# Help! Our ears hurts from the barking! Ouch!



## Kjalways (Jan 19, 2013)

Hello Dog Lovers!

My boyfriend is frustrated with the barking from my little puppy. Those high pitch noises does hurt our ears. In the house, he is a quiet dog, for the most part, except when he gets around the kitty. He wants to play with her. His favorite game is taking the cat by the ears to dominate her or to drag her across like a cave man just found a woman! The kitty won't stay away from him regardless how much he bites and hold on to her ears. I guess, she enjoys pain because she always come back for more. How do we stop him from barking so much at the cat when his mouth isn't filled up with her ear in it? He is thinking about giving up the cat out of frustration of the dog's piercing barking.

Thanks in Advance!


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

My puppy likes to bark at my rabbits, so I know what you mean about the high pitched bark. The rabbits are behind a gate, so he can't get to them, but when he gets excited enough he'll bark out of frustration. When he does this, I give him a two strikes rule. First, I ask him to "leave it" (or you could call your puppy back to you) and ask for a sit or a down. If he runs back and barks again, I remove him from the situation by gating him into a room far enough away that he doesn't bark. Sometimes, if I feel like actively working with him, I will let him back to see the bunnies when he's quiet, continuing to remove him when he barks. Other times I just remove him for a longer period of time until he's settled down.

If the cat keeps coming back, I would shut the cat into another room or part of the house, or shut the dog into another room. Don't make it like a punishment - I would go with the dog, to show him that he can't see the cat if he's going to bark, but it doesn't mean he'll be isolated either. You can then use access to the cat as a reward when he's being calm.


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## Kobismom (Dec 17, 2012)

We have a "3 strikes and you're out rule." When Kobi plays with his toys, he rolls them under the couch and then barks that he can't get to it. It's piercing!! We'll fish it out and after 3 times, if he does it, we take the toy away for him to play with another time. He has a basket of toys, so after about 1 minute of wondering, "Where did my toy go?", Kobi will go to his basket of toys and start playing with someone else...

He hasn't learned yet, but we stay consistent. :-S


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

Kobismom said:


> We have a "3 strikes and you're out rule." When Kobi plays with his toys, he rolls them under the couch and then barks that he can't get to it. It's piercing!! We'll fish it out and after 3 times, if he does it, we take the toy away for him to play with another time. He has a basket of toys, so after about 1 minute of wondering, "Where did my toy go?", Kobi will go to his basket of toys and start playing with someone else...
> 
> He hasn't learned yet, but we stay consistent. :-S


Muggsy used to do that. Once he figured it out, he started walking around the house all "guilty" until I got up to look to find out what he did, and while I was up, I'd free the toy . . .

OP, He's not dominating the kitty, btw. That's how puppies play. He's probably not really hurting her, either. When you have fur, those puppy teeth aren't so bad. 

There's a lot of ways to deal with this, teaching "quiet", seperating them, teaching self control, teaching settle, but don't get rid of the kitty. 70% of cats given to shelters die. We're up to our ears with unwanted cats in this country, I'd hate to see one lose a good home.


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## Kjalways (Jan 19, 2013)

Hi Elrohwem.

I did not allow the kitty to come into my room today because I did not feel like hearing her growl and John barks loud. They get separated, but he still resort to his old behavior when I tried to separate him. He is a very distracted creature. I read this about Terriers, which he is mixed with. Chihuahua mixed with Terrier. When he doesn't see the cat, he is quiet again until it comes back. I am not sure how to make this method work.

KobisMom 

My baby has a lot of toys too! He has 2 toy boxes... the big one on my bed and the smaller one down stairs. He wouldn't care if he can't get a particular toy because he would always get another one. He is a very distractible puppy to where I can distract him from one toy to be interested in another one! Ha ha ha! This method of putting toys in his mouth to prevent him from biting is effective most of the time because he is that easy to distract with a toy. My boyfriend excites him and get him more in a playful nipping mood.


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## Kjalways (Jan 19, 2013)

Amaryllis said:


> Muggsy used to do that. Once he figured it out, he started walking around the house all "guilty" until I got up to look to find out what he did, and while I was up, I'd free the toy . . .
> 
> OP, He's not dominating the kitty, btw. That's how puppies play. He's probably not really hurting her, either. When you have fur, those puppy teeth aren't so bad.
> 
> There's a lot of ways to deal with this, teaching "quiet", seperating them, teaching self control, teaching settle, but don't get rid of the kitty. 70% of cats given to shelters die. We're up to our ears with unwanted cats in this country, I'd hate to see one lose a good home.


