So Greyhounds Don't Bark?

[GreytNut]

Good news: Riley is one of those rare greyhounds who believes that his job is to defend his house. He is quite vigilant, actually.

 

Bad news: He barks. At everything. He's almost like... a normal dog.

 

Riley spends a good deal of his day at the living room window, pushing the cutains aside to scan the street for potential threats. When a "threat" is spotted, such as a couple walking their dog, a deer passing by--pretty much anything qualifies--he barks his head off. When the threat does not immediately vanish, he rushes out the dog door to the run and barks at the threat at the top of his lungs, which are quite impressive. Even after the threat has left, he barks after it just to be sure it doesn't come back.

 

I love the dog dearly. I appreciate his efforts to defend us. But not at 1 am. And then again at 4 am. And then again at 6 am. (He also missed the memo that greyhounds sleep all the time.) I don't think the neighbors appreciate it either, though Riley is not the only and certainly not the worst offender in the neighborhood and I always stop him before he goes on too long unless I'm not home to intervene.

 

Any ideas? Or should I just learn to live with it? I can't really block off access to the window. It reaches almost to the floor so it's not like I can just shove furniture under it. It's in the room where the hounds spend most of their day. The dog door needs to stay open for the old guys, who can't hold it.

[kudzu]

Sounds like fear or anxiety to me. Perhaps some conditioning, counter conditioning & training would be of benefit.

[Guest greybookends]

Welcome to life with Ginny.

 

A squirt bottle helps.... some.

[Remolacha]

Fletcher also feels the need to bark at anyone on "his" street I get up and go to the window and look out, and say something like "fine, ok". This is usually enough to get him to stop, and I get up right away and make him come in if it's outside and late at night.

 

Honestly, as a woman living alone, I really don't want him to stop, just not cause the neighbors to complain The girls don't bark at strangers, but they do both bark their heads off when I come home

 

 

edited to add, "anyone on his street" includes people with dogs, people without dogs, cats, the neighbor he has known for 7 years...

Edited March 19, 2011 by Remolacha

[Guest mbfilby]

Cy missed the memo also. He gets really into it, snarly, growling, running through the house barking (just in case we didn't hear). With Cy, it's not just a visual threat, any unexpected sound, even a bump in another room like a dresser drawer, is cause for alarm.. of course if it's a person, and that person comes into the house, he will bark at them a few times then run and hide when the barking fails to drive off the person..

[fourofem]

House is my barker...any human or animal on the other side of the window or gate is a trespasser in his book. Strange dogs and Sparkle (my cat) really get him going. Like Remolacha above, I live by myself so at night it's kind of a good thing. He can be obnoxious at times when the neighborhood kids come next door to play basketball. Bullet, a fine mutt that belongs to one of them, always comes along and he drives House crazy. My only consolation is that someone over on the next street has a penned up beagle who barks constantly...he's annoying....House isn't (but of course he's mine and none of mine do anything wrong !).

[greysmom]

Maybe put an xpen or gate in front of the window to keep him from guardng it. Or cover the bottom with an opaque shade or fabric that he can't see through. Same with the run outside - If the fence is chain and open to the street you might cover it with plantings or a tarp.

[Guest 2dogs4cats]

Have you tried Bitter Apple?

[Guest HHHounds]

Zorro barks at anyone he sees - seems to be his hobby! Candyman barks during bad thunderstorms. Vanilla barks at the dogs next door - if she feels like it...

[Remolacha]

Oh, yeah, I forgot, Molly runs outside during storms to bark at the thunder

[GreytNut]

I wish I hadn't sold the x-pen, thinking it wasn't needed anymore. Oops. That might be the only way to keep him from the window, though Riley is a determined soul and might simply push it over. When we close on the house I am going to try to work in financing for a 6-foot privacy fence that he can't see through. I could put a tarp over the fence, but it's short enough that he can stand on his hind legs and see over.

 

Mr. Riley has some SA, too. I should buy stock in Rescue Remedy. He's way better than he was when I first brought him home (we've been working on alone training) but he still has moments where he decides to howl to express his displeasure when I go downstairs to work. He has learned that if he stands in the garage to howl, his voice echoes off the cement floor and he can be heard from outer space.

[Guest Giselle]

If it's something you want but it's getting excessive, learn to manage it.

 

Teach "Quiet" or tell him to "Go to Bed".

 

When Riley starts barking, march over to the window and body block him away. No physical touch is necessary at all! Just use your body to "block" him away (like a basketball maneuver). Make it fast and brisk! When he is far enough from the window and stops barking, click/"Yes!" + treat. Repeat repeat repeat. Eventually, you won't need to block him as far and he won't be as persistent. At this point, you can add the verbal cue "Quiet" and click/treat for stopping barking. Alternatively, you can body block him and send him to "Go to Bed", if that's easier. Have fun! Neither my greyhound nor my dobermutt barks I feel cheated..

[Guest june]

My girls will bark if there is a good reason, a cat, or a squirrel

 

I say a good reason because one night my dogs started barking in the house and ran to the back door. I let them out, but didn't see anything so I called them back in. The next day my neighbor told me his car had been broken into. Now, I listen to them and investigate when they bark.

june

[Guest Lady_Catherine]

Bessie will bark at night if we have not exercised her enough during the day, but that's about it. I think she's just telling us "Hey there, I need a romp! NOW! WOOF WOOF WOOF!"

[krissy]

I wish Summit barked at the door because right now I live alone which makes me nervous. Summit, however, won't even get up off his bed in the other room if someone comes to the door.

 

All in all I am VERY glad he is not a barker.

[a_daerr]

The training technique is to teach the commands "Speak!" and "Quiet!" When he does the behavior naturally, mark it by using the command and giving a treat. If you use clicker training, that's also a good way to mark the behavior. Once he is good at both commands, you can teach him "Quiet!" when you don't want him to bark. If worse comes to worse, there are citronella training collars you can get that seem to work pretty well. They are much more humane than shock or static collars. The downside is that most dogs catch on pretty quickly that they can still bark when the collar isn't on. And they can also whine when the collar is on.

[pabozem]

I saw this topic just as my four girls finished up a roo/bark fest. They do that several times a day. All four of mine didn't get the memo about barking. :hehe

[Guest kess]

Bobby likes to defend his property too, the other dog taught him I think. Mondays are the worse though when the garbage truck and recycle truck are about doing their pickups. Obviously they are a danger to everyone according to my dogs.

 

I have a tin with a lid and I put some pebbles in it and when they start to bark a lot I shake the tin, they hate the sound of that and sometimes it works. My husband uses the spray bottle with water in it.

[dex95lucy]

Chances are high that blocking his vision is not going to stop the problem. They KNOW that something is out there. My kids can be out cold and suddenly react to something in the woods that I can never ever see. Even before my elderly almost blind and almost deaf Dexter died, he would react sometimes before the other dogs. They know bicycles and walkers are coming when they are still out of my sight.

The squirt bottle and penny can helped a little but I gave up. I'm alone and decided I want to know when something/someone is around.

Edited October 1, 2012 by dex95lucy

[Guest greytbig]

When Snappy would bark, there was always a good reason and we didn't ignore it. When Fred come to live with us (in June 2011) he thought that barking stuff was pretty cool! Barked at everything!! If it was a person walking their dog(s) or the neighbor coming/going, I would tell him "That's OK" in a calm soothing voice. Before long, his barking at these things would be a light "woof woof" and he'd drop it. All other "threats" get the full treatment, however. He has become very good at the "watch dog" thing. When he barks, we pay attention. That is nice to have, because Snappy is gone now, but Fred has "stepped up" and took over. He is such a good boy!