# Barking at her reflection...how to deal with this



## floon (May 9, 2012)

Our GSD puppy is a bit of a barker: she barks at other dogs, joggers, doorbells and knocks at the door, barking she hears in the distance she responds lustily to, things like that. It's a bit much, but I feel like we're getting a handle on it, and it's not a problem. I call her to me when she's barking and say "quiet" and give her some scratching and attention, and it does tend to quiet her pretty effectively.

But the one thing that is a bit of a problem for me is that she barks at her reflection, if she sees it. There are a few glass panels in the house that provide enough of a reflection for her, like the fireplace glass, or the glass panels on our television console, or the sliding glass doors to the porch at night, and she can go from quietly laying on the floor to up and barking at her reflection in an instant.

I honestly don't know how to train her to know the reflection is her. I've been trying to get "into the picture" with her, and show her that we're both there, and I try to soothe her while we're both in the reflection, but she still can go from quiet to wired once she sees her reflection, and it's a little unnerving.

Any advice for how to approach this? I don't know if there's something more basic I should be doing, aside from dealing with this when she does see herself.


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## titiaamor (Nov 17, 2011)

I have no idea how to help- we moved one mirror and threw a sarong over the other- but I want to validate that this is a problem.

My 2 dogs clearly do not know themselves in the mirror, and react as if they are seeing a dog who won't look away! It's crazy! I really wish I could have videotaped their first 'encounter' It was quite energetic.


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## jenneses (Aug 1, 2012)

My dog barks at the cats, it's the only thing he barks at, but he does lick himself in the mirror. The only thing I have found to stop him from barking/chasing the cats is redirection. Basically, I take his kibble and throw a piece and say, "Find it" or I throw his ball/rope and start playing some fetch or tug. He goes off searching for the kibble/ball/rope. Every time I see him focus back on the cats and or start to bark, I do it again. I am sure at some point I will need to find another way to deal with this, but since we are still working on "Leave it" this will have to do.


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## Analogdog (Apr 3, 2012)

My thought would be to treat the dog while it looks in the mirror, so that it learns that looking in the mirror and what it sees is OK. It might backfire in that it may not want to stop looking in the mirror.


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## floon (May 9, 2012)

Analogdog said:


> My thought would be to treat the dog while it looks in the mirror, so that it learns that looking in the mirror and what it sees is OK. It might backfire in that it may not want to stop looking in the mirror.


If I turned her into a narcissist, that might be better than her leaping up suddenly with loud barks late at night... thanks, I'll try that.


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