Hey!” He demand immediate gratification in all things and barks to be let out, let in, when he sees it’s time for food…I’m sure he thinks his name is Oh For Pete’s Sake, Shutup! But sometimes it seems to be unconscious on his part. Will he stand (or down) around his owner if they don’t give the sit cue? The most annoying is the latter. Living in a metropolitan area in an apartment, I hear neighbors yell and mock bark at their dogs.Dogs who bark in the park at a squirrel or at my Boxer and I as we pass by get shushed. As I am on unincorporated and agricultural land, the city folks moving in nearby may complain but no authorities will come out to our agricultural zoned ranch on a barking complaint. My Maggie seems to be experimenting, if I can use that word, right now with her barking. So they alerted to everything. Create New Account. So sweet. Interesting topic! I haven’t tried it with dogs, but you can reward your dog for one “announcing” bark, and then divert them to another task. I’m bored. When I test with no lead, he will do well a few days then returns to the behavior so I will continue this for much longer before I test again. Patricia McConnell, Ph.D. is an Ethologist and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist who has consulted with cat and dog lovers for over twenty years. Thank you for mentioning Pryor’s “Don’t Shoot the Dog.” Wow that book was a gamechanger for me and was a big part of my journey away from dominance based learning theories. Method 8: Change the motivation. I started wearing the same type of reflective yellow vest to the park. We are dogs! We have lots of stairs in the back, too, but have side and front entrances with less stairs. I try to pay attention to the environment and triggers. Oh! I’ve had fantastic results with a bark collar with our rescue great dane. To the people who have suggested I try a bark collar I say, “If the cost of eliminating the barking means I never get to hear the howly growly yodel that accompanies the tiny tail wags I get every time I come home from running errands, I will gladly live with the other noises!”, Shucks. They help a lot as you work to decrease your dogs’ reactivity, and to keep them less aroused when you’re not around. . It's scientific and it works. The rescue has such a strong food drive that I must separate them for feeding – and then we deal with the barking. Once the puppy was the same size as the first dog, the first dog quit barking. By Patricia McConnell PhD, September 2011, Updated June 2020. That shows up most often in class, when someone comes in late. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3SN3Bghkxw, Patricia B. McConnell, PhD, CAAB Emeritus. It is hard to interpret that as anything other than his using context to guide his efforts to communicate with us. I have a corgi. An interesting article by Patricia McConnell on fear in canines on how and if indeed we reinforce our dogs' fears. Tootsie and Willie love it, they get to search for the goodies along with Maggie.). Thanks, he was a treasure! September 2016. Have you watched “Wilfred” at all? The barking that is more problematic is the true territorial barking. I started with friends who wouldn’t mind standing there for longer than usual while we did the training. !”) is in between, & usually accompanied by spinning & jumping against the front door. Bone time! You almost always have to try to come up with an alternate behavior that you can reward before the whining starts. Either one could be occurring when a dog barks for us to speed up making his dinner. It’s working well so far. I’ve had corgis, which can be problem barkers….. Time will tell. Dr. Lord cited the well-known “Morton’s rules,” in which high, “thin” sounds (narrow band) correlate with fear or affiliation, and low, “thick” (broad band) sounds relate to threats. or “Let me in! Picking raspberries at a friends tonight. Dogs can be “reactive” when out walking for a variety of reasons, including a conditioned response to feeling frustrated at not being able to greet another dog if on leash, or simple fear of a dog they’ve never met. They do bark otherwise, quite rarely, but it is very different than this ” snake bark”. I bet that Trisha’s book “Play Together, Stay Together” (with Karen London) would have some good ideas. We often have Houndsong, led by Squishy Choirmaster (Beagle) – everyone joins in, even the un-hounds. Nothing worked until finally I decided to try rewarding stopping barking. When Jill is with us, Sophy will bark at the sight of another dog, even in the distance. The number of nights that I have had to get out of bed, go to the door, open it, look outside, and then go back to bed in order to get her to stop barking is way more than I would like! And the sheep (and gardens) look marvelous. I think “how to stop barking” depends on why they are barking. My Border Collie Baruch has many different barks. I never allowed them to go out at night alone (because of potential of confrontation with nighttime critters….and, okay, my neuroticism that they were out of my sight). I’m lucky that none of my dogs has ever been a problematic barker, but I’ve been fascinated to read about all of the ingenious management techniques that people have found. She’s not really barking, so she can stay on the couch, right? We have started hauling his crate with us when we camp, but that does not always help. I don’t agree though with Harry George, that dogs learned to bark by listening to people talk. Interesting topic! Instead of screaming “WOOF WOOF WOOF!” she gives me a sideways look, then stares at the ceiling and mutters, “muff muff muff” under her breath. The thing that’s difficult is because she whines so easily, it’s hard to tell when there is a problem. I too tend to think it can be both. A few years ago, I did hear a bark that immediately had me flying downstairs, yelling, “Snake!”