Barking problem

My dog has started barking at next door's GSD when out in the garden - what's the best way of dealing with this - I'm very conscious of not annoying my other neighbours so advice would be much appreciated.
At the moment I tell her no barking and then order her to come inside where she will be quiet as I do not want to shout as this would add to the noise.

hope you get some good advice...i too would like to know more.

Hi LWK,

I can only advise on how I bring dogs up to not bark excessively.

I'd recommend teaching 'speak' and 'enough' as commands. With 'speak' you can teach your dog when it's appropriate to bark (for example, for asking to go out). With 'enough', obviously, you can teach your dog when you want it to stop playing, barking, or whatever.

If your dog is barking as a form of guarding it's also useful, IMO, to make sure you are viewed as Alpha. One of my dogs is a breed with a high guarding instinct - when he hears something strange he'll bark as a warning, and if I'm around, he'll look to me as Alpha to see what our next move is against this 'threat'. I'll tell him "it's ok, enough" and he settles straight back down again (it's not his place to carry on trying to deal with a 'threat' if Alpha has decided there is no threat there).

A lot of dogs bark due to nervousness - with the idea that if they bark enough whatever it is that's worrying them will go away (think of postmen). You can handle this in a number of ways - I would primarily make the dog feel more secure by again making sure you are viewed as Alpha.

Hope some of this helps - if you need suggestions for teaching these commands, let me know

Becs

ta bec................

Hi,

What I would advise is to get intouch with your councils dog warden, they are there to help you with any problems you may be having.

Thanks - suggestions for teaching these commands would be useful.

different people handle barking in different ways,, i think you should ignore the barking,, similar to with a child,, if they do something and get your attention for it they will do it again knowing they will then get your attention,, if you ignore them and then the minute they are quiet praise them they soon realise that they get fussed for doing right not wrong

does that make sense?? hope so

kimberley x x x

Yes thanks - just beginning to realise that curing this problem will take time and patience....

Actually I had four dogs that would react to the dog next door us ourselves they have a chuahua (sp) and it would come up to the fence yapping, which of course would set my lot off, only mine are a lot larger and can be a lot noisier together, the only way I could stop this was each time the dog next door started I would bring my lot in BEFORE they had chance to react fully, they learnt that if they react they come in they don't like that, now they actually totally ignor the yappy little thing, and the neighbours have gotten fed up with this behaving in this way and they too have started to take their dog in til it shuts up.

Mo

Hi there LWK you have a Lurcher/I think? Try distraction/diversion. What you are trying to do is to get your dog to come away and not to bark isn't it ? Your dog is very young and will probably settle down with the dogs next door as she gets older , she may be barking for excitement, to warn of strangers or to protect. Try not to speak to her when she barks otherwise you are rewarding unwanted behaviour.

There are various training methods to use to deter barking, does your dog like squeaky toys, if she does try this
Get a squeaky toy and let your dog see it and have a brief play so that she is familiar with it then take it away.
When she runs to the fence to bark or starts to bark squeak the toy,
don't let her see the toy or you squeaking it,
she should stop barking and come to look for it,
do not let her find it for a while or let her see it comes from you..this way you are not rewarding the bad behaviour ..by this time she finds it she should have forgotten what was causing her to bark. It does not work with all dogs but most so is worth a try.