# Barking barking barking



## Goldensyrup (Jan 28, 2016)

Hi, 
I posted a while ago about my now nearly 1 year old female. She has settled a bit behavior wise and hardly ever nips now, however the barking has not settled whatsoever. I know she is meant to bark for fear/anxiety/not enough exercise etc but it honestly doesn't feel like any of them. She barks regardless of how much exercise / mental stimulation she gets. She goes to training once a week + we do training everyday with her at home and always have done. 

She has had the same routine since we got her (at 8 weeks). Basically from about 5pm, I have to make dinner/do baths/bedtime etc. I have 3 kids, soon to be 4. She barks and barks if she isn't allowed in. She is quite happy to have alone time or to be outside in the day, but as soon as it gets to this time of day, she will bark continuously and really loudly. It isn't her wanting to be with us in particular - once she is in she is off doing her own thing. Part of my issue is that I have a 2 year old who is going equally bonkers at this time of night so the two of them have to be separated. I can't have them together as they stir each other up too much and I can't supervise properly as I am cooking. If I bring her inside and put a gate across the doorway to separate her but we can still talk to her see her, she just barks there instead. (Also, our house is a small cottage. She is literally 2 meters away from me if I put her in the front part of the house.) When she was little the breeder said just to ignore the barking and it would stop. It hasn't. Not even in the slightest. It has gotten worse the older she gets. She now barks at things she has been around her whole life and it isn't helped by the dog down the road who has barked excessively since he moved in. (Before we got our dog)

Anyway, sometimes it is taking hours to put my 2 year old to bed because the dog barks so much. If she is outside, it echoes up the hills and all our neighbours can hear so that is stressing me out. Or she is barking so loud my daughter won't sleep because it stirs her up. If I bring her in and let her have the run of the house, she is up on the beds, taking the kids toys, playing etc If I bring her in but separate her - even just by blocking off the lounge so she can't access the front of it where I am feeding my daughter - she will bark. 

I am at a loss. I have done everything the breeder and trainer has suggested - but nothing has worked. I don't give her attention for barking - negative or positive. I don't do anything until she has stopped barking. She has always been very very independant and stubborn and its almost like as soon as she isn't allowed to do something, the barking kicks in. Positive training for doing the right thing does nothing at all. Bones don't last that long with her, she isn't interested in Kongs. I make her boxes with peanut butter that she has to try and get in to and I set up treasure hunts on the lawn to keep her occupied - but she does it all pretty quick. 

Hoping for some more advice and thanks for letting me get this off my chest. hoping some of you will understand. I did so much research and tried to do the right thing from the start as I knew that I didn't want a dog that barked excessively. I have spent many nights in tears waiting for hubby to get home and help and most nights feel totally overwhelmed by trying to deal with the chaos. I haven't even had my baby yet and I am dreading how I am going to deal with it then. 

Thanks, sorry its so long. :smile2:


----------



## MrsCMomtoLucy (May 25, 2016)

As I was reading your story... I pictured Marley and Me. Kids and pups are very stressful! Sounds like you know when the "bewitching" hour will start. Can you preempt it... Offer a high value treat in her kennel, a walk to settle her or fetch( if that's her thing)? 
My other thought would be to keep her tethered to you as you cook and go about your night. You could correct her immediately and reward the behavior you want.


----------



## Goldensyrup (Jan 28, 2016)

Hi, thanks for that! I hadn't thought about tethering her to me. I will give it a go and see what happens!


----------



## Lise123 (Jan 1, 2014)

That sounds very stressful for you! I'm sorry that you're dealing with barking. My neighbors have a newborn and a barker, and they had a lot of luck with a citronella collar. Maybe that would be a short-term fix? It worked miracles for my neighbor. When the dog barks, he gets a spray that smells repugnant to him. I hope that doesn't sound mean, but they had a newborn (no time to train it out of him), and in addition, a nasty neighbor kept calling the police to report the dog. 

Dogs bark to get what they want, right? Long-term, it seems like a training issue, which is a good thing because you can teach your dog a new way. 

