jorgelito

My dog rarely barks. She usually mumbles (you really have to hear this to believe it). It's almost like talking. SOmetimes she whines a bit but that's the extent of her vocabulary.

However, she barks when there are strangers at the door or at certain (sketchy looking/acting)people. This is the only time she barks (unless I step on her foot by accident, then she yelps/barks). She is a submissive dof and rather well behaved with a great disposition (very friendly). The barking kind of baffles me. I don't like it when she does it cause it freaks people out at the door. She won't stop when I tell her too and I end up having tochase her around the house to calm her down/get her to stop barking. The funny thing is, she wags her tail the whole time so I don't think she's "protecting" me.

She never growls either. Only if we get very enthusiastic during intense tug-of-war play and when she does I put a stop to it right away. In fact, if I growl at her, she usually puts her head down and liesd own or rolls over or crawls towards me and licks me. Her ears go down and she wags her tail quickly too.

Any thoughts to what's causing the barking and/or how to stop/curb it?

Lady Sage

The moose suffers from "OMG you left me alone now im gonna bark and I cant shut up" disease. The only way we could make her settle down was one of those anti-bark collars. I really hated to do it but she can and will bark for hours if she goes out without it.

Elphaba

jorgelito, she is doing her job (instinct) by barking at strangers. She is alerting her alpha dog (you) that a possible danger is present. The wagging tail tells you that she is pleased with herself for being your protector, and that she doesn't intend to get aggressive.

You don't want to stop the barking all together, but you do need to teach her to stop at your say so. What has worked for us in the past goes something like this:

Dog barks, and you see who it is.
If it is a good guy (someone you know), give her lavish praise and say it is OK. Have your friend call her by name and hold out the back of his hand for her to smell. She should stop barking at this point and if she does, tell her what a good girl she is. Maybe offer a small treat for reinforcement. If she continues to bark after taking a good sniff. Gently, tell her No, bad girl. Let your friend in and put her on ignore. Let her bark her fool head off, but do not recognize her existence until she stops.

If it's a bad guy or someone you're not sure of, do not give your dog the OK to stop the behavior. Here's an example: Some door to door bible thumpers showed up at my door and the newfs barked away. I could have given the OK to stop, but instead allowed the dogs to intimidate with the barking. The thumpers decided it was best to leave. THEN, came the praise for my good dogs.

Lady Sage

Great instructions... problem is the moose can and will bark her head off outside constantly for 3 or more hours on end... unfortunately I have neighbors... and I do not wish my dog to be fed antifreeze by a disgruntled neighbor.

Cynthetiq

this is one of the reasons why we don't allow dogs in our coop. People sign and notarize documents saying they won't own or harbor a dog while they live here. Not that some have ever keep their word...

good advice up there.

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Ch'i

My dog likes to do things he knows he shouldn't to draw attention too, and sometimes make us chase him. Usually its a futile attempt, but he seems to enjoy it just the same.

raeanna74

Elphaba gave some good advice.

Growing up at my parents house we trained our dog not to bark at our sayso. She still would start out barking anytime a stranger came to the door but once we determined that the person was not a threat we would say "No Bark". Normally it would work quite well. There were only two people who were really an exception to that but for some reason no matter how familiar Daisy got with them, something about them was threatening to her. One fellow, even after he had been at our house for an hour, the minute he stood up to go to the bathroom she would start barking until he sat down or went into the bathroom or out the door.

They're doing what's natural. They have to learn to obey their 'Alpha' dog despite their instincts. You have to learn to work with their instincts.

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bobby

Desie the devil dog is a whopping 7#'s and will bark of hours if not attended to....the new neighbor lady has called 911 2 times and the cops look at the rat dog and just laugh...say try to do what you can and leave....if you leave him on the house he pees on the rug, pen him up and he barks, put him on a run he barks..leave the house open so he can come and go...he sleeps till the neighbor lady comes home then goes out and barks....he goes up to the busy road and never gets hit !...ran away and we found him by accident !!...

......should I co on ???....xoxoxoo

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zebediah

well...Barking is their instinct and they'll definitely bark at the strangers. If you want them, not to bark at your say so then you need to train them accordingly. For that, many tutorials are available online. Just google 'training dogs' and you'll find one suitable for you. . .

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Charlatan

Jeez... and here I was expecting a thread about Barking

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Lindy

I think calling 911 is a little over the top, but I don't see why the cops would find this amusing. Reminds me of the Sheltie across the street. Raises the alarm at such evil things as the seven year old kid riding a bike half a block away. The mail man = half hour barking jag. The UPS truck - same thing. The city tree trimming crew.
Some dogs are just a public nuiscense. I wish we could just treat them as such. If I could find a way to kill the dog across the street (and get away with it) I might just do it.

Lindy

biznatch

Yeah, these dog owners that don't live far from me leave their dog out in front of the house, and it barks at anyone who walks by, even people who walk by everyday (like me). I love dogs, but these guys might get a brick through their window someday with a note attached....pfff, as if I had the balls to do that.

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