Best way to control barking

okay we have adopted a minpin about 3 months ago from a couple and they got rid of him due to his barking. he is my baby I love him. he came with a shock bark collar that they used and I dont want to use it as it leaves red marks on his neck and sometimes blood so unfair so we bought a ultrasonic collar and it dont seem to work. I walk him 1 hr a day and he has 5 acres of land to run but he still loves to bark. I know that he is a dog and he will bark but he goes overboard. Does anyone have any ideas I have also tried the pennies in a can and spraying water but it is not working also please advise on what works for you..

thanks

Hi there, welcome to Dogsey Congrats on your new dog & well done for ditching the shock collar - they're really hideous things aren't they?

I also have a MinPin (Well, minpin cross) and she would bark all day if she could You're not going to stop him barking altogether but you can help to curb it. Lots of people suggest that you first teach your dog to bark on command as then you can also teach them the command for 'shush'. For some reason, I didn't have much success with this (although I know people who have) so to stop my dog barking, I used a different method. I waited until she started barking, let her bark a couple of times then made a funny shrill noise to distract her and get her to come to me. Then when she came to me and stopped barking I'd praise lots and give her a treat. It's worked quite well (although it did take a while for her to get the hang of it) so now all she does is bark a couple of times & then come to me.

I would ditch with the spray bottle because you're not actually solving the 'problem', simply masking it. Not to mention if you've only recently got your dog you want to be building a bond with him & getting him to trust you & spraying him will do the opposite of that.

I'm sure someone will be along with better advice than mine in a bit but I hope I helped somewhat

I would recommend a book I got from the library recently on the subject of barking by Turid Rugaas (well-known Norwegian behaviourist) called "Barking".

Tells you about how dogs communicate with different reasons for barking and what to do about it if it is a problem. Too much information to put on here but she is very humane and understands why dogs do this which is important in changing the behaviour.

P.S-very jealous of your 5 acres!!

Hi Smart and welcome to Dogsey

There are different kinds of barking eg boredom, fear, request, 'protection barking' so the first thing to do is to note when your dog barks to help work out which type of barking it is and why he is barking .

Once you have done this you can look for ways of managing the behaviour.

If the barking is fear related it may be that some of the methods you have tried could could have made things worse. I am not saying this as a criticism of you but for the benefit of others looking for a quick fix to the problem. Think about it logically , you are afraid of something and bark to make this known or in an attempt to make 'the frightening thing' go away and a human sprays you with water or gives you a nasty shock of some kind Will this make you less or more fearful when you encounter a similar situation and what will it do to your trust of the person administering the 'punishment'.


I have not read the book recommended by Kerryowner but being familiar with the gentle and understanding methods used by Turid Rugaas I would think it may be of help to you

Minpins are naturally noisey breeds. You might find putting the barking and not barking on cue to be helpful.
Also what makes him bark? Teach him that this is a cue not to bark and he will train himself to be quiet!

Btw the anti bark collar is too tight.

Adam

I like minihahas post.

Definitely ditch the collars. You need to work out why he is barking and give him a reason not to bark. If it's boredom barking, give him puzzles to solve to keep his brain ticking over, kongs, treat balls etc.

Does he get enough exercise? If he is tired (mentally and physically) he's less likely to bark.

Does he know how to settle? I have one dog that barks almost constantly on the first part of his walk when he is overexcited but when he comes home afterwards, he knows that it's time to settle down for his breakfast kong in a quiet corner and then fall asleep as nothing exciting is going to happen for a while.

If the barking is worry barking you need to address the fear and teach him there is nothing to be scared of by linking it to positive associations.
If it's territorial the most obvious thing to do is block his view of the thing he is being territorial to (passers by? other dogs?)

Basically don't treat the barking symptomatically, deal with the cause.

Also training the trigger as a cue to be quiet for a reward often helps as has already been stated.

See the postman arriving + rush over to 'my mat' = mum gives me a treat as a reward is a very good message to get across to him for example.

It's all a matter of thinking logically what will motivate him to want to be quiet and setting about training that