# Alert barking- how to stop it?



## meggels (Mar 8, 2010)

I've been doing some searches and have found some things here or there, but decided to start my own thread. 

My little girl Abbie that you've seen mentioned in other threads is a 6.5 month old mix. She didn't exactly have the easiest start in life, and thus, has had some nerve/anxiety/fear issues. I think part of that stems into her barking to alert me whenever ANYTHING makes a noise. 

Though we have made some progress, I'd really like tips and advice on how to keep going and get this under control as much as possible. She begins barking whenever my dad comes in the house (she hates him) or comes down to one end of the house after being at another (so basically, sort of like another "arrival" almost). She barks when she hears things outside (like today, it is very windy, and I think it's driving her nuts). 

I have tried several different techniques but wanted to get some specific advice for how to stop a dog from barking when they are trying to alert you/alert the noises that there is "danger".


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## spotted nikes (Feb 7, 2008)

Go walk between her and whatever she is barking at, and say "Thank you...it's ok" Or "that's enough". That way, she learns that you will take care of things. Eventually she'll learn which noises are normal, and which aren't.

(Have your dad give her high value treats when he comes home, or just randomly passes her. Eventually she will warm up to him.)


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## meggels (Mar 8, 2010)

spotted nikes said:


> Go walk between her and whatever she is barking at, and say "Thank you...it's ok" Or "that's enough". That way, she learns that you will take care of things. Eventually she'll learn which noises are normal, and which aren't.
> 
> (Have your dad give her high value treats when he comes home, or just randomly passes her. Eventually she will warm up to him.)


Okay, will begin trying that. 

I want him to just ignore her because he's ridiculous and can never follow through with a training plan. He used to always confuse our dogs when trying to train them...

Plus, my parents are in the process of a divorce and our house is on the market, and uh yeah, my dad and I aren't really getting along, so I don't particularly care if she warms up to him or not lol  But I do want her to warm up with "strangers" that come to visit, so will work on socialization from that aspect because I do want her to like the people that come over.


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## Phober (Mar 24, 2010)

Very sorry to hear about your family situation. 
In respect to your loud-mouthed dog, try having treats sitting around the house (where the dog can't get at them, of course). If your dog starts barking, try and get her to stop by saying a command like "quiet" (as you know, you have to be consistent) - if and when she does stop, praise her and give her a treat.
Might not be an easy fix, but worth a try!
Good luck!


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## meggels (Mar 8, 2010)

Phober said:


> Very sorry to hear about your family situation.
> In respect to your loud-mouthed dog, try having treats sitting around the house (where the dog can't get at them, of course). If your dog starts barking, try and get her to stop by saying a command like "quiet" (as you know, you have to be consistent) - if and when she does stop, praise her and give her a treat.
> Might not be an easy fix, but worth a try!
> Good luck!


No worries about the family situation! 

I definitely need to be consistent, I know that a lot of it is my fault for not taking care of the situation. I tried to yell, and uh yeah, getting into a "barking" match with your dog definitely doesn't quiet them down LOL. 

I will try all of these tips though, I know I need to stick with it and catch it EVERY time, because that's how it's gonna be fixed, not if I do it sometimes and then not the other times...


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## jnybeth (Feb 2, 2010)

I have tried all of theses suggestions with my own very vocal dog and they don't really work for me. If I get in front of whatever he is barking at, he will just try to get around me any way he can to continue his tirade. The command "quiet" is totally lost on him too. I tried to teach him "speak" today, because i read that if you can teach them to bark on command, it is easier to get them to stop on command, but would you believe it, he just sat there quietly while I tried and tried to get him to bark! What I have been doing recently is trying to distract him with play or having him do a couple tricks for me with treat rewards until the distraction is gone. This works when the distraction is minor, but if it is something major, I usually have to resort to putting him in his crate until he quiets down.


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## meggels (Mar 8, 2010)

jnybeth said:


> I have tried all of theses suggestions with my own very vocal dog and they don't really work for me. If I get in front of whatever he is barking at, he will just try to get around me any way he can to continue his tirade. The command "quiet" is totally lost on him too. I tried to teach him "speak" today, because i read that if you can teach them to bark on command, it is easier to get them to stop on command, but would you believe it, he just sat there quietly while I tried and tried to get him to bark! What I have been doing recently is trying to distract him with play or having him do a couple tricks for me with treat rewards until the distraction is gone. This works when the distraction is minor, but if it is something major, I usually have to resort to putting him in his crate until he quiets down.


I will never teach a dog to speak again LOL. 

