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We own and live on a ground floor apartment townhouse with our dog, and are home most of the time together. Immediately outside our own apt door is the building's front hallway. There, our 5 upstairs tenants and their guests go in and out, day and night.
He's an 11-y..o. half-Akita who until now has always been a silent good watchdog. Very loyal to us, but stubborn and headstrong, as typical to the breed.
But with this new housing arrangement (begun 2 months ago) he changed. He used to just watch neighbors quietly out the front window, then began barking at occasional street-dog-walkers passing by at a distance. That happened rarely enough, and we could command him to quiet and he'd stop.
But the 5 tenants passing by is much more frequent and close. Around a month ago, he started barking each time every tenant passes outside our apt. door, which is basically day-and-night. They're 5 young adults, so pass by from 8 a.m. work until midnight/3 a.m. with friends, for their work and social lives.
I read up on retraining him on this, but so far my methods haven't helped. Can you suggest better? We did:
1. - positive reinforcement (biscuit piece) if he remains "Quiet" (command word) all through one person's passing by. Soon as we hear their footsteps coming, we start to distract him with the biscuit and say "Quiet" -- hoping to set him up for success. We get that to happen around 25 percent of the times.
2. - if we don't catch him in time to start #1, he goes into loud barking mode and won't stop. At that point, we put him out behind a closed back bedroom door for 5-10 minutes' time-out and ignore him. He just barks from back there, and gets more anxious. We wanted to wait til his barking stopped completely to let him out, but after 10 min he's just forgotten why he's there anyway. So we wait till he calms a little bit, and just let him out without words or attention. By then the tenant has passed along, so he goes back to quiet company.
3. - more walks and mental stimulation during the daytimes
He usually learns so fast. but he's not understanding the corrections. I think we're doing something wrong with how we're doing 1. and 2. above. #3. does help somewhat.
Last edited by BrightRabbit; 01-18-2015 at 11:37 PM..
I'm guessing he feels less secure in his new home and feels the need to protect it and warn people away. Is there more foot traffic there than at your previous home? If you lived in a single family house before, I would bet that's the reason for the behavior change. If that's the case, he might settle down (or on the other hand it could become a habit). It also could be he's just getting old and cranky.
I don't think a time-out makes any impression on a dog. If it's making him more anxious (maybe because he can't see the perceived threat and protect his pack) I wouldn't do it anymore. You certainly don't want to create a new issue. The only other thing I can think of is a bark collar (they have citronella ones) but IMO that's a last resort.
I realize this is water under the bridge at this point but to be honest, his behavior doesn't sound too out of character for an Akita to me. I don't think they're great apartment/townhouse dogs.
You are spot-on. There's MUCH more foot-traffic here. He must be feeling insecure to protect the new place and with new stimulus.
After we adopted him away from a kill shelter at 9 months, he spent the past decade with us in a single-family home with rare doorbell visitors, quiet cul-de-sac, and free run of a large fenced backyard.
And you're correct, Akita's aren't great apt.townhouse dogs; I'd never have chosen him if we'd lived here a decade ago when we adopted. But of course adoptions are "forever" and so we we're working on this transition. Retirement drove our change into a small 2-BR apt. The upside for him is having his whole pack home all day.
I'm going to stop doing the time-out; it's wrong and ineffective, as you've pointed out to us. Will redouble efforts to catch him with the positive reinforcement.
Never heard of the bark/citronella collar, but I hear you that it's 'last resort."
Do you think it might help if he got to know the tenants better? I could invite them in once for cookies, just to get on a pat-the-head basis with him more. Maybe they could be more part of his pack, and not him protecting us FROM them. Or do dogs really have to live-in with people for them to be part of the pack?
Last edited by BrightRabbit; 01-19-2015 at 01:36 PM..
You need to stop the bark before it starts. I would get something that I could toss at the space he goes to bark. An empty soda can, balled up leash, sneaker.... something light, but heavy enough that the dog will feel it.
As soon as you see the dog alert to the noise, remind him to be quiet, and if no reaction toss the item so it hits right behind him. All you want to do is startle him, get his mind off the noise and onto you... then you can praise the heck out of him for turning to you.
it wouldn't hurt for the neighbors to meet the dog and get a friendship going with him. Talk to them and tell them you know it must be annoying to have him bark at them each time they come and go, and it sure it annoying to you as well. Give them a treat to give him. Maybe when they come and go, you could ask them to use the dogs name, maybe that would ease his tension some.
Of course you want him to alert to noise, so he just has to learn when it's ok, and when you say knock it off... he has to knock it off.
I've had the same issue with my rat terrier. We moved into this apt Thanksgiving weekend. She's just starting to be able to "let it go" when the neighbors come down the hall to exit out the door outside our apt. My apt is at the end of the hall, 1st floor, so anyone who wants to go out the back door, must go in and out right outside my apt door.
One thing that has really helped with my dog, is white noise. I turn on a fan, which helps minimize neighbor noises.
I also had to get tough with her. She's a stubborn terrier, and I had to get mad at her and put her in her crate. From there, after she got the idea I didn't want her to bark every time ( I figure she can have 2 free barks, but the idea is she's supposed to stop when I say "enough"), I started mainly ignoring her, while she looked sideways at me for a reaction. I've also used treats for when she stops when I ask her to.
It's been rough, but it's also been about 2 months for us, and it's JUST starting to improve to the point where I can see her ears perk up and she might growl quietly, but doesn't bark loudly anymore, most of the time, when she hears people in the hall now.
But, seriously, try some white noise. She's so much better when I have the fan on, and it kind of drowns out a lot of the neighbor noise.
