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Yesterday morning when Shadow & I got home from our walk we came upon 6 bored looking teenagers hovering behind my house. I have a small rental at the back of the property that is currently unoccupied while waiting for a few projects and the kids were near the window. Shadow took it upon herself to growl at them. You know, the low, serious growl that makes an "O" shape out of a dog's mouth? One of the kids said "nice doggie" and she commenced to demonstrate her barking, snarling, tooth popping, spit flying, scary dog impression. The kids beat feet in some kind of a hurry.
Now, at this point I offered lavish praise for good instincts. My husband is still 1,100 hundred miles away and there were 6 of them, KWIM? I walked away chuckling that anyone could be afraid of the dog I know to be such a wimp. Especially since she was wearing her hoodie and generally not looking much like an attack dog.
Shadow seems to have taken that praise to heart. Since then she has barked at everything, and a few nothings. She has barked at my neighbor's boat, which is sitting in the same spot it has been in since we moved here. She has barked at the fireplace tools. She has barked at both Mickey & Buzz. She barked at a space heater. She barks at the phone when it rings. At 3:30 this morning she was barking her fool head off at the paperboy, who has come down our street at the same time every morning since we moved here without needing to be barked at. She barked at every neighbor who went to work this morning. She barked at the school bus. A few minutes ago she managed to pull down the curtains in my office in an effort to terrorize the mailman. Then she barked at the curtains.
How do I convince her to give it a rest without discouraging her from barking when she should? I appreciate her concern, but I now have a serious headache from all of the barking.
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A few minutes ago she managed to pull down the curtains in my office in an effort to terrorize the mailman. Then she barked at the curtains.
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Ohhhh dear.
First - take a deep breath and see the humor... because it is kind of funny and we have to always remember to keep our senses of humor!
Then - ok, how do you respond when she's barking at whatever it might be? Do you scold? Do you go see what she's barking at? Do you even so much as look at her? All these details are really important for you to think about because it can be that even though YOU don't think you're encouraging her, she might have quite a different view.
Next question: what do you do/how to you respond when she's silent? Do you ignore her and go about your business? Do you make eye contact and praise for being silent, or what?
Well, I always go to see what she is barking at. I tell her "thank you, good girl". Then I go back to whatever I was doing. This has always worked. Shadow has never really been much of a barker. Until yesterday that is.
Shadow & I do everything together so I doubt if this is wanting attention.
Seriously, I have laughed at her many times, especially the space heater, fireplace tools, and curtains. The fireplace tools & the space heater are sitting in the same spots they have been in since we moved into this house. The curtains obviously had a little help getting on the floor.
I have started asking her to lie down after I have checked on the (insert scary item here) and it seems to be helping. She spends a few minutes chuffing and then will relax.
Evey, as always, Shadow has a place in my heart and she places a smile on my face when I read of her antics. Do I have any responses? No. Cassy did that for awhile when she was younger, but most of it was really in a defense mode.
I love these stories, and sorry, I don't have any wise words of wisdom. You are a good trainer/mommy so I trust that you will figure out how to channel these outburst from your lovely protector. )
Sandy
Nope, I wouldn't have thought it has anything to do with attention. I was thinking more along the lines of unintentional cues/reinforcement on your part as is easily done with eye contact for example.
By getting up and going to see what she's barking at you are rewarding and reinforcing her behaviour - whether you mean to or not. In her eyes, it worked.
Well whatever had gotten into my dog seems to have left. Thankfully she slept through the night and has been her normal, quiet self this morning. Crossing fingers that she stays this way.
I'm sorry about the barking,,, but,,, please don't be spreading such rumours!!!
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