Hi Amaryllis

I give him his toys too. I spoil him... what can I say? He's my only baby.

My puppy plays rough. That has to hurt to have your ears bit hard enough to be dragged across the floor or be pulled outside from the kitchen. Sometimes, the cat cries out when he does that. That kitty has to carry her whole wait on one ear as he pulls her. That look like an ouchie to me! Puppy teeth are tiny sharp things. I don't like him nipping on me because sometimes, it does hurt because of how his teeth are, not the pressure of his bites. This all started when she was in heat... now she is spayed, so doesn't enjoy it as much.

Personally, I don't want to own the cat. My puppy is all I need and want. My boyfriend gets frustrated and wants to get rid of her out of frustration. I cannot make him keep her since I have enough responsibility of training a young energetic puppy. I can try Craig's list if he is serious about getting rid of her. She is an adorable cat that people take to. My boyfriend told me that he don't want the responsibility. I want the responsibility of my puppy. I commit to my choices or find them better homes myself. If the puppy stop barking at the cat, he might change his mind. Separating them does not seem to work because he always start back up. Perhaps, I need to learn "no bark" command and see if that works around the cat, but I am not sure how to do that one. 

I will talk with the people at the PrePuppy school and see if they can help. I will try to do whatever I can to stop him to bark, but I don't know if I can get it done soon enough!


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## Flaming (Feb 2, 2013)

Kjalways said:


> Hi Amaryllis
> 
> I give him his toys too. I spoil him... what can I say? He's my only baby.
> 
> ...


the cat is coming back so it can't hurt too badly because cats are smarter than that. 
The no bark command might work and the puppy class instructor might have better ideas.
My cat trained our puppy well. The cat is not afraid to latch onto Manna's face, it took a while but now Manna is a lot calmer.

I can't comment on the other stuff


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Kjalways said:


> Hi Elrohwem.
> 
> I did not allow the kitty to come into my room today because I did not feel like hearing her growl and John barks loud. They get separated, but he still resort to his old behavior when I tried to separate him. He is a very distracted creature. I read this about Terriers, which he is mixed with. Chihuahua mixed with Terrier. When he doesn't see the cat, he is quiet again until it comes back. I am not sure how to make this method work.


The idea is to let the puppy see the cat and if he is quiet, he can continue to see the cat. Since it sounds like the cat enjoys it he could be allowed to play with it, but as soon as he barks, kitty goes away (or puppy goes away, if it's easier to pull him away than to get the cat to leave). It can help to have him drag around a leash for this, so you can pick up the leash and lead him away. Wait until he's calm, then reintroduce the cat. To get calmness, you will probably have to get the cat out of his sight, not just pull him a couple feet away. If you need to shut a door so they can't see each other, that's fine. It will take a lot of repetitions until he figures out that being quiet is the response you're looking for and the cat is the reward for that response, but it will work eventually. If he gets so hyped up and loud that you don't think the training session is going anywhere, separate him from the cat for the rest of the night so he can settle and try the next day. 

You can teach a "quiet" command in other ways, but for training around small furry pets I like using the furry pet as the reward itself, since it can be a very powerful reward. It's not important at first that you put a cue like "quiet" on what you're asking of him, it's just important that he gets the idea. Ideally you want him to always be quiet around the cat, not just when you tell him to be quiet. If he learns that kitty is only allowed to play when he's quiet, he'll get the idea.

It will definitely help when he knows other commands, like "sit" or "leave it" and you can make use of those too. If he barks, make him sit (and be quiet, of course) or ask him to "leave it", then let him go towards the cat again. I'm just assuming since he's a little puppy that he doesn't have the self control for this yet, so physically separating him and the cat is the easiest way to show him what you want. It can take months for a puppy to get good enough at obedience commands to perform them around a distraction like a cat, so don't expect that of him right away.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

I like elrohwen's suggestion.

A few additions to consider:
1. I notice that "timeouts" are sometimes more effective when you remove the dog, and sometimes more effective when you remove the "reward". I don't know the difference, but I've done both with my dog in different circumstances.
2. Sometimes, when a dog is barking and not too excited, you can teach "Quiet!" when he 'takes a breather' OR you can say "Quiet!" and shove a small stinky treat under his nose. Dogs can't bark and sniff at the same time. If the dog is excited, he may not stop barking, or he may stop, just to eat the treat, then continue barking...


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