I think it must be tough and actually exhausting for them in this situation. They are doing their job by warning us of possible intruders, but the intruders are constant! LOL! Poor things. Easy for me to say, now that she isn't barking loudly next to my head with no warning most of the day anymore! She hangs out with me in my chair, and before I could even hear any noise, she'd out of the blue bark at the top of her lungs. I was living on adrenaline and ibuprophen for a couple months there ha ha. But, it's much improved. You'll figure it out.
You are spot-on. There's MUCH more foot-traffic here. He must be feeling insecure to protect the new place and with new stimulus.
After we adopted him away from a kill shelter at 9 months, he spent the past decade with us in a single-family home with rare doorbell visitors, quiet cul-de-sac, and free run of a large fenced backyard.
And you're correct, Akita's aren't great apt.townhouse dogs; I'd never have chosen him if we'd lived here a decade ago when we adopted. But of course adoptions are "forever" and so we we're working on this transition. Retirement drove our change into a small 2-BR apt. The upside for him is having his whole pack home all day.
I'm going to stop doing the time-out; it's wrong and ineffective, as you've pointed out to us. Will redouble efforts to catch him with the positive reinforcement.
Never heard of the bark/citronella collar, but I hear you that it's 'last resort."
Do you think it might help if he got to know the tenants better? I could invite them in once for cookies, just to get on a pat-the-head basis with him more. Maybe they could be more part of his pack, and not him protecting us FROM them. Or do dogs really have to live-in with people for them to be part of the pack?
I don't think getting to know anyone better will necessarily help but it couldn't hurt. When he's in your house, it's still his to protect. I would say up the exercise as much as is comfortable for an 11 year old dog and try to tire him out. Mine all lost a lot of their hearing when they got old so at some point he may not be able to hear as well and bark less. That doesn't help you now I know. He may settle down once he gets more settled or he may not. I hope you find something that works for both of your sakes.
Bark collars give the dog a small shock when they bark (the ones I have are like a static shock (I tried them on myself first)). Citronella collars will spray Citronella (a scent that won't harm the dog - but one they don't like) when the dog barks. A really determined barker will ignore both of these. Like I said a last resort but I've had to use them after someone called to report my dogs barking while I was at work (when I'm home, they're in the house with me). The alternative was to crate them 10 hours a day which for me was a worse alternative than a collar.
ETA: Just saw the white noise suggestion. I think that's an excellent idea.
Am reading all! Just posting to say how much I appreciate every suggestion here.
We will try all, with a bit of logic on the sequence, and not lose heart or give up either.
What a great "Pets" forum. Posters here think like a dog would! And that's a compliment.
I would guess that you want the dog to alert to trouble but not bark when it is not necessary.
Get yourself a squirt bottle of water. Put two drops of coat conditioner in it. When the dog goes to the door and barks, tell him, "Good. I've got it now. Quiet". Speak quietly.
The first few times the dog won't stop barking, Give him a little squirt of water (not on his face). He'll be startled and shut up for a second. Use your good timing and tell him. "Good. Quiet. That's what I want. Good dog".
You don't want to punish him for barking, because you want him to bark when it is needed. You want to interrupt him so you can praise the correct behavior, which is the quiet. You will have to be very consistent, especially if he has already formed the habit of barking.
If the dog is reliable around strangers, take your chair out into the hallway and sit with the dog there. Speak in a friendly voice to all the neighbors passing by. If one of the neighbors is a dog person, ask them if they will hand your dog a treat as they go by. Give your pup a chance to see that the neigbors are not a threat and that you are happy to allow them to pass.
Talking to dogs helps them to understand what you want. "Thanks, buddy, I know they are there, now be quiet."
Similar issue with my 1 year old puppy. We live in NYC in an apartment building. Not always, but frequently she will bark if she hears someone in the hallway. Typically it's just an alarmed single bark but sometimes it'll work itself into more of a howl (she is a hound mutt). On very rare occasions she'll bark at someone out the window.
We correct her by calling her to us (usually she'll run to the door), and make her sit, then praise her. Or we try to distract her - tossing a toy, moving into the kitchen so she'll follow, etc.
Part of us doesn't want to completely break the habit because after all, a "guard" dog isn't the worst thing. But occasionally it'll happen in the middle of the night...
One thing that might make you feel better.... I noticed with other dogs in the building, when I'm in the hallway, they do the exact same thing. But I can only hear it when I'm in the hall - I cannot hear them when I'm in my apartment. So if you think it's disturbing the neighbors, it's possible that it isn't.
We retrained him over a period of several weeks not to bark when he hears our upstairs tenants' feet go by our doorway. When we heard them coming, we got in front of him with a very small biscuit treat, said "Quiet dog!" then pointed to a pillow in the living room, told him to get onto his "Pillow' and wait there throughout the time their feet clattered along in the hallway and the door finished slamming out there.
He learned to associate the sounds of their comings and goings with a positive treat. It was almost comical to see him process it, because it was clear he was choosing which pleasure to grab: the biscuit, or the fun of barking at them all.
It took some weeks, and was not immediate; sometimes we missed each other and just stayed neutral til the next chance for positive rewarding.
I'm just SO thrilled we could actually teach this old dog something new.
The tenants themselves had declined our invitaiton to come in and visit to get to know him better. We really couldn't press the 3 women to go against their personal concerns on that point. It's understandable; it's not what they signed up for when renting upstairs to solve our pup problems.
THE VET PRESCRIBED PROZAC. We used it It made him calm down enough to pay good attention to this retraiining.
I took to heart what I read online that anti-anxiety meds should only be COUPLED with BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT TRAINING. You can't just medicate a behavior problem away. In our case, I think the meds played an important role: to get the behavior management off to a good start, for an old dog.
And he does still give one appropriate sharp bark to announce a real stranger (UPS man at the door, for example). So he's still the watchdog an Akita loves to be.
Thanks to folks on this website!
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