# First Tiime Dog Owner, With Two Puppies!; Barking advice!



## ishnryly (Mar 7, 2011)

my boyfriend and I recently got two new puppies. they are only 7 weeks, so we already know the training now will keep getting harder but the earlier the better.

when the puppies whine, or bark when in public we lightly grab their muzzles say shush. eventually this does the trick. 

however when they play together and get loud we don't want to break up their play time, we love the fact they play together! but we want to know a good way to let them keep playing and not bark as much.

**just incase it matters... and i get to brag! they are border collie yellow lab mixes.


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## I-Love-Autumn (Mar 4, 2011)

Hey there. So you want to stop 7 week old puppies from barking when they play? Hmmm, I'm not sure how you go about doing that. I would think you'd have to be pretty careful at 7 weeks. 

I am curious as to whether they are both the same sex? If they are, and they're the same size, I'd say it could be very interesting from 10 months onward. Personally, after owning two bitches of similar age and weight, I'd never do it again. But you might be one of the lucky ones.

I love rough coat collies. They are such nice dogs. I bet they're both charming your visitors!


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## Labmom4 (Feb 1, 2011)

Oh my! You've got your hands full! I love puppies and dont mind the chaos they bring, but I wouldnt have the guts to raise 2 at a time. What your doing to teach no barking in public sounds fine to me; thats what I do. But inside, they bark when they play. They just do. You cant stop that.


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## ksymonds84 (Mar 5, 2011)

Boy are you guys brave! My ten week old puppy is a wonderful exhausting little fur ball. I couldn't imagine having two of him right now. I bet it cute watching them play though. As others have said, at home let them bark when they play it is only natural. Are you in an apartment where you are worried about sound? When I had my two shelties they ran and barked allover the backyard when they were playing. I apologized to my neighbors and they said they didn't mind happy play barking but didn't like the other neighbors dog just barking out of boredom that went on and on...Enjoy your puppies!


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

Hi! You're gonna be busy! 
As far as grabbing their muzzle when they bark or whine, I'd recommend not doing that. Even if what you are trying to do is correct them, you are giving them attention when they whine and bark. You definitely don't want them to think it's ok to whine and bark every time they want attention, get bored, etc.

The most common advice you'll get here on whining is to ignore it, as hard or as frustrating as it gets! You want your puppies to learn to soothe themselves, and entertain themselves.
As for the barking, dogs bark for lots of reasons. If your puppies bark because they hear a noise, you don't want to totally discourage that. I mean, alerting you to people or things coming into your area is really part of a dog's job, in a way. But, you do want to teach them when enough is enough, and that can be done by using treats to teach them a command that basically means, "thanks, I'll take it from here!" You could use "enough" or "quiet" or whatever.

And, barking when playing, good luck with that! As I said, puppies bark for lots of reasons, alerting, protecting, even playing. If it bothers you, or gets really crazy, you could try distracting them from the crazy play barking by getting them to do something else. Our pup, Abby, is much more playful than our other one, Harper. So, quite often she will bark at Harper, telling him she wants him to play with her. Usually, one of us will just grab a toy and play fetch with her, and she quits bugging Harper!


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## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

ishnryly said:


> my boyfriend and I recently got two new puppies.


Be sure to work with them separately and to separate them. If you do not they will tend to bond to each other instead of to you. I would NEVER suggest a first time dog owner get TWO puppies at one time. IF you are serious about training them and making them functional family members, you have made the process MUCh harder getting two.



> they are only 7 weeks, so we already know the training now will keep getting harder but the earlier the better.


NOT necessarily. 



> when the puppies whine, or bark when in public we lightly grab their muzzles say shush. eventually this does the trick.


Not a good thing. What are you telling them doing this? You are telling them that for NO reason you are going to do something unpleasant to them. Dogs bark. It is what they do. Reward for silence. If they bark lower YOUR voice, talk in slow, low tones. Reward (with food) for silence.

What are you doing out in public with 2 puppies this young? Where are you going? NOT Petsmart or dog parks I hope where other dogs could infect thme with Parvo or distemper or worse.