. On a separate note, I volunteer in a shelter where we use Method #7 (reinforce NOT-barking behavior) all the time to quiet the dogs on the kennel floor. I remarked to the dog, “Well that was interesting”. And I agree emphatically that exercises aimed at emotional control overall are far more helpful than trying to stop barking ‘in the moment.’ We have benefited hugely from basic counter conditioning (turning alarming things into predictors of wonderful things), but also from exercises like Dr. Karen Overall’s relaxation protocol, or the “look at that!” game. And is the answer for people the the same as it it is for dogs? Masai villagers keep dogs, they told me, because they bark when lions try to break through the thorn bush barrier to kill their cattle. I can’t simply mute the sound to prevent this because I am also often not in front of the TV when an ad starts (I work at home and have it on to listen to CNN news while in other parts of the house). He still needs to narrate his movements and she sometimes still barks but we’ve found a balance that works for us. I have tried many of the methods above with little success. Ranger is pretty close to the perfect barker. (I actually say Settle Down, which means pick a place, lie down and chill out.) The ideas you (and your commenters) offer are helpful, thanks. The one to get me to play, the one when a dog walks by, when a cat walks by, the one for skate boarders, the one when I ask her to bark, and the one I heard only once when a man came out of the bushes on our last walk a few years ago. So when she started barking, we’d go into the backyard with two small treats. Greet her as a stranger with a pat to the head and you’ll get a snort – this same sound only ever happens in this context. This does come with a down-side, i.e. He has a large vocabulary of barks, groans, growls and grunts. We simply call her to come which removes her from the window. Granted, while they are learning, it may take several iterations, in which case the toy comes out for play. We have taught her to go get a toy. If visitors toss treats before entering, the dog begins to associate visitors with good things instead of threats, and the fearful barking is replaced by tail ways and silly grins. I’m thinking about them and wondering how any researcher can honestly think that barks only reflect internal state and are not intentional communication of an idea. I have 4 Border Collies and none of them bark much at all. Sad thing is he’s an amazinggggg dog. Of course, it’s not the dogs who are bothered by continuous barking. Come out and play!”. Have you read Patricia’s memoir, The Education of Will? Then there’s a play bark and a general ‘alarm’ bark, and she can be a bit demanding too, this one I would also call “HEY!”. I deal with that by asking Willie to go pick up a toy after he gets a treat. I too am struck by how many wise readers report that acknowledging alert barking has a big impact on helping dogs to stop barking. I remember especially when we dog-sat for a friend’s very barky collie, who was driving us crazy with his inane barking, especially since we weren’t used to much in the way of barking at all. ‎Show Raising Your Paws- Your resource for dog & cat pet parents, Ep Introducing Your New Adopted Dog to the Family and Stories from a Dog Handling Secret Service Agent - Apr 17, 2018 Any ideas for a Border Collie that barks only when he’s excited that he might get to go out and play? You can read an abstract of this argument here, or find the entire article online if you have access to the journal. But it’s a weird thought to me that animals could have such rich emotional lives and suddenly go blank in the experience/feeling dept. Humans cry, laugh, giggle, gasp, etc as an expression of internal state. Patricia McConnell, Ph.D., a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, has made a lifelong commitment to improving the relationship between people and animals. Looking at my own two canines, Ranger barks to communicate something. She enjoys reading every comment, and adds her own responses when she can. I tried the “good job” approach, but instead of stopping, he would become more excited – “great, you’re here, look how terrible!”. If he is still barking at x,y, or z, then it’s “ok that’s enough now, let’s go inside and get a cookie”. After a good run in water, mud, and pollen, that order, the dog needs a bath. What IS that? Wolves do whine. She combines a thorough understanding of the science of behavior with years of practical, applied experience. Our first dog, a Beagle mix from the shelter, barked maybe 10 times in her life with us (each time for a Very Good Reason). The sound can be deafening & the roadways into the grounds can run for a couple of miles. MEANWHILE, back on the farm: The bounty of summer is keeping us busy. I had to stand there waiting with treat poised in hand and when she finally took a breath shove the treat in her mouth, which she swallowed while continuing her yapping. To his great disgust I would not let him out