Do you use a crate? If she is barking to get where she wants to go, can you crate her and cover the crate? When she stops barking, you uncover the crate. If she barks again -- recover it. When she learns this game, you can open the crate door. Bark? Close it. No bark? Leave the crate.

My dog isn't a barker at home, but he was a crazy class barker. Very disruptive. We did that method to teach him to be quiet. It took a lot of sessions, but he learned it by the end of his second class. Sounds like your dog is smart enough to figure it out quicker!

Hope you find a solution soon. Maybe others will have better ideas to help!


----------



## Goldensyrup (Jan 28, 2016)

Thank you! I am picking up a crate next week so I can try that. Do you think if I do that, it will teach her the crate is a negative place? I was hoping for it to be a place she would like so if she wants to get some space away from kids when she is older or if we go on holidays she will have her own special familiar place. I should have crate trained from the start, but after umming and ahhing about it at the beginning, I decided I probably wouldn't use it. duh!


----------



## Lise123 (Jan 1, 2014)

You can make the crate a positive place by putting awesome treats in it when she goes. You can also play crate games with it, which is the greatest invention for dog-owners ever (IMHO). Crate games wore out my dog mentally, and it didn't require a ton of running around. They are exercises in self-control, which also helped my dog. You can find examples of crate games on YouTube. It sounds like your dog is smart and might really enjoy crate games, which is also a fantastic way to wear out a dog without leaving the house.

My dog is still bananas about his crate. We fed him in there, put treats in there every time he had to go in there, etc., so that helped a lot. He had time-outs in there as a puppy, but once he adjusted, he learned to love his crate. It's his place of safety. He goes in it on his own when he's tired.

Funny story: when he goes to his sitter, they don't have a crate. He tries to "crate" himself under their kitchen chairs. The sitter told me, "Your dog must really love his crate."


----------



## Goldensyrup (Jan 28, 2016)

Lise123 said:


> You can make the crate a positive place by putting awesome treats in it when she goes. You can also play crate games with it, which is the greatest invention for dog-owners ever (IMHO). Crate games wore out my dog mentally, and it didn't require a ton of running around. They are exercises in self-control, which also helped my dog. You can find examples of crate games on YouTube. It sounds like your dog is smart and might really enjoy crate games, which is also a fantastic way to wear out a dog without leaving the house.
> 
> My dog is still bananas about his crate. We fed him in there, put treats in there every time he had to go in there, etc., so that helped a lot. He had time-outs in there as a puppy, but once he adjusted, he learned to love his crate. It's his place of safety. He goes in it on his own when he's tired.
> 
> Funny story: when he goes to his sitter, they don't have a crate. He tries to "crate" himself under their kitchen chairs. The sitter told me, "Your dog must really love his crate."



:grin2: That is beautiful! Thank you, I didn't know there were crate games, I will get on to it!


----------



## Goldensyrup (Jan 28, 2016)

2 nights ago I discovered something, which I am sharing here in case anybody else is having a similar issue. She had a handful of kibble in the morning, but then in the late arvo/evening while I was doing dinner I kept chucking bits of mince etc out to her. (I didn't plan it, I just happened to be cooking it so I gave her some spare.) I then gave her a big chicken carcass to munch on while we had dinner. She barked a bit after this, but she was much quieter then normal. I also didn't give her any more kibble that night as she I didn't think she needed it. She was much calmer then usual. The next day she had some kibble in the morning, but in the evening I gave her an iceblock with mince in it. No kibble at night - much calmer again. 

To put this in context, we had been saving the kibble for the evenings so we could give it to her as we trained her. (On the advice of the trainer.) She would get it for laying on her mat, being calm etc. Bones / carcasses / iceblocks were given through the day if she was having them and kibble as a treasure hunt while I was doing dinner or for training. I know its only been 2 days, but I am wondering if the combo of being hungry by dinner time and then the energy from the food (Royal Canin Puppy) is sending her bonkers in the evening. I am going to try giving her a small amount of kibble in the mornings - she always has to work for it though. She doesn't get a bowl of food. She gets it in a box that she has to find a way in to, or has to hunt around for it. Then bones / meat for dinner.


----------

