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PROBLEMATIC BARKING: Identifying the why

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A lot people will tell me ‘Yeah, she’s a great dog! -for the most part.But I can’t stand the issue with her barking!’ It is a common problem for owners and it can generate a lot of frustration between both parties.

First you need to figure out why your dog is barking. Always go to the root of the problem, otherwise you are just treating symptoms and guessing but never dealing with the cause. Once you figure out the reason, you can work from there. Is the dog alerting to someone they see outside? Are they barking at a squirrel they want to chase? Do they need to go out to potty? Are they sound sensitive and reacting to noises? What is the reason they are barking?

Another reason people don’t quickly see results to just treating the ‘symptoms’ is that barking is a very self rewarding behavior.

After all, regardless of what is stimulating them, at least they are doing SOMETHING about it! Have you ever sat around and just worried over an issue and wondered why you were just worrying so much? Well at least your brain is saying that, by worrying, the illusion of SOMETHING is being done!

However, you cannot go about trying to remedy the situation without getting an understanding of your dog’s motivation. Then you can figure out whether you want to train a ‘quiet’ command. Use a ‘leave it’ to tell your dog to remove their focus from the stimuli, or maybe you need to gently lead your dog away from the situation and give them an alternate behavior where they can calmly focus on something positive instead of continually being aroused and feeling the need to bark.

Whatever the solution, this question first needs to be answered: “Why is my dog barking?”

WHY POTTY PADS ARE A POOPY IDEA

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dog-1158929_1280If you want to have a housebroken dog that will not relieve themselves inside your home, don’t use potty pads. Ever. A dog must have a clear picture right from the beginning that going pee or poop in the house is not acceptable and that instead relieving themselves outdoors is always the way to go! When a dog is taught it is an acceptable behavior to ‘go’ in the house, it is a hard habit to break. Harder even if you reinforce it with a potty pad as they will often associate other soft surfaces such as rugs and carpeting or even clothes, as acceptable for peeing on as well.

When cleaning such areas(or even some hardwood flooring) most basic cleaners won’t be enough as the odor is still present to your dog’s nose. This again just tells them this is an ‘okay’ place to eliminate.

Another problem that often occurs is the dog uses one pad for peeing, but won’t use it for pooping, so they end up going on the floor next to it. In another instance, lets say you have multiple dogs and one of them saturates one pad, but a few hours later needs another so you end up placing multiple pads and then more pads and so on and soon enough your entire living room is a doggy bathroom! Not a fun way to live.

If this mistake has already been made and you want to transition your dog to being fully housebroken there are a few basic things you can do:

1) Treat your dog like a new puppy and go back to ‘housebreaking 101’

2) This will sometimes entail hiring a dog walker to let them out if you cannot be there frequently

3) Get a blacklight and check for any and all urine stains.

4) Clean these areas with an enzymatic spray such as Nature’s Miracle to help eliminate the odors that will attract your dog back to these places

5) Sometimes it is too much of an uphill battle and it is better to just replace old rugs, bathmats and even carpeting.

6) Patience and consistency are two of the principles of any kind of dog training. Consistency will be incredibly important here!

NOT IN AN INSTANT

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When it comes to dog training, anyone who claims to you they can get results or a cure “Instantly!” is more than likely going to be doing something unethical or they are just giving out a sales pitch. Many times, working on strengthening a behavior or getting rid of an unwanted behavior takes training for the dog and the human. How long or short it takes to reach those goals will vary by a number of different potential elements. Rarely do lasting results happen instantly. Training is a process, and all processes require time.

A great relationship is a worthy investment!

5 MAIN TIPS FOR SUCCESS WITH A NEWLY ADOPTED DOG

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These are just the big ones when it comes to setting a new adult dog up for success in your household. Keep in mind these are just basic tips and I will be writing more extensively on each topic at a future time.

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1. Go slow and don’t overwhelm them. Don’t plan any family outings, trips to the park, have visitors over or any unnecessary exposure for the first 1-4 weeks. (Not including a veterinary visit- a checkup appointment should be made within the first week of bringing your new dog home.)

