Barking In Car

[Guest greygirls2]

I've been having trouble with my new boy JoJo who came to me in May. When we are out in the car he barks incessantly at any dogs he sees. I've tried just about everything short of a shock collar which I of course would never use. I tried using a sonic hand held device that emits a high pitched sound audible to dogs which worked for a while but then he didn't seem to care about the noise anymore or didn't hear it because his head was out the window while he was barking it off. So I went with a collar type one which worked on the vibration in his throat when he barked also emitting a sonic sound, that made no difference at all right from the start. I'm also using a very stern deep "NO BARK" in conjunction with the ultrasonic noise. I've also stopped him from having his head out the window but that makes no difference eatier...he just barks louder at the closed window and blows my eardrums out. The girls just stand there looking at him like "oh, you're going to be in trouble now!"If we are out walking around and he starts this I firmly grasp his harness and issue a stern "no bark" which works well. I guess it doesn't faze him in the car because he figures I'm too busy driving to do much else. So I was just wondering if anyone here has had this issue and how they dealt with it. it's embarrassing to drive down the street and have him act like such an idoit. Yesterday I was at a red light and he scared some poor guy walking his little dog across the road. JoJo is such a good boy in just about every other way...but this is really starting to drive me crazy much less blowing my eardrums out! Help............

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

I saw this issue on an episode of "Its me or the dog". They took black construction paper and covered the windows in the back of the vehicle, and put a curtain between the front and back seats of the car. This way the dog in the back could not see outside. They would slide the curtain open and the second the dog barked, the curtain when closed. The dog quickly started to realize that it is boring with nothing to look at and understood that when he barks, he doesnt get to see anything. Once they could keep the curtain open, they did the same thing with the side windows. It would seem that it would take a while to do, but appeared to work well. I dont know, could be something to try.

 

Chad

Edited October 24, 2012 by Greyt_dog_lover

[JAJ2010]

Does he bark when the car is still? Maybe take a few weeks of driving in a parking lot. Bark and the brakes go an and you address him with a correction personally. He's quiet and the car moves again... Rinse and repeat a bazillion times. Treats while he's quiet might help too.

[cleptogrey]

sounds almost like you need a co-pilot to give him a squirt of water when he barks. i would try this with out the other dogs in the car make it a regular training session w/ a very tolerant friend or partner and do it consistantly to get him out of the habit. the first time one squirts it's "no bark", after that a squirt no words. that's old fashioned and has worked for many dogs except those who bite the water(mostly terriers). i wouldn't go near a shock collar of any sort.

 

btw, one of my salukis ALWAYS barked at animals on the side of the road, be it on I95 when he saw a cow or horse, a local road with any sort of animal(i lived in the country then). he never went that crazy, usual a knock it off and charlie was quiet. that was my saluki who was blind in one eye- who said that sight hounds can't see things from a moving car?

[JJNg]

My reactive and fear aggressive Italian greyhound would bark at people and dogs he saw out when riding in the car. While the motivation was different, a similar technique might work. He would bark when the car wasn't moving too, so I spent a lot of time parked at the far end of parking lots, watching people go by, and getting his attention and rewarding with treats as soon as he saw the person/dog but before he started barking.

 

We made progress with this while the car was still, but working with him while the car was moving was still a problem since I couldn't safely drive and deal with him at the same time. A friend of mind who did clicker training rode with me once, and she clicked and treated each time he saw someone and didn't bark. After a single 20 min session, he stopped barking and started expecting treats when he saw people. We didn't use any punishment at all.

[Guest greygirls2]

All great suggestions!!!! He is better when there is someone else in the car to address it but mostly I am alone when I take them out. It doesn't matter if the car is moving or not....if a dog is there he will bark! I like the idea of taking him alone in a parking lot and hitting the brakes I may try that one this weekend. I have thought aboutthe squirt bottle but doubt my aim while driving would be very accurate and most likely one of the girls would end uop woth the squirt. Don't think the blacked out windows will be an option as MA laws don't allow that and I'm sure I'd be stopped because that's just my luck! Cool idea though. So Thanks everyone for the input!