroom we pop him back in the crate and go back to bed. He just sits in his crate and barks for literally an hour or two. We are so careful not to ever interact with him if he's barking, but it doesn't seem to be helping! He's good with his crate in the day and eats his meals there, naps there etc. Everything I can find online says ignore him and it'll stop, but it's been three weeks and no change. We share walls with neighbours and I have a neurological condition that makes me sensitive to noise, so this is really tough for us. As I say, we never interact with him at all unless he is quiet. Is there something more I could be doing to help stop this barking problem? 

He also barks at the cat quite a lot in the daytime, or at the door when my partner is at work. He has also barked directly in my face if I have asked him to sit or stand and he doesn't want to. I stop the training session and I leave the room for 30 seconds and he stops barking then. 

He gets two short walks a day as well as a lot of short training sessions throughout the day. He also has enforced naps in his crate for a couple of hours several times a day. I work from home so he has a lot of company and stimulation during the day. I'm honestly at a bit of a loss about the barking because I'm sure we haven't ever rewarded it with attention in the three weeks since we got him. Can anyone offer any advice?


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

Usually a puppy will go back to sleep if it is still very early. How long since he's had a meal? How many hours since bedtime? When we could, someone would stay up later with Rukie, and someone else go to bed early. Then the early to bed person would get up early. It sounds like he is in another room so maybe he's just lonely. I have always had the dog in the crate in my bedroom at night and that seems to help. Hopefully this will get better soon.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

You don't mention what time your household goes to bed at night and what time he wakes up in the morning, what time you'd like him to stay in his crate till. What times is his schedule for feeding and training etc. I am afraid it sounds like your puppy doesn't need quite as much sleep during the day as you think he does.

I suggest you do a little note taking and add up all the hours he is sleeping and spending in his crate during the day and combine it with the hours at night. If this is happening day after day, he is telling you that he needs to have more exercise (leash walks are not enough) during the day and maybe less evening naptime.

You might try 'double teaming' him, which is something that has worked well for me in the past. One spouse stays up an hour later with the puppy to play and take him out while the other spouse goes to bed early. Then the late night spouse sleeps in and the early spouse sucks it up and starts the day earlier. I really think your puppy is probably getting too much evening nap time and he's starting to get a little older and needs more off leash hiking or getting out and about.

Put a crate in the car and take him to run errands with you, have him meet children getting off the school bus stop if you can, take him to the public library and sit out front practicing obedience and have strangers give him a treat for sitting nicely. Get creative in taking him places. Invite someone new over for dinner or dessert/glass of wine and play with him.


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## Redroo (Nov 15, 2018)

Thank you. I hope it gets better soon too. 

We had his crate in the bedroom during his first week with us. Honestly, it was worse! He would wake up and bark at us every time we turned over in the night, and not settle for half an hour each time. I was worried even looking at him would encourage him so in the end we moved him downstairs. 

I could get up early, play with him and feed him etc and then put him down for a nap while I nap too? I'm hesitant to do that in case he gets used to an early morning play session though. I don't want to be doing it for months on end and I'm imagining that it would be very hard to phase out later on. It's just so hard to know what to do for the best!


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## Redroo (Nov 15, 2018)

He's 11 weeks old so we have been limiting his walks to 10-15 minutes twice a day to protect his joints. There is nowhere safe to take him offlead that close to our house, unfortunately. He can't go offlead in the garden either as he eats grass rather obsessively and then vomits.

We get up at 8am. His naps are 11-12, 3-4 and 6-7. We put him to bed at 12. He has probably a total of 3-4 hours training a day split up into 10-30 minute chunks. He sleeps during all his daytime naps and we keep him awake in the evening. He has his second walk just a few hours before bed. He has his food either in the crate or as training aids. He has never eaten from a bowl with us. We do try so hard to stimulate and exercise him. We also play with him indoors using games like fetch, hunt the treats hidden around and so on.

We also do a socialization thing every day, so we take him to outside a supermarket, a dog friendly cafe, or to outside a school or on a bus ride. That's usually after lunchtime. 

I'm not even sure what else I could be doing to be honest, but so open to any ideas. I could definitely cut his daytime naps down?


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

He's only 11 weeks, he's a baby. Babies cry when they are uncomfortable, they cry when their diapers are dirty, they cry when they are hungry, they cry when they are lonely. Their goal in life at this age is to eat, sleep and poop. Most of this holds true for baby puppies.

I'll give an example of the routine here, of course everyone has a different schedule. My pups are 6 months, 9 months and 3 yr old. 3 yr old sleeps in the bed with me, always has. Pups sleep in a crate in the room closest to the back door/yard. No barking as I wake up when there is the slightest whine, this usually happens at 5:30am. if I'm lucky. Everyone goes out (with me) to pee and poop. Everyone eats then I get rewarded with 30 minutes of quiet to get dressed. Then it's back outside to pee & (youngest pup) has a 2nd poop. Then it's play time, basically with 3 it's a brawl in the puppy room while I get a cup of coffee.

By 10am everyone has crashed for about an hour. We go out an potty often through out the day, lots of personalized play and training goes on all day. My training sessions are only about 5 minutes but longer for the older pup. I take the girls with me as often as possible... they help me pick up groceries at Walmart (curb p/u) Lowes, hardware store and Tractor Supply runs. I'm not big on walks with pups but do include learning how to walk on a loose leash. I basically create games that set them up for formal obedience training later.

