ellz

He certainly sounds like he has "small dog syndrome". BUT...how are the guests and/or other dogs approaching him? Think about it, if you were a little dog like that, would you want people rushing up to you or towering over you? You'd probably find it threatening and come out with your teeth showing as well. Until he is comfortable with people in your home, I would probably suggest people ignore him and allow him to approach them. Then if/when he does that, have them offer a hand for sniffing and certainly don't try to pat his head from above.

It's a wonder mine haven't complained by now!

Obviously a woman with excellent taste!

Thanks Rusky, I appreciate it! I'm embarrassed to admit that whilst Michael DOES have a Kong, he seems to be too dim to work it out. Either that or too lazy.

Thanks Erny. I really do appreciate your input. You've given me lots of food for thought with the issue. I'm pretty sure you can see that I'm not just a lazy dog owner looking for an easy out anyway. I'll get there. I love my little monster too much not to try everything I possibly can!! PS. Yes, I'm quite mad really. I find it is the only way to survive. Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you get a wet face!

YOU can laugh!!

I've filled in the response form on the Innotek website with regards to their rental/try-before-you-buy scheme. Hopefully they can help. I really don't know of anybody over here who either a collar or remote trainer that I could borrow unfortunately or I daresay I would have probably ripped their arm off taking it from them!

I hear you on diet, anxiety, activity etc. I have two children with ADHD and other conduct disorders and am HUGE on diet and environmental factors etc where they are concerned so I do tend to take a lot of notice of what the dogs eat as well. Michael himself is on a pretty basic BARF diet, with the choices for food based upon what I know about naturally occurring food chemicals and their effect on hoomans. I personally don't think his barking is anxiety based. It seems to be more "joidevivre" IYKWIM. He is just SOOOOOOOO happy when he's barking. He really does look as though he's having the time of his life. I always call him my little laughing man because he always looks so happy. I think probably because I HAVE seen true anxiety-based behaviour and its associated body language in Michael, its relatively easy for me to see the difference. And the tail-docking fanatics will probably lambast me for this but being undocked, his tail also tells the tale (forgive the pun) of a happy dog with exuberant body language. As far as overall activity is concerned, he's actually pretty laid back when he's not barking and if anything is probably LESS hyper than many other puppies that I've bred in the past. And for his colour (this breed seems to have definite colour vs personality relationships) he is also very sensitive which is quite unusual because buffs can tend to be quite dumb. He has always been spoiled in that he has always felt that he was special and used to push himself forward for first cuddle, first feed etc. I do think that sending him away was a big mistake but at the time, it was necessary so I just have to make the best of what I have. He was born breech and I had to pull him out. Hmmmmm....just what I need, a hyperactive, brain-damaged, blonde with a penis and OCD!!! Some people get ALL the luck!!

A lot depends upon the method of surgery and how experienced the vet is performing it. Friends of mine have a vet who is very experienced and has done many dogs with great success. I'm certainly not leaping into it but I will not hesitate to do it should everything else fail. I'd rather have Michael debarked than pts, I'm sure you can all understand.

Thanks for that Kamuzz. I see they also have a rental/try-before-you-buy program too. Will investigate further! Erny, you asked before about triggers. He doesn't seem to need any. It is a quiet, calm night here in Bogonvillea. I've just been putting some washing on the clothesline and there is nobody around. No wind, no birds, nobody walking on the streets. The dog next door is nowhere to be seen. The people on the other side haven't been seen since their explosive start to the day this morning. I have just walked up the back steps and come inside and was standing watching Michael. He was laying on his belly on the ground (frog-dogging) with his snood on....BARKING....at NOTHING!!!!

He is walked approximately 3km night and morning as far as exercise goes, as well as free running in the backyard (larger suburban backyard 854m2) with 3 other dogs. Mental stimulation...heaps...I have two active children aged 8 and 7. Ball games, dress-ups, etc etc. Two indoor cats to chase. Rides in the car with me. "Helping" me with household duties during the day. So really, mental stimulation isn't an issue. It isn't like he is locked in a small backyard for 9 hours per day with no company barking his head off because he is bored out of his scone. Obedience training - none and no intention to further it. Not enough hours in the day. He gets bait training and lead training when we're doing our walks. He gets groomed at least once per day but is on the grooming table at multiple times during the day to check for grass seeds, burrs etc. I bred him. He was born in June 2005. In April 2006 he went to Brisbane. He returned to me in August.

Well, he is confident at home and with people he knows but he has been battling show ring issues with being approached and/or handled by strangers so I'm not sure how external measures would affect him. To be honest, I've even been delaying having him microchipped because I am concerned that it will have an adverse affect if a stranger hurts him instead of treating him (have been doing the praise and treat bit with complete strangers to overcome his shyness and of course ignoring silliness so as to avoid giving him negative reinforcement). And yes, I've been rewarding him for the quiet times. For example, he has been outside now for about 20 minutes without barking so I've just given him a nice bone to chew on. Three reasons...firstly to reward the good behaviour, secondly so that he gets the idea that if he's quiet he gets something nice and lastly because when he's chewing, the little horror can't bark!!

Yes, some of the time, so I use the "voice of doG" (spray bottle) to shut him up. Sometimes he is content to just wander around with me. Sometimes he'll take himself into his trolley. But most of the time, he's carrying on at the back door to get back outside. So when I do open the door, he races out....barking as he goes!!