2. Use a crate. If you don’t have a crate then use an ex-pen, or baby gate a ‘dog proofed’ room. Just like you would with a young puppy, you want your new dog to have a safe place when you cannot be watching them. Crates are also the best option for potty training which is discussed below.

3. Don’t give any high value items like bully sticks, bones or chews in the first week. Sometimes such an item has to be taken away (preferably traded for) for safety reasons. You don’t know your new dog’s habits yet and don’t want to find out the hard way that the dog has a history of resource guarding or food aggression- nor do you want to create it in a dog who doesn’t understand that you may have perfectly good intentions!

4. Supervise, supervise, supervise. If you have any other animals in the home, all interactions should be closely monitored and adequate safe spaces and down time should be given to all so that everyone can get used to the household changes. Remember it is more than just your newest family member who is going to have to adjust. If you are present you also can make sure your new canine won’t be developing bad habits like chewing, counter surfing or getting into any other trouble.

5. Assume the new dog is not potty trained, even if you are told otherwise. Set the new dog up for success treating her or him like a puppy for the first few days. Lots of frequent trips outside, lots of praise when they ‘go’ and never leave them unsupervised so they don’t have a chance to make a mistake in the house.

RELEASE COMMAND

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Conventional training may not give you this idea, but the importance of a release command is almost right up there with the basics. While some owners opt never to train one because they imply it in some of the basic commands (such as ‘sit’ or ‘down’) other areas of life yield this a much more important part of training. Such as having a dog to ‘stay’ or ‘come’.

Now you might be wondering what is a release command? This is a term used to tell your dog when they are done with a certain behavior. With ‘stay’ for example, this is a behavior that most obviously benefits the most. You need to decide when the behavior is finished and then let the dog know. Otherwise the dog will decide.

When training a dog to come when called, this is one of the biggest mistakes made. Not having a release command will ruin the foundation of the command. For when is it that the dog is done being with you? If your dog only decides, then that leaves too many chances for them to run off again, come only within 5 feet of you, run right past you, take the treat and walk away, etc. If you use a collar grab(see previous post) and then a release command this will make your recall much more reliable and clear to the dog what you want.

So what is a good word to use? ‘Okay’ is the most common. I prefer to use something that is more specific to interaction with your dog, as ‘okay’ is such a generally used term even in conversation that you might end up releasing your dog without even meaning to! Choosing a different word also helps YOU to remember when you’re through with a behavior. Something such as: ‘free’, ‘break’, ‘done’, ‘finished ‘or ‘at ease’.

THE COLLAR GRAB

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dog-731979_1920This is a practice that many should look into but especially goes with the recall (come when called) and every owner should practice it if they expect to spend any time with their dogs outside off leash.

So why work with your dog to be comfortable with you grabbing their collar? First off, there are countless times when safety necessitates it. Secondly, it can be invaluable in every day commands. For example, if you call your dog to you and she comes but ducks away when you try to reach for her collar then how are you suppose to put her leash back on? If you need to remove your dog from the front door (who is still too exuberant to greet visitors politely) but he won’t let you take him by the collar as he knows the fun will end, then you are busy chasing him around your visitors which teaches him nothing and only frustrates you more. How about the dog who considers reaching for their neck a game and tries to mouth you instead? Having a dog who is comfortable with and associates a collar grab with something calming and positive is a priceless part of communication and trust.

You can introduce your dog to this in a number of ways but start out in the home environment when there is nothing else going on. Just gently hold their collar for a mere second and then praise and treat. The next time do it a second longer, then praise and treat. Make sure you are in front of them and they can see you reaching. Then move to practicing doing it over their head, under the neck, etc. The next session make sure to vary your positions: sitting, standing, grabbing while walking next to your dog and so forth.

As you can tell your dog is associating this reaching and grabbing interaction with something positive and harmless, you will have an easier time corralling them when it comes to needing to settle them down or leash them. Which is priceless for a dog who loves to ‘come’ but then wants to be chased instead!

Any questions? Leave a comment below!