I taught my boxer who is 3.5 to speak when he was young. It was so cute and I was SO excited because I'd never been able to teach a dog of mine before to speak. I think it just made him even more vocal, even though boxers can be kinda of whiny to begin with, oy vey. I think it made his problem worse and made him resort to using his voice more than he normally would. My mom told me I'm not allowed to teach Abbie to speak because of that LOL.


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## KBLover (Sep 9, 2008)

jnybeth said:


> I tried to teach him "speak" today, because i read that if you can teach them to bark on command, it is easier to get them to stop on command, but would you believe it, he just sat there quietly while I tried and tried to get him to bark!


LOL 

That sounds familiar *cuts eyes at Wally*

Had the hardest time putting the verbal cue to it because he'd be quiet and listen when I talked and not bark so I had nothing to click!

Eventually, he figured it out and just kinda did this meek "ruff". It was pretty sad, I still don't consider it a "true" bark, but it was the start and now he has it.

As far as that making it easier to teach "quiet" - I'm not so sure on that either. Depends on how wound up he is (if it's dinner time, he'll be quiet...after giving me this mowroror type sound and he'll hush). A lot of times, I end up going SHHH! and that'll stop him, so I took that and rewarded it (I think at first he was all like "ZOMG wut was that sound that just came out of ur mouth?!?!?!?!111" LOL)

But it's funny, I'm like working in reverse - I'm try to get him TO alert bark at stuff like the tea kettle going off or the timer beeping, or the phone ringing...with mixed results. I hear about all these dogs like you guys who you can't get to stop talking and it work for me to get Wally to raise a peep unless its dinner time


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## Jim Burwell Dog Trainer (Jul 7, 2009)

Dogs have an unconditioned or orienting reflex. That is to say that if a dog hears a loud sound, it's natural reflex is to stop what it is doing (barking) to re-orient to investigate the source of the noise. Sometimes it's not enough to yell - and you've found this to be ineffective. Your just another barking dog - so your dog thinks. Sometimes , as a last resort, I've used an air horn behind my back to silence an obnoxious barking dog. If used discreetly and appropriately, this non-emotional sound can stop the barking. Don't forget that you must begin to redirect to an appropriate behavior like come, sit and lay down followed by praise and treat. Multiple set ups several days in a row may be needed to retrain your dog not to be reactive like that. Also begin to reinforce fundamental leadership issues that may not have previously been in place. Three 2 minute sessions daily of come, sit and down will get your dog working for leadership rather than feeling responsible for it himself. This along with walking for exercise can go a long way to enlighten your dog as he begins to develop a stronger sense of place in your pack as a follower - hence less of a need to bark. Simply not his job anymore.


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## dakotajo (Jan 29, 2009)

Jim Burwell said:


> Dogs have an unconditioned or orienting reflex. That is to say that if a dog hears a loud sound, it's natural reflex is to stop what it is doing (barking) to re-orient to investigate the source of the noise. Sometimes it's not enough to yell - and you've found this to be ineffective. Your just another barking dog - so your dog thinks. Sometimes , as a last resort, I've used an air horn behind my back to silence an obnoxious barking dog. If used discreetly and appropriately, this non-emotional sound can stop the barking. Don't forget that you must begin to redirect to an appropriate behavior like come, sit and lay down followed by praise and treat. Multiple set ups several days in a row may be needed to retrain your dog not to be reactive like that. Also begin to reinforce fundamental leadership issues that may not have previously been in place. Three 2 minute sessions daily of come, sit and down will get your dog working for leadership rather than feeling responsible for it himself. This along with walking for exercise can go a long way to enlighten your dog as he begins to develop a stronger sense of place in your pack as a follower - hence less of a need to bark. Simply not his job anymore.




Will this help for my barking Bernese with men that come in the yard? I don't mind a bit of barking but she gets carried away!


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## EarthMonkey (Nov 14, 2009)

With our dog he is a little confused. If we say quiet he just keeps barking. If we say bark he goes quiet most of the time. Reverse psychology????


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## poodleholic (Mar 15, 2007)

I had a "window terrorist" to deal with! lol What worked very effectively with him was for me to clap my hands (interrupting him so he'd look my way) hollar YAHHOO! and did a little dance, made noises, and acted like I'd lost my marbles, truth be told. He LOVED it! I loved that he stopped the lunging and barking every time someone walked by! 

Now, when the mailman comes, somebody walks by, or UPS rings the bell and drops a package off, he will sometimes STILL expect or want me to act goofy, so will watch me (eyes twinkling) until I do SOMEthing (anything)! lol Actually, acting goofy is a wonderfully effective training tool for getting their attention, and keeping it!