My pups fall asleep at 8pm, go for a last bathroom break around 9pm. then in the crates for bed. This is a typical day for me. Basically the first year of a puppies life is much like having a baby or toddler around, you adjust to the needs of the baby. Once they get older you can settle down to a more normal routine but honestly I'm a morning person anyway so this works for me.

I'm not suggesting this works for you, just that you now have a baby in the house and will need to make some changes for a while. It's gets easier


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## Redroo (Nov 15, 2018)

Thank you. I know that it's normal to bark a bit but I'm finding 1h at a time very hard to deal with due to my health condition. I'm more than happy to make more changes for him, but I just don't know what will be helpful and what will just create problems further down the line.


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## DblTrblGolden2 (Aug 22, 2018)

I learned a long time ago that the crate needs to be in a busy area in the house. The puppy shouldn't feel like he's being abandoned in the crate. I try, especially when they are little, to put them in the area I spend the most time in. They need to feel like you are still with them even though they are in the crate. I used to leave a TV or radio on softly when I left the house, which may be extreme but I thought it helped. 

I think your puppy is actually doing quite well with the crate according to what you've posted for a schedule. I don't believe leash walking counts as exercise for a Golden, as someone else said. They need time to run and play off leash, but you can do some of that inside as well at 11 weeks. Play with a toy, have them chase after you in the house a little, roll a ball and they will go get it. 

I will give you a brief idea of our current schedule with our 9 MONTH old puppy. He goes to bed around 11 and is normally barking at 6:30 to get up. He then goes directly outside to pee. He comes in and eats while we get dressed for the day and then it's back outside for at least 30 minutes of free running, retrieving, etc. with our older Golden. Then I am lucky enough to not have to leave for work immediately so they are in with me for approximately an hour while I watch the news. Before I leave it's back outside for another 30 minutes of free time. One of us goes home at lunch and lets both dogs out for another 30 minutes to run and play. At 4:30 p.m. we are home and the puppy is fed immediately after walking him. My husband takes him out for a 30 minute training session. (our training sessions are for field training so it's a lot of running and focusing) From 4:30 on our goal is as much play and interaction as possible until as close to 11 p.m. as I can make it. I admit that sometimes he just has to go to bed at 10:30. He's no longer in a crate but is gated in a room in our home that is completely puppy proofed, as he hasn't yet demonstrated he can be free or in my bedroom. Our 8 year old Golden sleeps in my room and has run of the house. He has done that since he was about 2 years old. Right now that is his reward for being nagged by the puppy most of the day. 

I will say that our puppy, Moe, recently went through a spell where he had restricted activity. It was the hardest thing to do. He was a completely different puppy without getting enough exercise. The key to a good puppy is a tired puppy. I'm not sure where your located but when Moe was a little puppy swimming was the best activity for him. He started swimming at about 14 weeks old and loved it. He swam 3 times a day. You don't have to worry about an injury and it's the best exercise. I'm on the East Coast and it's cold and miserable here now so it hasn't been an option for us since October. I really miss it. 

Best of luck having a puppy is a lot of work.


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

There may be a couple of things at play here.


First, I do think part of the problem may be that your pup is in a separate room at night. And second, at 11 weeks of age he's absolutely capable of making it through the night without going outside.


You may inadvertently be teaching him that barking brings results. When he barks in the early morning, I know you don't actually go into his room until he stops, but I'm assuming that he only stops for a very short time before starting up again. So in effect, you _are_ responding to his barking. It sounds as if he may have learned that if he barks at 6 am, someone will eventually come. I would stop responding completely; he doesn't need to go out at 6 am any more. The fact that you no longer respond isn't going to stop the barking immediately - he knows it's worked in the past, so he's going to keep doing it for a while. But he will eventually stop if it doesn't produce results. If the noise wakes you, wear earplugs at night. If you're concerned about the neighbours, give them a gift of earplugs along with a nice bottle of wine, an apology and an explanation of what you're doing.


The other barking also needs to be addressed before it becomes ingrained. Simply walking away from the puppy when he barks in your face during training isn't adequate because it's effectively giving him what he wants, i.e. the opportunity not to perform the command you've asked him to do. He's not stopping barking because you've gone, he's stopping because he's got what he wanted, i.e. he doesn't have to obey you. You need to change his behaviour by ensuring that he does the commands you ask for. Get some very high value treats - cooked chicken, cheese, etc. - and use them in your training sessions, instead of kibble. If he's food-driven, these treats will help keep him focused until his response to each command becomes automatic. If he barks, give him a different command and make sure he complies by luring him with the treat. Then go back to the original command and keep at it until he complies. _Always _make sure he does what _you _want. Right now, you're doing what _he _wants, so he has no incentive to stop the barking. 



If he were mine, I wouldn't tolerate him barking randomly at the cat or at the door either. An occasional bark is fine, but if he stands there and barks consistently, I would stop him by scooping him up and putting him in his crate.


Barking like this can be a sign of a pup with a fairly assertive personality. Dogs like this can be a bit more challenging to train, but you're well-placed to deal with him because you're there during the day and are obviously willing to spend a lot of time on training. You just need to be consistent and make sure he's obeying you, instead of you obeying him. If you're not yet in a formal obedience class, I would suggest that too. If it's a class for puppies, find one that does a lot more than simply letting the puppies play together: a good puppy class should include a lot of basic obedience training, focus training, socialization tips (with humans and the world in which the pup lives, not just with other dogs), information on how to use the crate, house-training and so on, and most importantly, information on how to read and react to certain behaviours.


Best of luck!


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