Dinnertime Barking - Grr!

[Guest EvanstonGrey]

Hi all,

 

It's always something over here with these two fawn goofs, little girl is finally getting over her allergy attacks and now we've got a boy with too much to say in the evenings.

 

Every night, when DH and I sit down for dinner (usually late, around 8pm), Ferris barks. I've been training him to "go to bed," so I tried asking him to do this and I'll toss him a treat. He stays there quietly for maybe 30 seconds, then it's back to barking. If we ignore him, he gets up off the bed and stands right next to us to bark more. The "go to bed" training has become almost a game for him where he will run to his bed, lay down nicely, I toss a treat, he waits a bit, then gets up to bark bark bark - and repeat...

 

He doesn't do this any other time, quiet during breakfast and lunch, in fact he doesn't make noise much at all otherwise. Each night when we're eating though, it's the same routine. If I get up in the moments he's quiet and pet him on his bed, he roaches and loves the attention, but then my dinner gets cold

 

In the grand scheme of things, it's not a huge deal, I suppose - but we live in a condo and I don't want to start making my neighbors angry!

 

Would love any ideas...

 

FYI: They get their dinner around 6 and then a short potty walk. DH gets home from work to much fanfare around 7:30-8. Last trip outside is around 9:30-10. He's not hungry or needing to go out. It's not medical - just had his annual check and no other issues... T

 

And of course, a couple recent pics, cause he's darn cute even when he's a troublemaker

 

Edited May 2, 2013 by EvanstonGrey

[spottydog]

Squirt gun? Bet you will just have to do it once and then next time, just wave it around, and that will be the end of it.

Love the pictures!!

Edited May 2, 2013 by spottydog

[Sambuca]

Try throwing him treats while he's on the bed. You'll reinforce that staying on the bed is good. You'll probably have to do it frequently at first, but you should be able to space the treats out after awhile. Have you taught him "stay"? Because, that would be good to use. Can you lock him out of the room? Keep a leash on him. When he starts barking immediately, calmly walk him out of the room. When he's calm, allow him back in. If he starts barking again, put him out of the room. His reward for being calm is being in the room, if he can't be calm, then he can't be in the room.

[FiveRoooooers]

Have you tried ignoring Ferris? He is getting what he wants: your attention and/or a treat. Totally ignoring him should discourage him because the anticipated result doesn't happen (he doesn't get what he wants). Stand up (with your plate if you have to), say "Away" (or whatever your word is when you want him to leave), turn your back to him, and completely ignore him. When he leaves, he gets a quiet "good boy!" Ferris looks like a pretty smart boy, he'll probably get the message pretty quickly that your dinnertime is not fun time for him.

[GeorgeofNE]

Basically you're training him to do this.

 

Bark bark, go lie down, get treat. Repeat.

 

If he were mind it would be bark bark, go like down! Period. Repeat. Over and over if needed. There shouldn't be any reward involved.

[a_daerr]

Right now, he understands that the act of him laying on his bed gets the treat. What you want to do is make it more challenging by rewarding him only when he remains on his bed. In other words, you need to teach him "stay." Increase the duration he has to stay on his bed BEFORE you toss him a treat. For example, "Go lay on your bed" and wait 10 seconds before treating. Then the next time, wait 20 seconds. During those 20 seconds, hold up your hand like a traffic cop, and give him a word like "stay!" or "wait!" Just keep increasing the amount of time, but start slow with a duration he can handle. If he's antsy and can only do 5 seconds, then release him after 5 seconds and try adding a few more seconds the next time. Remember, you want to reward him while he's still in the stay, not while he's getting up to walk back toward you. Teaching this behavior is easy with a clicker as your release command. For example, he stays for awhile, then you click and treat.

 

There are a lot of good videos on YouTube that can help teach stay. It also sounds like he may be a good candidate for basic obedience class.

[Feisty49]

I love his face! Andddd... I'd go with the squirt gun. LOL Yah, training is nice/good, but sometimes, personally, I want quick results.

 

They definitely can train us. Annie knows that when I take her out for a walk or a P&P, she gets a treat when we come back in. She figured out pretty quickly after adoption that acting like she had "to go" got her outside, though she didn't really have to pee, and then back in for a treat. She manipulated me enough in the beginning that once out the door, she wouldn't even pretend she had to go. She'd just turn around and want to go right back in the house. I stopped that pretty quickly!

