Puppy Barking At Us

[loeka]

Hey everyone,

I'm getting very frustrated with my 11 week old kelpie X pup which we've had for over 2 weeks. He found his voice a few days ago - he started barking at the mop. Which was fine because we put the mop away and no more barking. Then he started barking more and more - perhaps out of boredom and sometimes at strange new things like the dishwasher. We tried the whole Bark Once, then SHUSH and the moment he's silent give him a treat. But it doesn't always work. Redirection is also a good tool.

But now, he's barking AT us. I realise this is a dominance thing as he will do it when I'm on the couch which he is not allowed on. He will try to climb the couch and I will go AHHH AHHH (scolding tone) and take him off without looking at him and then I ignore him. Sometimes this will work. But recently (starting yesterday) he sits in front of the couch and barks AT me. I'm guessing he's trying to challenge me to a duel of some kind which I won't let him so I just ignore him, look out the window, and sit up straight on my couch because this is MY couch. He's not much of a biter but he still nips at times, and what do I do if I he barks AND bites me in order to gain my attention?

I'm hoping someone out there will have some advice for me... So what to do?

• Keep on ignoring him?
  
• Should I spray him with water?
  
• Put a short leash on him (but then I'd have to get off the couch to get him off the couch)?
  
• Something else?
  

P.s. I use the NILIF method and have started the TOT method for his meals with no real issues.

Thanks in advanced

[poodlefan]

Dogs bark for a lot of reasons. Dominance isn't the only one.

It could be an invitation to play

It could be frustration.

It could be attention seeking.

If you react by paying attention on the pup's terms (even to 'shush') then you are rewarding the barking. There are other responses that may be better. You could take the initiative by asking for a behaviour YOU want and rewarding it, by starting a game or by leaving the pup.

What sort of training have you started with the pup. Being a working breed mix, he's probably as smart as a whip and looking for activity to keep him busy.

[loeka]

Dogs bark for a lot of reasons. Dominance isn't the only one.

It could be an invitation to play

It could be frustration.

It could be attention seeking.

If you react by paying attention on the pup's terms (even to 'shush') then you are rewarding the barking. There are other responses that may be better. You could take the initiative by asking for a behaviour YOU want and rewarding it, by starting a game or by leaving the pup.

What sort of training have you started with the pup. Being a working breed mix, he's probably as smart as a whip and looking for activity to keep him busy.

Thanks for the response... You're right about the many reasons for barking - perhaps I'm too quick to judge that he wants to take over my couch ; )

We do basic obedience training - sit, down, stay, fetch... We're quite active so we play with him outside although he tends to get bored quickly so we're still trying to figure out what kind of games he likes. We are going to puppy obedience course at the beginning of next month.

And yes, he is smart and we still have LOTS to learn when it comes to raising puppies : )

Thanks again for the reply!

[Dogsfevr]

He will try to climb the couch and I will go AHHH AHHH (scolding tone) and take him off without looking at him and then I ignore him.

So where is he allowed to sleep.does he have abed that is his in the same area??Its fine to ignore but he doesnt get it & needs to be redirected to either his bed or what you consider a happy alternative.

Remember you may be frustrated but the pup has no clue what you expect & the more frustrated you get the more confused the pup will be.

[Nekhbet]

kelpies and other working breeds will bark a lot more then others he's simply expressing desire for attention. You keep redirecting or ignoring and he will stop, it always gets a little worst before it sinks in ;)

[corvus]

Welcome to our world. ;)

Our pup Erik is very vocal and feels that we should be paying attention to him most of the time and if we are not, he barks at us to remind us to. It is REALLY hard not to reward it. All you need to do is make eye contact and that's a big tick in his box. Speak to him and it's an even bigger tick. Shout at him and it's an even bigger tick. Ask him to do something else and it's a tick. The only thing for it is to smack myself whenever I do anything other than ignore him thoroughly. If he's determined turning away from him usually helps.

What we have also found to be helpful with Erik is a cue to relax. We've been teaching him this with self-control training and massage and putting him in a down until his tail goes limp and he starts blinking and looks more relaxed and then rewarding that. A lot of his attention-seeking behaviour is "I'm bored; entertain me!" behaviour. If we pre-empt it and give him lots of play before we settle for the evening, we are already well ahead and our "relax" cue has a higher chance of being effective.

We also taught Erik a "Shh" cue that means quiet. It certainly works, but only for a few seconds. He can't help himself if the thing he was barking about hasn't changed.

[mrs tornsocks]

our lab used to do this occasionally when he was maybe 12-14 weeks and it was a call to play. If I was lying on the lounge, he would come up, look at my and then just bark at me. At first I had no idea why he barked and once or twice I would respond by playing with him, but not give in to his 'demand' each time. Probably not exactly the right response, but we're lukcy, he grew out of it pretty quickly.

[loeka]

Thanks for the replies - it's good to know I'm not the only one and that it will get better : ) And he doesn't bark at us anymore unless he is very worked up in which case I don't ignore him, but put him outside for a timeout.

