# Puppy Barking when told no



## gemini6774

My puppy sometimes seems to get upset when I tell him "no" or wants something that I won't give him. I've had him 3 weeks now and he rarely does this but he would get frustrate when I would tell him out of the kitchen. He'd wag his tail and start barking, jumping at me, trying to play. I would be very firm and tell him no. He has now learned he's not allowed to sit at the table and beg. He needs to be a good foot away from the table and lay nicely. He is pretty good for the most part and doesn't fight me anymore on it. 
Then if dh and I are having a little late night snack on the couch he of course sits and begs. We don't generally give him stuff but last night he was being good and laying down so I rewarded with a chip. He continued to be good, so a few minutes later, rewarded again. Later I had a cookie (yes, I was a piggy last night). I didn't give him any, but he wouldn't stop barking, wagging his tail, sort of growling, jumping up at me. I firmly told him no and to stop. He seemed upset/frustrated but tail was wagging. It was choc. chip so of course i'm not going to give him that. I just don't know how to get him to stop doing that and realize that behaviour is not going to be rewarded. 
So it seems he just does this when he isn't getting what he wants, but what is the best way to get him to stop this. The barking and growling don't scare me at this point, but I don't really feel that growling is nice behaviour and does seem aggressive which I want no part of.


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## Canyx

Don't reward him with your food, EVEN if he's offering a behavior you want. He is still learning that it is worth it to beg because in the end he does get your food.
Instead, have a bag of HIS food (or treats) by you when you're chilling and snacking. Ignore begging, barking, etc. Throw him a piece of HIS food when he's good. Reinforce constantly. Also, a word of caution: don't reward RIGHT after he is quiet after barking or else he will learn to bark to get your attention, then be quiet for the reward. Reward for quiet and calm only, and keep on rewarding him BEFORE he decides to try to get your attention again.


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## Amaryllis

Growling is not aggression, it's communication. You never, ever want to shut off communication with a dog, because they don't have far between growling (leave me alone) and biting (really, leave me alone). Of course, growling can also be play or just vocalization.

You really need to have an always or never policy with a dog. They don't get "sometimes". So if you're going to share snacks, which I do, make sure you have dog treats on you if you're eating something the dog can't have, like chocolate chip cookies. Of course, I have a dog so calm, he's practically comatose, so sharing snacks on the couch doesn't lead to crazy dog jumping on my head. You may not want to share snacks at all. That's okay, too, just stick to that.

As to the barking at "no", that always cracks me up. (A harsh taskmaster, I am not.) I think to dogs, who don't speak English, "no" sounds a lot like barking, so they bark back. But let's examine "no" from a dog's perspective. To you and I, no can have a thousand meanings and always be understood. To your dog, it's more like "but I'm not in the kitchen, why are you saying that?" Teach him what to do instead and just remove "no" from your vocabulary.


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## hanksimon

I recommend that you never feed a dog while you are eating, b/c that can lead to begging. 

In this case, when you quietly tell him "No, go lie down" , then pick up the chair and dramatically turn your back to him and ignore him. Or, if he doesn't stop, you can leave the room, putting him in a timeout whenever he gives you backtalk.


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## chubby

I agree with Amaryllis, the word 'no' doesn't have any clout. It's best just to teach appropriate and non-appropriate behaviours using reinforces (non-corrective, non-physical is best for young puppies). If he's barking, just ignore him. Don't give him attention, eye contact or anything. When he's being good or does something right, then shower him with attention, treats, praise.

Consistency with the begging is really important. If you don't want him to beg while you eat, it's best just not to feed him anything while you're snacking away, unless it's his own bone or treat or whatnot.

I LOVE sharing my snacks with Butters, it's part of our relationship I enjoy the most, so when she's next to me minding her own business and not jumping all over me, I give her a little piece of my chip or fruit  

Don't be discouraged, when she was ayoung puppy she was SUPER jumpy and would climb all over my face and jump on my back trying to get my hair clip. She calmed down after aging a bit, especially if she's had enough exercise.


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## doxiemommy

I also agree with not using the word "no". For us humans, no has a negative connotation. It's usually negative, like as in stop that, or the answer is no. We use it over and over through the day for many situations, even when we're not talking to the dog. It's overused. 

Dogs are not humans. Even if your dog begins to pick up that "no" is always negative (which isn't likely - they are likely to pick up on your emotions rather than the word), it still isn't specific enough to really get the results you want. 

To me, it sounds like you're not being specific enough. For instance, he has to be "a good foot away and lay nicely". Instead of this, just give him a doggy bed, or a small mat or throw rug that is his assigned place. Teach him to "go to your mat". There are some threads on teaching this, you can probably do a search and find out how to teach this. That way, no matter WHERE you are in the house, having a meal or a snack in front of the tv, the dog has ONE assigned spot to go to.

Remember, if you decide to teach "go to mat" it won't be easy in the beginning. There may be several days where your meal has to be interrupted for you to walk (body block) the dog back to his mat, maybe even several times during one meal. You're training a new behavior and that takes repetition. Know that going in, though, so you aren't as frustrated.

He's like a toddler, they throw fits when they don't get what they want. You have to be specific with your instructions, so nothing is left to chance, or misunderstood. Get rid of "no" it has too many meanings, and is overused. Dogs rely on sounds, not really words. So, if you are frustrasted, and you say "no no NO NONONO" that doesn't have the same meaning for a dog as "no". Even if you do use "no" once and in a calm voice every time, you still use it often throughout the day. And with dogs, being specific is better. After all, you don't speak the same language, so if you can make it super clear, it's that much easier to get the point across.


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## Canyx

doxiemommy said:


> just give him a doggy bed, or a small mat or throw rug that is his assigned place. Teach him to "go to your mat". There are some threads on teaching this, you can probably do a search and find out how to teach this. That way, no matter WHERE you are in the house, having a meal or a snack in front of the tv, the dog has ONE assigned spot to go to.
> 
> Remember, if you decide to teach "go to mat" it won't be easy in the beginning. There may be several days where your meal has to be interrupted for you to walk (body block) the dog back to his mat, maybe even several times during one meal. You're training a new behavior and that takes repetition. Know that going in, though, so you aren't as frustrated.




YES to giving him his own spot. Then, wherever you go your dog will have it's own 'place.' Very handy if you bring your dog to new places and such.
Doxiemommy always has good advice. Though the one modification I made to this training is I taught my dog to go to her bed and rewarded for that during a training session. Then, when I am eating I do not "walk her back" to her bed, but the bed was at first placed close enough to me that she really couldn't fail. Also, since I already reinforced the bed during the training session, she had a sense of where to go. When she left the bed to come closer to me, I ignored her and she went back to her bed. Reward. Each meal I moved the bed further away from me, until it was in the other room. Now she stays on the bed any time I am ignoring her or eating. If your dog moves off the bed closer to you, and does not go back to the bed, I would suggest 1. moving the bed closer at first, and 2. reinforcing being on the bed during training session when you're not eating.

The reason why I don't walk her back when she steps out is 1. I don't want to interrupt my eating, 2. She loves attention (ie, she would love for me to walk her back to the bed) so I didn't want to teach her that. Instead, she figured out herself what the most rewarding situtation was.


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## doxiemommy

Good point. I guess both ways would work.


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