[Guest EvanstonGrey]

Basically you're training him to do this.

 

Bark bark, go lie down, get treat. Repeat.

 

If he were mind it would be bark bark, go like down! Period. Repeat. Over and over if needed. There shouldn't be any reward involved.

 

You're right for sure - I have been having a hard time phasing out the rewards when training. We need to work on this (and besides, I don't necessarily like always carrying stinky treats!)

 

He does know the "wait" command, which I would imagine could be transitioned to "stay" relatively easy. Will check out the videos online!

 

Squirt gun sounds like it could be helpful, absolutely will see about finding one - and who knows, it might be helpful on DH too

 

I think part of what's happened with Ferris is that he's been here six months now, has learned so much and changed such a great deal... and now he's acting a bit spoiled (shock!)

 

Would like to nip this in the bud ASAP - really appreciate the help, all!

 

I love his face! Andddd... I'd go with the squirt gun. LOL Yah, training is nice/good, but sometimes, personally, I want quick results.

 

They definitely can train us. Annie knows that when I take her out for a walk or a P&P, she gets a treat when we come back in. She figured out pretty quickly after adoption that acting like she had "to go" got her outside, though she didn't really have to pee, and then back in for a treat. She manipulated me enough in the beginning that once out the door, she wouldn't even pretend she had to go. She'd just turn around and want to go right back in the house. I stopped that pretty quickly!

 

Ohhhh yes, we had some fun times after we taught our little girl to ring bells to go out! We worked so hard to get her to nose the bells and then go out to P&P... only she figured out that bell-ringing could also mean treats and a little playtime outside (even late at night!)

[BatterseaBrindl]

Yes...you've trained him to do this!

 

The only solution for barking dogs that I've found is to totally ignore them.

TOTALLY.

 

Nigel used to bark for his supper... starting at 4pm.

Every day.

Very loudly...in your face.

 

He randomly started this one day when DH was home alone with the dogs and he just kept telling Nigel to ... 'go lay down'...and 'be quiet'.

But the barking continued...the more he barked and the more DH 'rewarded' the barking by acknowledging it, the more it went on.

 

The first time he did it to me I thought I was going to lose my hearing, but I did not speak or even look at him.

I just sat here, at my desk while Nigel barked and barked and barked.

Loudly.

In my face.

So close, his breath made my hair move.

For over 5 minutes.

Then he stopped.

 

After a few seconds I said 'good boy, go lie down' .

Next couple of days we did the same thing.....

No touch....No talk. ...No eye contact.

And now, he rarely does it it to me.

If he starts with one woof, he'll look at me and when I don't look back ...he stops and goes to his bed.

 

However...

DH does not always follow this rule and Nigel barks at him a couple of times a week

And DH will still tell Nigel to 'go lie down' or 'be quiet' ....and the barking continues.

Men

[Batmom]

Completely and totally ignore him. It takes some dogs a long time to give up, but they all do give up.

 

If necessary, tell your neighbors you're working on some training and he may bark for a few minutes at this time.

 

If absolutely necessary, you could arrange to give him some of his dinner in a Kong at the time you eat dinner. I wouldn't do this unless it got to the point that neighbors lost patience with you.

[Fruitycake]

Monty did this. I agree to totally and completely ignore the barking. Yes, it's annoying, but if you only delay your response and then do give him any sort of attention when he's still doing it, you're strengthening his behavior (by delaying, you're training him to continue trying longer because you're showing him that persistence does pay off, eventually!).

 

You could try gating him outside of the dining area. You could try putting him in his bed and training him to stay there and *immediately* putting him back if he stands or moves away from it before you give him the release command. Do this not only when you eat but periodically when you're just in the kitchen, so he learns the idea of the command more firmly. You could do both. But definitely ignore the bad behavior (or if you want I suppose you could surreptitiously squirt him while not even looking in his direction).

 

Monty now knows that when I'm in the kitchen doing things, he goes and lies on his bed. He can watch, he periodically gets treats there, but he stays out of the way when I'm in there.

 

(You might want to make cookies or something for your immediate neighbors, to give them when you explain that you're working on the barking behavior but it might be a while!)

[DevilDog]

Yep, all he's learned is that his behavior is getting him treats and attention! Lots of better advice here on how to deal with it than I could ever give! G'luck!

[Guest EvanstonGrey]

Thanks, everybody!

 

These are all great ideas - I really appreciate your help!