How to stop barking? Help!

iwantmypup · 06-20-2007, 10:08 PM

Ok , pepper is a barker..
she does not have that little puppy bark.. she has a full on bark.. kinda scary! Anyways living in an apartment building.. she can't bark or out we go.. Now , how do we stop this barking.. when she barks its when we area away , when we are not with her 24/7 , when we are somewhere else in the apartment and she is in the kitchen.

Now somebody is going to come to the door , what do we do!!?

Help!

-Ali and barker pepperonisza

ilovemychihuahua · 06-20-2007, 10:13 PM

Now this is an Off Topic thing, but it seems to me you're offline.

So you aren't with Pepper all the time? Well actually in another room right? Maybe it's Seperation Anexiety. Now about the person coming to the door, I don't know what excatly you should do, i'm no counsler.

Try shhing Pepper, but in a nice way. As if you're saying, "Please Pepper, be quiet". Like I said, i'm no counsler, but that's what I think.
-Necie

iwantmypup · 06-20-2007, 10:37 PM

Yeah my mom is at work and me at school and she does bark like probably for 5-10 minutes. And she barks if we are in another room too... probably is separation anxiety..

yeah I wish the shhhiing would help but she looks at me funny LOL.

Thanks!
-ali

ilovemychihuahua · 06-20-2007, 10:39 PM

No prob! Hope the "Shhing" works.

Take care!

-Necie

iwantmypup · 06-20-2007, 10:43 PM

Thanks!!!!!

--ALi

iwantmypup · 06-22-2007, 12:15 PM

No Body? Please? I actually need to stop her barking and my mom is suggesting a this shock collar for her that makes her not bark.. shocks her if she does.. and I really don't want to do that. and I don't want people complaining.. and we can't move because of the lease and the fact that pepper is a dog , not a cat there fore we can't find a reasonably priced apartments....
oh gosh.

HELPS?!?!

iwantmypup · 06-22-2007, 08:23 PM

Does anybody else know how to stop barking? Before we get thrown out of our apartment?

redox · 06-23-2007, 08:57 AM

Shock collars for barking are a bad idea IMO. Do a search and I'm sure you'll find more opinions.

Your dog has probably learned that when it barks it gets attention from you. Either by you going to it or even by yelling at it. Either way it gets what it wants: attention. Now that it has learned this it will be hard to break it, but I'm sure it is possible. You can't acknowledge a dog in any way that is seeking attention by whining or barking.

tdlabrie · 06-23-2007, 01:55 PM

I'm not one of the big "training guru's" on this forum, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

We had a similar problem with Max, our 15-month Lab/Spaniel rescue baby. Most of his barking was not from separation anxiety actually, but rather from people coming to the house, ringing the bell, that sort of thing. Obviously, this is a case where we wanted him to bark; but when we discovered that the visitor was a friend, then we wanted him to stop. No go.

In discussing this question on this, and other boards, somebody said how easy it was to train their dog to stop barking once you were able to get him to start the barking, such as training the "speak" command. In my case it was easy, I just rang the doorbell. Bark, bark, mark and reward. THEN...start issuing the "quiet" command, along with a visual signal (I use a finger across the lips, like "shhh") which helps most dogs. The instant he stops barking, mark and reward.

Obviously, you have to follow normal training procedures, extend the quiet time before reward, wean your dog off food treats and onto "good boy" praise, all that. But that's a separate discussion.

Worked for us, maybe you too. Good luck.

iwantmypup · 06-23-2007, 02:02 PM

Thank you redox , thats true about the attention.. It just very very difficult to do anything with pepper barking.. lol but we need to work of it.

Thank you Tdlabrie. Thats a very good idea..I actually never really thought about that. Me and pepper will definatly have to work on that!

Thanks! I hope it works for us too!\

Thank you guys both!

-Ali

WeimOwner · 06-23-2007, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iwantmypup

Does anybody else know how to stop barking? Before we get thrown out of our apartment?

Ali ~
Please read this Article. Especially the bottom section that speaks to what you can do about it. The top section seems to identify the problem(s) your Dog may be having. But first you must understand that none of these methods are going to be instant success. You have to work at it and soon you will gain what you are hoping for if you stick with it. The older the Dog, the harder it will be but just think how you will feel when you've concurred this problem.

http://www.peteducation.com/article....&articleid=153