to confront the creature I couldn’t see in the brush. I can’t, either at home or at a show, leave her crated away from me. But be careful that it doesn’t contain Xylitol and don’t use too much. They stopped yelling. Willie did exactly the same thing, and I learned to say “Willie, don’t be silly” and not get up and change what I was doing. Patricia McConnell, Ph.D., a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, has made a lifelong commitment to improving the relationship between people and animals. Patricia B. McConnell's profile 280 followers Patricia B. McConnell isn't a Goodreads Author ( yet ), but she does have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from her feed. MEANWHILE, back on the farm: High summer here–Day lilies, raspberries, daisies, mosquitos, gnats, & Japanese beetles are all competing for attention. I did want to add that I do believe that dogs ARE capable of wholly developed conscious thought, and are capable of expressing it. Some of these exercises might have nothing directly to do with barking, like lie down and stay, or “settle”. So I’d never dream of using a bark collar on a bulldog. It’s pretty raunchy and over the top but the writer really knows dogs and every episode has something in it where I go “That’s so true!”. FAQ. I have a young Border about 20 months old who has recently become a problem barker – becoming more and more vocal over the past few weeks. If I’d let them out the (fenced) back yard for a quick potty together, she would bark to let me know they were back. I’ve always subscribed to the “hey! I think all of our dogs feel that way, don’t you? FAMILY FRIENDLY DOG TRAINING | MCCONNELL, PATRICIA | ISBN: 9781891767111 | Kostenloser Versand für alle Bücher mit Versand und Verkauf duch Amazon. I use #5 with some variation . I also wonder if the two hypotheses are truly mutually exclusive. Taking him out another way wouldn’t retrain him so we could use the backyard again (so useful when you are ill or undressed). It’s convenient if in a hurry to leave but want to give your pups a potty break and for potty breaks before bed-time. Have you seen the stage play, Sylvia, in which a man brings a stray dog home from the park and adopts it? Have you read Patricia’s memoir, The Education of Will? If he went out alone, I’d see him sitting by the door, throwing his head back, opening his mouth as if he were barking, but there was no sound. . I thought he must be deaf when he became an only dog, because he never barked when the mail carrier came, nor when people walked by on the sidewalk, nor for any of the other things the corgis would have alerted me to. I’d rather a few “false alarms” than have a dog who is not ready to express himself! In this book, author Turid Rugaas, well known for her work on identifying and utilizing canine “calming signals,” turns her attention to understanding and managing barking behavior. hey!” theory. Not. Thereafter, whenever he started barking inappropriately, all I had to do was raise my index finger and he’d stop barking. Here’s a photo of the benefits of all that hard work, just a few of the flowers from the garden. Required fields are marked *. 25,963 talking about this. If I ask for a command like come to me or go get a toy the games stop. at each other. Our older BC was very vocal, with various barks with which we could tell what she was communicating. That is part of why I help him by asking him to go get a toy. I see no scientific reason why one bark can’t be an expression of internal state while a different bark is communicative. My own dogs are Staffordshire Bull Terriers, and don’t tend to bark a lot, though they make plenty of other noises. (I evaluate her face as looking both nervous and expressing a mild threat, which fits Morton’s rules and how she behaves until she gets a sniff of anyone new and then is thrilled to see them. We have a rescued Border Collie who was picked up as a stray. This post is really interesting to me because I have three dogs and every one of them has a different way of barking. He will stand and bark at his box of toys…”Yap! After reading this book by Patricia McConnell and listening to some of her teachings on YouTube, I am so impressed by her natural intellect concerning animal behavior and her true devotion to animals . stinky cheese?) Care. Just curios if you’ve had similar things happening. We think he’s the one we need to train. ), but I believe it’s usually something far-off-but-important, like another dog barking, or maybe a skateboarder thinking about trespassing on the sidewalk in front of our house. She’s dancing around in the vicinity of the person she wants to take her out but she hasn’t made eye contact, she isn’t waiting for a verbal or physical response, she barks until she has you within sight of the door and once she sees the door she runs to it and waits. