Degan's barking mad!

This forum is all about training and behavior. Everything from potty training to working titles!

Postby TheRedQueen » December 21st, 2009, 9:52 pm

amazincc wrote:
TheRedQueen wrote:. Barking can be a self-rewarding behavior, because it's fun to bark for many dogs. :D It's one behavior that I almost never tell people to ignore completely. Sure, ignoring can be part of the training...but it's not going to be the entire training plan.



Hmmm... so, what do you suggest instead? I think in Sepps case... he really does enjoy barking. I've seen him run around in circles in the yard, just barking his head off... at nothing. :|


A multi-pronged effort. :)

I have a barker...Inara LOVES to bark. Loves it. Gets attention when she barks, makes scary people go away when she barks, makes other dogs bend to her will when she barks...and so on. She also likes to bark when she's playing...being a herding dog, well, that just happens. :|

So...when she's playing, she has to carry a toy (a pacifier) to muffle her barking. If she won't pick up a toy on cue...she gets a time-out. I taught the toy carry as an alternate behavior...thinking she couldn't bark when carrying the toy, but she actually still barks, just softer. Which is fine with me. ;)

For the attention, she only gets a time-out if she demand barks at me...or if we're out somewhere, she has to down and get ignored by me. I give her a cue of "you're done"...so she knows that the time out is coming...and I say it rather neutrally...so it's not a positive punishment.

And of course "look at that" game for dealing with scary things, people, mail lady, etc.

On top of all of that...there are times where I let her go crazy and bark...flyball is a great outlet for her, because she gets to run around and release energy AND bark. 8)
"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw
User avatar
TheRedQueen
I thought I lost my Wiener... but then I found him.
 
Posts: 7184
Location: Maryland

Postby amazincc » December 21st, 2009, 9:59 pm

TheRedQueen wrote:
For the attention, she only gets a time-out if she demand barks at me...or if we're out somewhere, she has to down and get ignored by me. I give her a cue of "you're done"...so she knows that the time out is coming...and I say it rather neutrally...so it's not a positive punishment.



Duh... it never occured to me to give a command instead of ripping my hair out... :oops: lol
That might definitely work better than just being annoyed as all hell. :cuss:
I'm going to start doing that... thanks. :wink:
User avatar
amazincc
Jessica & Mick
 
Posts: 9814
Location: Holding them both in my heart.

Postby pitsnok » December 22nd, 2009, 2:04 pm

It doesn't seem to me like he does it for enjoyment because he has never just been barking for no reason... he is pretty exploratory when he is outside, and does figure eights in the yard, but I've never known him to just... bark. He doesn't even bark at the squirrels who torment him! I have been proactive with giving them stuff to chew on before they ask for it, (it is always around the same time at night that he does it) and hopefully we can start working on an 'enough' command while practicing speaking.
Hopefully it will come as easily as everything else, but for some reason I doubt it will!
~Brittany, Degan and Harlow's mom


"It is true that Pit Bulls grab and hold on. But what they most often grab and refuse to let go of is your heart, not your arm."
User avatar
pitsnok
Hyper Adolescent Bully
 
Posts: 365
Location: Edmond, OK

Previous

Return to Training & Behavior

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users