They are not vaccinated (even if they were b4 your got them, they are not.. immunity does not develop fully until they are 16 weeks old) and can pick up Parvo. Have you taken them to the vet with stool samples so they can be wormed, started on their vaccination routine (this goes on every cople of weeks until they are over 16 weeks and then you may have to get another round at 6 months).



> however when they play together and get loud we don't want to break up their play time, we love the fact they play together! but we want to know a good way to let them keep playing and not bark as much.


This is how dogs and puppies play. It is what they do. Acceptance is your best plan. It is good for them. 



> **just incase it matters... and i get to brag! they are border collie yellow lab mixes.


Two extremely high energy breeds here. Have you a LOT of time to spend playing with them, walking them and training them (as in 2-3 hours a day)? You will need it. 

Do you have puppy class and then Obedience class lined up to start when they are 12 weeks old to socialize them and get help training them?


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## ishnryly (Mar 7, 2011)

they sure are! they are also soo smart i can hardly keep up, these two will probably be doing calculus by ten months lol! but we are both very happy. especially cause they both have a friend to play with. and yes they are both little girls.

two shelties how adorable! shelties are wonderful puppies! 

yes we live in an apartment, our neighbors have been pretty accommodating, youre right when they are in their own environment they are a little louder, and youre right i want them to be comfortable at home for sure! 

thanks doxiemommy, we've been distracting them later in the evening so its not too loud and letting them bark to their hearts content when they are home playing.

two puppies is harder but we both spend time with them seperately, and have several short training sessions a day with them now, and play sessions are longer and tons of them. 
usually as they get older they will test more or be able to get a hold of a lot more things, chewing what they are not supposed to 
will be a hard one but we are all doing very well with the chewing training too, and lots of their other manners. 
im just not ignorant to the fact that as they get older they will be more playful, energetic and still working on their manners! =) 

they have actually been doing a lot better since we've done the lightly touching their muzzle telling them to hush and praising for silence in public, its at home we 
are concerned about just because we want them to be happy and content in their envoirment. yes, we are certainly sociallizing them this young! family friends, friends 
dogs, cats, people! at ten weeks they are even going to puppy training. we think its important to socialize our pets at an early age, even now. but thank you for the immune 
info we had no idea and will make sure to keep them away from strange animals.
we take them on walks. they are shorter then a few hours cause they are young and we dont want them to work out their developing musles too hard but we want them to get the 
attention they require. 

one of them likes walks and wants to be out there for 15 or 30 mins at a time while our other little girl molly doesnt like long walks as much so she is out there for 
5 to 15 mins. 

yes they are little balls of energy right now but they are still in there lots of puppy naps phase! which i am soaking up! but at the same time i cant wait to get them hiking 
with us, and play frisby.=) but their energy is wonderful thats why we picked this bread, they will have lots of activities to do! from the sounds of it (2-3 hours a day) 
good thing we have big plans for these two! but im sure we all start with big plans (like making them service dogs and take them for volenteer work at the hospital, (which is my 
dream for ryly!) but as time goes on she just might end up being my best friend and thats service enough! =)


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

Just to reiterate, be very careful with walking them! And, taking them out in public! It's not just other dogs they can catch diseases from.....they can catch diseases from poop and other gross stuff that can be on the ground. So, if you really want to socialize them, take them places but keep them off the ground, just hold them, and wait on the walks for now....


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## I-Love-Autumn (Mar 4, 2011)

The parvo virus can live in the ground for some time and is transferred to the soil via fecal matter. Opinions of the life of the virus in soils vary from 5 months to years! I would stop the walks altogether. Why risk your pups' health with such a menacing disease. You need to wait until at least two weeks after their last shot.

It's good you are spending so much time with them.

Because you have two bitches of the same age and weight, there is a good chance you are going to have to deal with fights between them as they get older. If I were you, I'd do some research on how to deal with that situation before you actually have to. (It will save you a lot of vet bills and heart ache.) I learnt my lesson on this issue when I had two bitches of different breeds, but same age and size!


