Need training advice

[pdac1975]

Hello all!
I'm back with more questions.
Wally is, for the most part, a very well trained dog. He sits, lies down, and even high fives! (Of course he only does these things when he feels like it but i think that's fairly normal for these stubborn dogs).
We are really only having trouble with one thing:
When we are home and he hears even the slightest noise outside the door (we are in a condo with a common entrance), he jumps up and starts barking like crazy for a few minutes before he settles down. I think he hears the noise and gets excited because he thinks someone is coming over. What would be the best way to address this behavior? It can be pretty annoying especially as it gets later at night. He can be sound asleep and just hear the slightest noise and it will cause him to lose his mind for a few minutes.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[Davidh]

Just have to keep working with him on it. BeBe will do this because she is a good watch dog and protector, (her mama instincts) I just tell her "BeBe NO" and she shuts up. You can do exercises with him and use a friend to help you. Put a leash on him and have your friend knock on the door. When he barks tug sharply on the leash to the side or tap him on the rear with your foot to redirect and make him sit, before opening the door. If he gets up make him come back to you and sit before your friend comes in. When your friend does come in tell them to walk passed the dog and do not look at or show him any attention. This takes time and patience to do, but be consistent and it will work out. This should help with the barking also. Just be patient, consistent, and calm. This kind of training works for me, and I'm sure others will have different ideas, you just need to find the one that works for you.

 

[anatess]

We do distraction. Both our dogs does this when a car or somebody passes by. We'd be watching a movie with the surround sound on high and they would somehow hear somebody jogging down the road and go barking in the middle of the movie. We just issue another command - usually "Come" and "Lay" and they usually get distracted from the barking and would Come and Lay and get their rubbings. But no, it doesn't stop them from barking (we don't mind that they bark - it's like an early warning system or something), it just stops them from barking on and on until the jogger passes by.

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

Jake picked up this Bad Habit from our Dena Dog! It drives me crazy! I've been using the coins in a can...and it totally shuts up Dena! Problem is Jake doesn't care..I'm going to take [MENTION=2071]Davidh[/MENTION] advice...and Jake is soooo stubborn too! but..like Wally..they sure are cute while they ignore us..ha?

 

[2BullyMama]

Just have to keep working with him on it. BeBe will do this because she is a good watch dog and protector, (her mama instincts) I just tell her "BeBe NO" and she shuts up. You can do exercises with him and use a friend to help you. Put a leash on him and have your friend knock on the door. When he barks tug sharply on the leash to the side or tap him on the rear with your foot to redirect and make him sit, before opening the door. If he gets up make him come back to you and sit before your friend comes in. When your friend does come in tell them to walk passed the dog and do not look at or show him any attention. This takes time and patience to do, but be consistent and it will work out. This should help with the barking also. Just be patient, consistent, and calm. This kind of training works for me, and I'm sure others will have different ideas, you just need to find the one that works for you.

PERFECT advice!! This is what we had to do with Banks.... she barks at EVERY THING!!

 

[pdac1975]

Thank you all for the great advice. I will get started on this right away.

 

[Teresa]

I use a squirt bottel and say quite in a normal voice . Now if he just see's the bottel all i have 2 do is say quite.

 

[pdac1975]

Yes! We were just at our neighbors and they used a squirt bottle for all sorts of undesirable behavior and it seemed to work wonders. We will be trying this out.

 

[anatess]

I'm thinking... is it undesirable behavior to bark when there's a slight commotion at the door? I'm thinking you might not want to stop the barking itself. I think what you want to stop is the going crazy kind of barking. And if you use a squirt bottle when he barks, then you are telling him barking (the protective instinct) is not good. I'm not sure this is really what you want.

I'm laying this out for others to comment on, because we don't mind our dogs barking when something sets off their protective instinct (we had 2 dobermans before and they had a very strong protective instinct). What we do is let them know that everything is okay and they calm back down pretty quickly. So that is - they bark, we tell them to Sit or Lay which tells them everything is fine. Because, there might be a time that some hoodlums are trying to break through the door and your dog's barking can be the thing that scares them into leaving your door alone...

What do you guys think?

 

[Vicaroo1000]

[MENTION=2874]anatess[/MENTION] - you make a great point. I like the protective bark of a large dog; particularly when I'm traveling and my mother is here alone with the dogs. The problemo is this: Bo and Bea will bark at ANYTHING and they are relentless. So this is what I'm doing: they get a couple of "warning woofs" and then I ceremoniously "check" on what they've found. After I say "I got it" they're supposed to stop barking. Yes. Well. We're still working on that one...LOL
I want them to warn me about whatever they think is necessary - you never know when it's going to be something worthwhile to bark at right? - but once I acknowledge the effort, I want the barking to stop. We'll get there eventually!