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a wolf whine. We are two floors up in the back with steep stairs I cannot navigate at night so hmmm? Dogs can seemingly bark forever without getting tired, but yelling is no fun for most of us. I can yell “Hey!” as a communication to get attention and I can also yell involuntarily in pain or surprise. Familiar sounds. Welcome to an ongoing inquiry about the behavior of people and dogs. It just doesn’t sound right. No barking. Being a Vizsla, Hobbes is a talker with an entire vocabulary of barks and other vocalizations. I wanted to second your endorsement of this classic! Usually, just picking him up and plopping him in a lap helps. I am on it.” Having notified the boss of the “threat,” their job was done and they shut up. She simply cannot play without barking. There’s strangers passing by! This is one of my favorite methods of influencing behavior. Perhaps there was, and I just didn’t see or hear it, but there is something about her behavior that makes me suspicious. To borrow from an old adage, she can certainly bark like a sailor! I love reading all these comments. I suspect he thinks he is getting away with something, lol. Perhaps Tiffany is exceptionally quiet, but in all the 5 years I’ve had her, I’ve never heard her bark ‘properly’. Here’s actually a clip of my Staffordshire Bull Terrier bitch demand barking. I should say here that Willie still struggles not to bark when people are at the door; he does what I ask but then a bark will burst out of his mouth as if he belched. I can’t get him to stop this “I’m so happy you are with me. (I’ll leave it at that for now; I started writing more and realized it needs an entire blog. When they stop, I continue driving. She explains her methods and rationale in a very understandable way. Giving him another toy to try and distract him does not work. If he does bark, I’ll whisper (modeling the behavior I want from him), “quiet”. Though I suspect dogs have in their mind a concept of they want to communicate. The answer turned out to be yes. Plus, he’s even a baby when it comes to our cat. When we get to the bottom he will howl and run towards the door. And I’ve learned to recognize what he’s trying to say mostly. It definitely is like he is keeping himself occupied, as we are usually doing yard work, or setting up camp, or wanting to just sit around the campfire. Ranger is very well socialized and recognizes a number of nouns well enough that if I offer two of the things he knows and ask him to touch one he’s more than 80% accurate. They bark when excited if I get out the hose or if someone they know pulls in the driveway, but they also direct puppy barks and whine towards me to get out of a crate or into the house or to get a turn if we’re training. She barks when she needs to go out. O tem govori 13.231 oseb. Ah… barking! Or again if he needs to go out urgently at 2am because he ate something he should not have, he will bark sharply once, wait for a response, and if we don’t respond bark sharply again…. While to good dogs sit patiently waiting . But folks move in and out so often and sounds change. Both hypotheses allow for nuanced interpretations. Dogs can see out of it, but the visual stimuli is damped down enough for many dogs to be less reactive. It’s a lack of coping skills and mental problem solving to alleviate stress. Or elicit the occasional ‘arggggh’ It’s an effective outlet for pent up frustration. She is known worldwide as an expert on canine and feline behavior and dog training, and for her engaging and knowledgeable dog training books, DVDs and seminars. . She’d still bark at him but it didn’t get confrontational and it was muffled by having a toy in her mouth. Not to mention being hysterically funny. My sheep even have a bark like noise when they are alarmed, that I suspect has the same function as most alarm barks: to threaten predators and alert the rest of the group. She’s literally unable to think, and is running on sheer emotion. I waited until he did a run down with no barking and praised him like crazy. Anyway, the trainer had a pheasant in her hand and my dog was literally shrieking at her to let him at it. I’m pretty sure the look on her face was, “I’ll go when I need to, but I’ll do this to make you happy.” I’d crack up every time and thank her. Or you could get a cat, a lizard or a hedgehog. His goal seems to be to make me stop what I’m doing (eating supper, reading a book, etc.) ), I’d guess that I’ve used this and Method #5 more than any other two, both in my career as a behaviorist and as a dog owner myself. He barks if I’m going to open the door to the backyard so I taught him to sit and stay and be quiet while I open the door. I do think that dog barks express an emotional state, and I do think that dogs use their barks deliberately to prompt desired action from their social partners (dog and human). Since progress happens slowly, it is nice to get that perspective from people who do not see her every day. Patricia McConnell is on Facebook. Once inside, she got “Good guarding” and two treats and was kept inside for 15-20 minutes. Which brings home this point: there are two real types of dogs, barkers and talkers. Bone time! Barks galore, especially for Dad! Hard work has paid off, indeed. I don’t mind barking at the serial killer mail lady who delivers to the house, but these very early morning barks for apparently no reason have really flummoxed me. But remember, lots of animals bark, not just dogs. Arlo (2 years) barks at the front door when he sees dogs with people that dare to walk on our sidewalk or the one across the street (apparently, he owns both). We haven’t figured out our way around this dilemma in the woods. When Otis “locked on” to an object of attention, staring intensely with his ears up and forward, I found it helped tremendously to rest my hand on top of his head and gently push his ears down and back, out of “aroused” position and into “relaxed”. Over time the Sammy has made huge progress. 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