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## Jennyfur (Oct 14, 2009)

Some dogs are simply going to persist in alert barking. My Buhund is nearly 12 years old, and man, she can still bark like crazy.  We've tried various things over the years, but the general Buhund community is in agreement that Buhunds bark. They're watch dogs and they want to communicate. I can stand it for the next few years since I've already dealt with it for so long. At least her barking doesn't seem to have rubbed off on the puppy. 

One piece of advice I can give you is to pull curtains and keep the radio on when you have to leave the house.


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## Jim Burwell Dog Trainer (Jul 7, 2009)

dakotajo said:


> Will this help for my barking Bernese with men that come in the yard? I don't mind a bit of barking but she gets carried away!


 I wouldn't use the air horn in this case. If the dog barks when you are at home, it should be immediately called to you on the first bark and very quietly told to Sit. If the stimulus that caused the first bark is known not to warrant barking (the barking was unnecessary in that situation), the sitting dog should be quietly released and immediately recalled, and the routine repeated until the dog settles down. Hope this helps.


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

The OP has mentioned that her dog is fearful/anxious...using an air horn for dog that has noise sensitivities (wind, doors opening, etc) is NOT the right choice. Fearful barking is not the same as true alert barking.

The OP needs to work on the FEAR and do desensitization to reduce the effect of the triggers.

Check out www.fearfuldogs.com


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## meggels (Mar 8, 2010)

Cracker said:


> The OP has mentioned that her dog is fearful/anxious...using an air horn for dog that has noise sensitivities (wind, doors opening, etc) is NOT the right choice. Fearful barking is not the same as true alert barking.
> 
> The OP needs to work on the FEAR and do desensitization to reduce the effect of the triggers.
> 
> Check out www.fearfuldogs.com


Yeah, I think the airhorn would send her over the edge rofl. Might just give her little puppy heart a heart attack!

I don't think in this case it's completely 100% fear barking, but rather, a mixture of the two. She's fearful of the noises, so she barks as her defense mechanism to warn me and them. 

Dunno if that makes sense or not, but I guess what I'm trying to say that, I think it's her OVERfearfulness to these noises that is causing the alert barking. Like, she's overly on edge for new danger.

Dunno if that makes sense or not lol, sounds good in my head though


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## KBLover (Sep 9, 2008)

meggels said:


> Yeah, I think the airhorn would send her over the edge rofl. Might just give her little puppy heart a heart attack!
> 
> I don't think in this case it's completely 100% fear barking, but rather, a mixture of the two. She's fearful of the noises, so she barks as her defense mechanism to warn me and them.
> 
> ...


Makes a lot of sense - like she's paranoid. Kinda like a person that goes "What's that?" whenever something creaks or some thump happens.

Same things can still apply to work the fear part out of the behavior. Perhaps then she may not bark at all, or at least turn it into a true alert bark.


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## meggels (Mar 8, 2010)

KBLover said:


> Makes a lot of sense - like she's paranoid. Kinda like a person that goes "What's that?" whenever something creaks or some thump happens.
> 
> Same things can still apply to work the fear part out of the behavior. Perhaps then she may not bark at all, or at least turn it into a true alert bark.


Exactly, she's very on edge. She could be in the middle of wrestling with my boxer and then hear the tiniest little nose and go into a barking frenzy.


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## dakotajo (Jan 29, 2009)

My dog isn't bothered by noise at all or pain for that matter and in the house it's alert barking when she hears bangs and stuff outside but I can seem to get her quiet quite fast for that, it's the fearful barking of men when they come in the yard that drives me insane. My BIL came over and she wouldn't stop! It's strange though that if a man comes over with a child or another dog she doesn't act that way at all, she trusts them then.


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## Jim Burwell Dog Trainer (Jul 7, 2009)

Cracker said:


> The OP has mentioned that her dog is fearful/anxious...using an air horn for dog that has noise sensitivities (wind, doors opening, etc) is NOT the right choice. Fearful barking is not the same as true alert barking.
> 
> The OP needs to work on the FEAR and do desensitization to reduce the effect of the triggers.
> 
> Check out www.fearfuldogs.com


Check on that, Cracker. Thanks for pointing that out.


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## DarkSephiroth (Nov 11, 2007)

Two suggestions:

1. Squirt bottle as soon as she starts.

if this doesn't work..

2. Fill an aluminum can with 10-15 pennies. If she gets out of line, SHAKE it! It will DEFINITELY make her stop.


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