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In the last year I adopted my two min. Dachshunds, one a min. Pincher mix. Besides the chewing problem I've posted about, I now have a barking problem. They are so sweet and cute but if my neighbors, so much as walk to their car my dogs go nuts. One feeds off the other. If one hears something she starts barking and then the other follows and they don't stop. We recently put in a doggie door so now they run outside every second anything happens and start with the barking. If my neighbors are outside grilling, they freak out and bark like crazy. I can't afford a trainer but I am willing and able to spend some time training them, I just don't know what's the best way. I don't want to use any device like shock and I don't know if those "bark birdhouses" are harmful or even work. What I have been doing is saying "no" firmly and if I have to I go out and bring them in. It doesn't seem to be changing the behavior. Any good training tips that are humane?
You might want to get the book 'On the other end of the leash' by Patricia McConnell. She gives step by step instructions on what to do to stop your dog from barking.
You can get it at overstock.com for around $10.00.
I was amazed at how many things I was doing wrong, like repeating myself 100 times or giving the same signal for 'sit' and when I wanted her to back up.
You might want to get the book 'On the other end of the leash' by Patricia McConnell. She gives step by step instructions on what to do to stop your dog from barking.
Excellent recommendation.
Rapture: you are quite correct - in no way, shape or form, should any "anti-bark" device be used. I think the electronic boxes that are supposed to make some high frequency noise - consensus seems to be they don't work (why would they, the dog hasn't a clue what the noise is supposed to mean, there's no association made). Or there are the collars that spray a mix of water and something unpleasant.... I believe they're marketed under the "anti-bark" slogan.... So a dog gets punished for communicating. Brilliant. Furthermore, it does nothing to address the issues at the heart of this type of barking.
From what you describe, your dogs particular issues are along the lines of "territory" and "guarding instinct" and probably with a good dash of uncertainty thrown in. With two of them, one will always be there to reinforce the other, so it becomes something of a vicious circle. Your job is to break the cycle of behaviour and by using positive reinforcement, the dogs will learn that barking in this context is neither good nor necessary. You will have happier dogs (they'll be more relaxed without having to worry the neighbours and every single noise they hear are something to worry about), and you will have happier neighbours (who won't want to throttle the dogs!). And you will probably be a lot happier too.
Rapture: you are quite correct - in no way, shape or form, should any "anti-bark" device be used. I think the electronic boxes that are supposed to make some high frequency noise - consensus seems to be they don't work (why would they, the dog hasn't a clue what the noise is supposed to mean, there's no association made). Or there are the collars that spray a mix of water and something unpleasant.... I believe they're marketed under the "anti-bark" slogan.... So a dog gets punished for communicating. Brilliant. Furthermore, it does nothing to address the issues at the heart of this type of barking.
From what you describe, your dogs particular issues are along the lines of "territory" and "guarding instinct" and probably with a good dash of uncertainty thrown in. With two of them, one will always be there to reinforce the other, so it becomes something of a vicious circle. Your job is to break the cycle of behaviour and by using positive reinforcement, the dogs will learn that barking in this context is neither good nor necessary. You will have happier dogs (they'll be more relaxed without having to worry the neighbours and every single noise they hear are something to worry about), and you will have happier neighbours (who won't want to throttle the dogs!). And you will probably be a lot happier too.
I agree with the explanation of why you think they are barking. You said to break the cycle of behaviour with postive reinforcement but how do I do that is what I'm trying to find out.
You said to break the cycle of behaviour with postive reinforcement but how do I do that is what I'm trying to find out.
You mean you want..... AN ANSWER?!!
I'm not sure what precise technique, Ms. McConnell uses, perhaps Keeper can fill you in. As she gives step by step guides, the book will detail exactly how you need to proceed. It will clarify the "how".
In the meantime - in case you're impatient -here are a couple of others:
One method would be to teach your dog to bark on command. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but it makes sense. This from the guru himself:
Alternatively, there's clicker training. Click = reward. No click = no reward. Karen Pryor's site is excellent and here she deals with unwanted barking to a degree (the rest is in her book). How to Stop Unwanted Barking | Karen Pryor Clickertraining
Don't forget that dogs want to please, they want to co-operate. At this particular point in time, the dog's don't know that this is unwanted or unnecessary behaviour. Just saying "No!" mid-barking episode is meaningless to them - what exactly is the "No" about? To them... well, you could be saying "No" to the neighbours, or "no" their running back and forth, or "no" to anything that happens to be going on at that specific instance. They have nothing to associate the "negative" with - it all needs to be taught while they're calm. And in the instance where let's say they're barking at the neighbours and you go out to get them and bring them in... well, to them you've just rewarded their barking by coming out to see what's up. (See? There is something to worry about - YOU came to see and that's good enough for us. Job well done Partner.)
At the end of the day, the dogs need to be taught the association of
not barking or hushing on command = desired behaviour, co-operative
manic barking = not co-operative nor desired, it does not please you.
In the book 'The other end of the Leash' she goes into a lot of detail but briefly she says to
Make your command something like 'Enough' a word used just for barking
As soon as the dog barks go immediately to them say your 'word' once and hold a small piece of chicken or beef in your palm right to their nose to get their attention, once they focus on you say 'good boy/girl' and give them the treat.
It is not something that will happen overnight. She also explains how barking is an emotion like our laughing etc. Good Luck. I am still working on it..
Clicker training is something I have never used but it looks to work the same way except you are using the clicker instead of words, which might be a good thing in my case..
Clicker training is something I have never used but it looks to work the same way except you are using the clicker instead of words, which might be a good thing in my case..
IMHO - one of the benefits of clicker training is that it is a very "forgiving" method - i.e. if you screw it up and get the timing wrong, the worst case scenario is the dog gets an unnecessary click (reward). So for people who aren't perhaps 100% confident about reading the dog, it tends to allow them to proceed with a bit more confidence because there's no down-side. It takes away the guess-work of tone of voice too and allows for 100% consistency. I think this helps a lot of people.
Another benefit I find is that dogs coming from abusive or negligent situations either do not have the "background" to associate words with actions &/or have valid reasons to distrust the human voice. The click is just an agreeable substitute - and in the case of a nervous or sound-reactive dog, you can always start with a muffled click by keeping it in a pocket.
Due to the click itself becoming the reward - which it does - it also becomes much more "manageable" - i.e. you needn't worry that you have a treat about your person all the time, and waistlines don't suffer.
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-here are a couple of others:
