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We're having a problem with our 10 1/2-month-old poodle barking at people and animals outside. Permanently blocking access to the windows isn't really an option (we lived with baby gates for 5+ years when our cat began urinating outside her litter box and we really don't want to live with gates for another 10+ years).
I've looked through a variety of resources (this forum, other web sites, books) for ideas to address the barking. Here's what I tried so far:
- Going to the window, investigating, and then informing the dog that "everything is ok" and she can "be quiet" now. She stops briefly, but quickly resumes barking.
- Calling her into another room and having a short training session. This works if I can get her into another room and I have time (it's not always practical if I'm cooking, cleaning, showering, etc).
- Learning "speak" and "quiet." She can follow the cues in other situations, but not when she sees someone outside. I know this is probably just a matter of continued practice and proofing.
- One thing I want to try is to sit with her and try to catch her between the time she notices something and starts barking so that I can reinforce quiet. She's been doing great with "look at that" type games for her excitement around other dogs, so I'm hoping a similar type of training will work with this. Not sure my reflexes are good enough, though.
She gets two 45-60 minute walks a day plus about 30 minutes of running in the yard (she loves to grab a stick or a ball and do figure eights around the trees). We do several training sessions a day and plan to enroll in a level II basic manners class next month. Usually, she gets part of her dinner in a puzzle toy and part during training. She may be bored, so I'm open to recommendations.
Is there anything else you would suggest? Is this something she might outgrow if we continue to work with her?
Next week she'll be recovering from a spay and gastropexy, so she won't have access to the windows. Is there anything we can do during this time?
Thanks!
I've looked through a variety of resources (this forum, other web sites, books) for ideas to address the barking. Here's what I tried so far:
- Going to the window, investigating, and then informing the dog that "everything is ok" and she can "be quiet" now. She stops briefly, but quickly resumes barking.
- Calling her into another room and having a short training session. This works if I can get her into another room and I have time (it's not always practical if I'm cooking, cleaning, showering, etc).
- Learning "speak" and "quiet." She can follow the cues in other situations, but not when she sees someone outside. I know this is probably just a matter of continued practice and proofing.
- One thing I want to try is to sit with her and try to catch her between the time she notices something and starts barking so that I can reinforce quiet. She's been doing great with "look at that" type games for her excitement around other dogs, so I'm hoping a similar type of training will work with this. Not sure my reflexes are good enough, though.
She gets two 45-60 minute walks a day plus about 30 minutes of running in the yard (she loves to grab a stick or a ball and do figure eights around the trees). We do several training sessions a day and plan to enroll in a level II basic manners class next month. Usually, she gets part of her dinner in a puzzle toy and part during training. She may be bored, so I'm open to recommendations.
Is there anything else you would suggest? Is this something she might outgrow if we continue to work with her?
Next week she'll be recovering from a spay and gastropexy, so she won't have access to the windows. Is there anything we can do during this time?
Thanks!