His mother is a bit of a yapper too but she at least shuts up when you tell her to and doesn't just wander around the back yard barking. She's more likely to bark AT something or for a reason. And his bark isn't even a real bark, it's a kind of tuneless chortle which is incredibly annoying. It is frustrating and annoying (to say the least). I just wish I were like my bogon neighbours who obviously don't hear their OWN dogs bark and then I could learn to ignore him, but it isn't in my nature to let them bark for no reason.

IMO, debarking should be the absolutely LAST option prior to pts. I presume, Ellz, as you've been around dogs a lot, that you'd understand and know how to identify triggers and causes for this particular behaviour and what to do in an effort (albeit a BIG effort) to remove the cause. Assuming it is appropriate to do so, I'd go for the $190.00 expense in a second ditch effort to punish/deminish the behaviour (without attachment to you .... particularly necessary if "attention seeking" is diagnosed). I know $ doesn't grow on trees (boy! do I know that!), but I don't think I'd be comfortable jumping that step and going straight to cutting vocal cords as the solution. Just my 2 cents worth. Input is appreciated but IMO the remote device probably wouldn't work due to the layout of my house/backyard and the fact that there ARE no particular triggers or causes for the barking and no one area in the backyard where he concentrates the attention. It is a constant thing. It doesn't NEED a trigger, he just barks constantly. He runs around the backyard barking happily. It is pointless staying outside with him to react to the barking immediately because when I am out there he doesn't do it. But before anybody says that he obviously wants my company...if I bring him inside with me, all he does is carries on to get back OUTSIDE. And I simply cannot spend all day outside with him. That isn't practical. I truly don't think it is attention seeking. If that were the case, then being inside with me would be satisfactory and it isn't or he'd not be carrying on to get back out again. And of course, I have tried to not reward or respond (negative attention) but that doesn't work either. I don't think it is fair to lock him up all of the time inside or to use his trolley or crate as punishment so I have resisted doing that until now. I would also rather not resort to building a pen for him because I do feel that the kennel setup that he was in for the 4 months has contributed majorly to the problem. It is truly frustrating because I've never had to deal with a problem barker like this before. And if he does keep barking like he does, the next step WILL be euthanasia because I will have the council on my doorstep for the noise so debarking in my eyes is preferable to that.

First one was a Bark Stop, 2nd one I can't remember and I've lost the box. I can't use Citronella because I'm allergic to it so a citronella collar is a bit out of the question too. Oh and I've heard that people have had good results with a remote device they purchased from Dyna Direct but I can't really afford to lay out $190 on something that might not work when I can spend roughly the same and send him to Melbourne for a more "permanent" solution...IYKWIM. Seriously, he's a menace!

Phwoah yeah! Bring on the barking dog!! Edited for spelling this time Look out Moodles!

Seriously? Are you sure?? It would be fabulous if you're sure he won't be a problem. It would probably do him good actually. Make him realise that there are people OTHER than me in the world!!! And if you can stop him from barking so much I'll buy you a HUUUUGE block of chocky!!

Geez woman, where is your sense of adventure? OK then....you win, but I'll hold you to it!! Hmmmmm....wanna babysit Michael overnight on the 2nd?

hehehe...Shekky's gonna babysit Michael and the skinkids in the school hols....YAAAAAAAAAY!!!!

Yeppers....we're on the same wavelength! At this point in time I could cheerfully reach down his throat and debark him with my bare hands and no anaesthetic!!

Why? Because he can. Sometimes it can be a sign of dietary deficiencies, some purists in animal behaviour say it is a throwback to wolf times when the animal used to keep the den clean of faeces so that predators didn't know there were younger dogs around, but most often it is a sign of boredom, or simply a bad habit, like chewing fingernails in humans. The best method is prevention. Pick up as often as you can. Failing that, people have reported the pineapple trick to work. Others have found that canned pumpkin works (but this can be hard to source). Other remedies include sprinkling an "already laid" t*rd with paprika and allowing the dog to eat it...they generally only do this the once, or simply feeding a better quality diet which results in less "output". For your part, make sure the puppy is wormed frequently with a good quality wormer and don't let him kiss you!!

Thanks for the link but I have already tried similar but it didn't work. This dog is just a barker. He isn't a social barker, he isn't deprived of attention, he has no reason TO bark. He just barks. I've been breeding/exhibiting dogs for 20 years and know only too well the perils of rewarding bad behaviour and negative attention etc so it isn't so much a "bad owner" problem as a dog who just doesn't know when to shut up.

He's a fair little sod, that's for sure!! Honestly, what did I do to deserve this? About the only time it shuts up is when it is asleep or eating and I can't keep shoving food in his mouth! I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and research the debarking as much as I'd rather not. I'm even worried about having his microchip done because of the issues we've been through with strangers handling him.

I don't know how old you are, but if you get pocket money, I'd be hightailing it into Coles and spending some of it on (at the very least) some wormers and flea treatments for the toodie-tats. Even Exelpet stuff is better than nothing at all. In my house, everybody gets wormed at the same time...hoomans, dogs and toodie-tats. Better to be safe than sorry. Although I'd be more worried about my animals catching something from my kids than the other way around!