[Guest]

I have a retrievier/german shepard mix who barks when he wants more attention or is getting impatient.

He only does this when we are at the beach (we live beside the beach!) and wants you to throw something for him. He bounces up and down barking loudly at you or anyone who he thinks will throw a ball or stone or anything for him.

I've tried folding my arms, ignoring him and even turning away until he stops then when he's quiet I pet him and throw something, thinking it will positively enforce good behaviour. But it hasn't worked. If you do throw a ball or something for him, eventually you will want to stop or even take a break for more than 30 seconds and if you do he will start barking.

Anyone got any advise? I' ve already contacted the closest trainer who is 3 hours drive away and she is pretty booked up for the next few weeks. So for the moment, I'm sorta on my own.

Thanks.

 

[RonE]

Get a Chuckit and a couple of tennis balls and throw the ball about 100 yards out into the water.

A few round trips and your dog will be too exhausted to bark. This works really well when there are 4 or 5-foot breakers.

 

[Guest]

Unfortionatly, that wouldn't even break a sweat on him!! I used to leave him loose on the beach if it was empty when I was surfing but he has taken to swimming out through the waves to me now.

I should have mentioned earlier that he gets a lot of exercise and doesn't wear out easily which make the barking even harder to bare when your tired.

Thanks anyways though.

 

[momtolabs]

My dog, bentley used to be/is the same way as your guy. He is very hard to tire out but it IS possible I taught my dogs the"enough" command. Bentley then stops barking and he gets to chase his ball. It took a while to teach him to not bark(he still does sometimes) but he doesn't "bounce in the face, barking, tail chasing" dog anymore. Okay he still does it sometimes but not near as much. I also bike with him nightly(I make sure the pavement isn't to hot, though) and we go for about 2 miles. Fetching/obedience and then running everyday. And at night he is so tired and looks sweet.

 

[Laurelin]

Mia demand barks bad. The problem we have is that like you, people give in to her barking and throw the ball just to shut her up. You really can't do this. You start and stop the games when you want to, not when he demands it. I put a word to signal that I was done playing too. I say 'all done' after the game is over. It's helped her understand there's no more throws coming. She still will try sometimes with me but her behavior with the demand barking towards me is much better than towards other people. Because she knows if I just bark long enough, they'll throw the ball. I understand wanting relief but it's really enforcing the barking even more.

Wearing Mia out so she won't want to play ball isn't an option. She'd play till she collapsed. She's played for 3 hours straight before. You just have to make some rules and deal with the barking for the time being until he picks up that when the game is over, it's over.

 

[Guest]

Yeah my dog will play until he drops too. Every second or third night I bring him cycling and afterwards he goes swimming...probably to cool his Paws!

So if I understand correctly, when he stops barking I need to introduce a command, stop playing and perhaps walk away?

 

[hanksimon]

Try breaking it down into two behaviors:
1. Patience - Play starts only when quiet .... Withdraw attention as you have done. However, don't pet, just throw the ball and say "Fetch", or some other cue to mark the behavior.
2. Quiet - Play restarts only when quiet. When he barks in the middle of play, say "Quiet!" then withdraw attention as above. As soon as he is quiet, even for a micro-second, say "Fetch" and throw the ball.

He wants you to react quickly and repeatedly ... forever. You want him to slow down a bit, so you have to continue to teach him your rules, by explaining then, and showing him the consequences of not following as well as following them. But, he really doesn't know the rules yet, and I imagine he's still young and impatient.

Got pix ? Always like to see other retriever - GSD mixes.

 

[Guest]

Well it seemed to work tonight othe beach. I have to to work a bit more on the command when he's being quiet. But fingers crossed.

As for photos, i dont have many online as we just got 'the internet' at home but i'll try and attach some

 

[Guest]

Actually, i've just re-read your post. Do you mean i should start playtime at the beach, when hes being quiet with a command also? And yes hes young, sorta nearly two years old.

 

[Laurelin]

Yeah my dog will play until he drops too. Every second or third night I bring him cycling and afterwards he goes swimming...probably to cool his Paws!

So if I understand correctly, when he stops barking I need to introduce a command, stop playing and perhaps walk away?

I don't know about a command. Just a signal that the game is done to let the dog know it's done. It probably depends on how intense your dog is about the game. I had to take a very hard line with Mia because if given her way I would throw the ball for her 24/7 and she would bark. For her it wasn't an issue out and about but at home and it gets old very fast. If you waited until she was quiet then threw it again, you'd be restarting the entire cycle of obnoxious behavior again.

So for her the ball goes away for good. Period. She can bark as much as she wants and it's not coming back. I'm much less strict now that she gets the game better and gets the rules and doesn't try to bark at someone for hours to get them to toss her the ball.