SHOWDOG: Remember you may be frustrated but the pup has no clue what you expect & the more frustrated you get the more confused the pup will be.

I think he does understand he is not allowed on the couch and he's beginning to understand NO and AHH AHHH but I'm confused as to how I could be clearer in what I expect from him? I give him treats for being lying quietly on his bed and I also tell him good dog whenever he's with a proper chewtoy and I scold him for not many things, but this is definitely one of them. When he gets really worked up, I take him out to the veranda where his bed and give him a sort of 'time out'. Which he doesn't always mind.

NEKHBET: kelpies and other working breeds will bark a lot more then others smile.gif he's simply expressing desire for attention. You keep redirecting or ignoring and he will stop, it always gets a little worst before it sinks in laugh.gif

Haha that's good to know and thanks for the 'warning' ; )

CORVUS: What we have also found to be helpful with Erik is a cue to relax. We've been teaching him this with self-control training and massage and putting him in a down until his tail goes limp and he starts blinking and looks more relaxed and then rewarding that. A lot of his attention-seeking behaviour is "I'm bored; entertain me!" behaviour. If we pre-empt it and give him lots of play before we settle for the evening, we are already well ahead and our "relax" cue has a higher chance of being effective.

That's wonderful! I must try and teach Loeka that. What kind of cue do you give him? For example, while you're massaging him, do you say something like 'relax' until he gets to the final reward point? I'm new at this so I'm super curious as to how anything is done : ) We tried tiring him out but he has little patience for toys and has a very short attention span. He prefers chewing on rocks and grass :/

This forum has been a major help to me. Thanks!

[corvus]

CORVUS: What we have also found to be helpful with Erik is a cue to relax. We've been teaching him this with self-control training and massage and putting him in a down until his tail goes limp and he starts blinking and looks more relaxed and then rewarding that. A lot of his attention-seeking behaviour is "I'm bored; entertain me!" behaviour. If we pre-empt it and give him lots of play before we settle for the evening, we are already well ahead and our "relax" cue has a higher chance of being effective.

That's wonderful! I must try and teach Loeka that. What kind of cue do you give him? For example, while you're massaging him, do you say something like 'relax' until he gets to the final reward point? I'm new at this so I'm super curious as to how anything is done : ) We tried tiring him out but he has little patience for toys and has a very short attention span. He prefers chewing on rocks and grass :/

We are using "Shh", which started out to mean "quiet" but by the time we started using it to mean relax in general, he was already taking it to mean lie down and be quiet, so it's been a pretty easy transition. Plus he's a smart cookie and likes to take short cuts. When he figured out that we would ask for "shh" and then ask for "down" he started offering them together on "shh".

I'm still kind of finding my way with Erik as he's the first dog I've had that's been so busy and easily aroused. To begin with we didn't reward relaxing with food at all because it would just get him excited again, so we were stroking and massaging and saying "shh" and when he had relaxed we'd say "good boy" and give him attention. The food came in a little later when he was starting to show more self control and was able to hold a down until released (we use "okay" as a release word) in the presence of food. Once he was able to display that much self control, then we could use a bit of bio feedback to encourage relaxation. I learnt this from Leslie McDevitt's book Control Unleashed. You can encourage a calm state of mind by blinking a lot, relaxing your body, looking through half-lidded eyes, taking deep, slow breaths. Dogs tend to mirror you. This is where it helped to already have that lie down and shut up cue as well. It helped him relax. Then he gets a good boy and reward with whatever he wants. He's at the point now where he can give me a down with limp tail and sleepy eyes for his dinner, which seems like a miracle to me because a month ago he would get so worked up over his meals that he couldn't shut up even if he wanted to.

We started on Karen Overall's relaxation protocol (you can find it through a Google search), but faltered a little as I was trying to get my head around the point of it all. I'm going to have another go at this one. It's a protocol designed to teach a dog to relax. If you decide to give it a go, it's not a stay exercise. It doesn't matter if the dog gets up or moves around as long as they are still relaxed. It was REALLY hard for Erik to begin with. Me just standing there with food was enough to get him excited. I don't think I'd try with a puppy. Erik was about 5 months when I first gave it a go and it was frustrating. He's six months old now, and I think he will be better at it now.

Hope that made a bit of sense.

[corvus]

Forgot to add that pig's ears and Kongs stuffed with peanut butter are other excellent ways to engender calm in excited puppies. You can be a bit sneaky and pair it up with a time of the day and a crate/pen/blanket you want them to associate with quiet times.

[corvus]

Here's a video that talks about calming signals:

[loeka]

Here's a video that talks about calming signals:

That's so funny! I have just spent the past 2 hours reading about it and watching her videos (I think she's great and I'm in love with her dogs). I was reading some stuff by Turid Rugaas as well. I never knew for example that licking lips was a calming signal... I think I have learnt more in the past 2 weeks than I have in the past 3 years. : )

[corvus]

Hehe, glad you found it on your own. I love her videos as well, and Splash doing freestyle in the park with her is out of this world!