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## RRM_Mom08 (May 5, 2008)

I may be personally crazy/anal but I really can't stand barking even in my home (and im a multi dog owner with a single homw and acre fenced in yard) Our first standard puppy Max who's now 6 months old was pretty vocal when we brought him home he would bark at the kids and our Boston terrier girl (who hardly ever barks) after a week of working with him and telling him quite in a firm voice when he barked, he is now alot less vocal.We recently brought home a standard female puppy 8weeks old and they do bark sometimes while playing but we started up telling them quite and shush she is more laid back and barks only when he takes her toys/treats.I feel that when im playing with them outside barking is ok, but I have never been able to stand barking in general, overly vocal yappy dogs and I really don't like at all if someones dog barks at me, my kids or dogs.They do vocalize with each other like tazmanian devils when playing mostly now..it's cute to watch...We came into it knowing that poodles are a vocal breed and the breeder worked alot with her litters on quite..

Remember that also your neibors may tolerate it for awhile now but they can get tired of it after awhile...


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

But, think of it this way....barking is a way they communicate. How would you like it if someone said you couldn't talk? Or had to whisper all the time?
There are many reasons dogs bark, just as there are many reasons we talk, yell, whisper, etc. Play barking, alert barking, demand barking, etc. That doesn't mean you should allow continuous barking, of course, but I still think you should let them have their voice.....it's the only way they can communicate with us and other dogs.
I agree that barking incessantly is irritating. In fact, our girl, Abby, will bark at Harper to get him to play with her. The thing is, he doesn't like to play as often as she wants him to.  So, we play with her....I mean, really, she's a puppy and wants to play, and sometimes just needs to burn off some energy. BUT, that type of barking, the demand for attention, does frustrate me, which is why we reign that in.

As far as dogs barking at you or your kids....barking doesn't mean their being aggressive. Sometimes barking can be to say hi, or just to let you know they're there, like "hey, I'm over here, just to let you know..."


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## RRM_Mom08 (May 5, 2008)

Doxie I do allow them to bark a bit outside when playing or if they see another dog being walked in the back by our property (we have an aparment complex behind our yard) but they had to learn the quite command and we started that whe we brought our dogs home from there breeders, my neibors will not tolerate barking non-stop at nothing and there are noise restrictions in the county that we are in and you will get a citation...My kids understand that all barking is not aggressive but they don't like it either (they have been raised around dogs that are pretty much non-barkers because we trained them that way) so it throws them off when they are playing at the park or out and someone has a dog barking like nuts at the kids on the playground.Unfortinitly where we live most people do not train or socailze there dogs much, so out of control barking dogs is the norm..Its so bad that when we walk I have to take a billy club and pepper spray because stray and roaming aggressive dogs are the norm here.


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

I'm sorry you live in an area where you are bothered on your walks by stray and roaming dogs. 

But, I think you misunderstood. I did say, if you read my post, that non stop, incessant barking shouldn't be allowed. I definitely feel that neighbors shouldn't have to deal with that. Our dogs aren't allowed to do that, and were taught the quiet command as well.

I still think, IMO (and it may be my opinion alone) that there are times when it should be ok for a dog to bark, and if it gets out of hand, then it gets reigned in, using the quiet command, or whatever works.
Examples: if they hear someone come on our property, invitation to play (not forever, though, that's what gets Abby in trouble, because she keeps at it!  ), telling us they need to go out to do their business, if they hear an animal outside, etc.

I don't like yappy dogs that bark all the time, either, I just think they should be allowed to have a voice, within reason.


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## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

Just an interesting aside... I have a breed known for barking (German Shepherds). Because I don't like a lot of noise I never have encouraged my dogs to bark and have always had silent dogs (for the most part.. unless they are working stock or playing). 

People come and knock at the door and they are quiet. When I answer the door they are sitting quietly behind me watching. I find this is MORE un-nerving to strangers who knock than if they do bark! A silent German Shepherd.. or two in my case.. looking at the person... and them not knowing the dogs.. is 'interesting.'


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

That does seem interesting! 
Harper, being a doxie, has surprised me somewhat, too. I have heard stories about doxies that just howl or cry like crazy.....fortunately, he's never done that! He will bark to alert us that someone is coming up the drive, or up the porch, and he does a bit of play barking, but that's it... 
Abby is chihuahua-doxie mix and isn't yappy at all, UNLESS she wants Harper to play and he won't! 
Maybe that's why I don't know how it feels to have problem barkers!


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