[aiw]

Pete my terrier mix barks at the doorbell and whenever anyone enters the house. Its not an alert bark, its an excitement yip/whine. The sound is piercing and painful, it makes entering our home really unpleasant. He also winds up our other dog so the two of them become hard to control. I hate that coming in our door becomes more about the dogs than about the people! I tried the sticky advice but it seems Pete has taken my silence while he is barking as tacit approval and runs around screaming until he's finished, THEN comes looking for his treat. Almost like, he thinks the treat is for the barking and not for the silence that follows it.

How do I teach him that the whining is NOT acceptable? I dont want to resort to (suggested) tactics like a bark collar but my family is really frustrated and I need a plan of action.... help!

 

[Amaryllis]

Remove him from the door. Put him in his crate or in another room and let him out when he stops barking. Clearly, he's getting some sort of reward out of this, so remove the source of the reward. No pain required!

 

[aiw]

I've been doing that. I can't get to him fast enough though when the doorbell rings, he's always whined for several seconds before I make it to the door. I'm going to try it in a specific training setting. I'm going to try this for a while before we even consider a bark collar, it just seems so cruel to shock him anytime he makes a SOUND, dogs are supposed to bark.

 

[Sibe]

Work on desensitizing him, and make door sounds a cue. Have a specific place he's supposed to go when there is a knock or ring. This place should be somewhere he can see the door and see who comes in, but it should be at least 10'-15' away from the door itself. First teach him how to go to that spot. Put a towel on the floor or other marker. Lead him over and when he puts even a single paw on the towel, click (or use whatever marker word you use) and reward. Shape that behavior using baby steps so he has to go completely onto to the towel and sit before before rewarded. Give it a named cue like "place." Once you can tell him "place" and he goes and sits on his towel, work on having him stay there. Tell him "wait" (or stay, whichever you use) and practice walking away from him toward the door and back. Once he can do that you can start to introduce the door sounds. Knock once on the door and tell him "place." Practice until he gets it. Then do two knocks, three knocks, turn the doorknob, open the door a tiny bit, open it more, open it all the way, ring the bell, etc etc. so he learns that those things all mean he goes and sits in his place.

Practice, practice, practice. Soon the door sounds mean "go to my place and get treats" instead of "bark my head off and whine and be annoying."

You can phase out the towel on the floor too. Once he's really good at going to his place use a smaller towel like washcloth, and eventually you can remove it.