How can i stop my dog barking

[shonyh]

I need help.

1) Could someone please tell me how i can stop my dog barking all the time. He seems to love hearing his own voice.

2) I also need to know how to make him come to me when he is called instead of looking at me as though i was stupid. Of course he could be right.

Thanks

[dmsjps]

Probably your dog knows he is in charge at the moment: why should he go to you? What's in it for him? Get a 'clicker' or make a snapping noise with your fingers when you call him, and hold out a small biscuit (the smaller the better, cos you don't want to overfeed him with snacks) and that - plus your verbal and physical praise - will be his reward for going to you. If you pet him and tell him what a good boy he is as well, then in the end, as your relationship becomes stronger, your affections will mean more to him than the biscuit and eventually you'll be able to phase the snack out. Dogs do understand basic words and tones of voice, so be consistent with your praise when he's good or reprimands when he's not.

 

The barking? I couldn't say for sure, but is he bored? If he's young, does he have lots of toys and do you or somebody in the family spend time playing with him? If he's old, then it's probably a habit he got into while he was young and that's his way of getting attention.

 

Perhaps it's best to ask your vet. A consultation fee isn't very expensive for peace of mind because you won't need to buy any drugs or have him undergo any operations by the sound of it.

 

I wish you the best of luck. It's always upsetting when you love an animal and they don't respond in the way you expect.

[PurplePixie]

My advice for getting your dog to come back to you is to randomly call to him throughout your day, around the home & during a walk. If he comes to you either give him lots of love & a fuss or a small tasty titbit or suddenly start a really fun game with him...anything that he would regard as fun. Make it so he never knows what wonderful thing might await him when he responds to your call, just that he won't want to miss it. It takes a lot of persistance, but I've found that my dogs have never gone far from me because they want to be right there when I call them because it's usually worth coming quickly!

If the dog doesn't come, I would ignore him & get on having the game/snack yourself & on the whole he won't be able to resist coming over to see what's going on. You will feel a right plum doing this in the middle of the park. Always train with kindness & make your dog only ever feel that you are the best thing in the whole world so he won't want to let you out of his sight!

[newtron]

I mostly agree with the above advice.  Make it  where your dog wants to come to you.  I will probably get criticized for this, but I believe that the "come" command is the most important and essential command and it might end up saving the dog's life.  A dog that won't come when he is called  is not worth having, unless you just keep him in the back yard and never take him out.  Personally, I like to take my dog everywhere with me with no leash.  Because this command is so important, during training, when you tell the dog to come, make sure that the dog comes.  He needs to know that he dosen't have a choice in the matter.  Tell the dog to come a couple of times, and if he does not, then walk over to him and drag him gently to the spot where you were originally standing while repeating his name and the command "come".  If the dog does not let you get near him and tries to play the chase game, you might want to try training him with a choke collar ( I know I am going to get criticized for this but it works).  Give him some slack on the leash and tell him to come twice.  If he does not come, repeat the command and give a firm tug on the leash.  If he still does not come, repeat the comand and gently pull him to you.  Repeat this procedure and remember to praise him greatly (reward him) when he does come on his own.  This may sound harsh but the dog needs to understand the importance of the command and to realize that he doesn't have choice.  Also, as stated above, consistency is the key to training a dog.  Ultimately, if you and your dog are best friends, he will not want to stray far from you.         

[cassimer]

From my experience and help from a trainer -
Barking - use a water spray - most dogs hate it and it distracts them. Then train eye contact - 'look at me' and force the dog to focus elsewhere. Ours was very vocal and woofed just for run...
Come - at puppy class, the come is taught by starting on a lead and and running backwards with the dog towards you saying come, stopping and praising/rewarding the dog. It takes regular practice, but with time and persistence you can loose the lead and slowly develop distance etc. It doesnt just work with puppys!
Good luck!

[woofgang]

shonyh, this sounds to me asthough it might be the first dog you have looked after. It would help you a lot I think if you could take him to a training class to learn how to teach him. Look for one that offers "gentle methods" or something similar. We took our first dog and it was very useful because we learnt with the dog about how to train a dog. Purple pixie is absolutely right about teaching your dog that you are the best place in the whole world to be. IMHO newtron is dead wrong about how to use a check (not CHOKE) collar. We needed one with our first dog because he was a big rambunctious chap. I NEVER EVER choked him with it and certainly didn't use it to drag him anywhere. If you are going to use one, make sure that you have it on the right way and the dog stays on the same side of you. Watch the dog minutely and as they decide to misbehave, before they act, jerk the lead slightly. this tightens the collar slightly and momentarily and has an attention getting effect, something like someone giving you a poke in the arm NO MORE Dog will come to the conclusion that you are a mindreader and decide to behave. Honestly I think you should get some training if you can, both you and the dog. If your dog will not come to you in public places, then until he will, keep him on the lead except where you are in an enclosed private space. If you call him and he doesn't come. then having the treat or game yourself is a great tip, also running away and hiding. PS is there anyone else out there who would drag any of their "best friends" around on a check collar???

[newtron]

As I said, I don't use a leash on my dog (so - No, I don't drag my best friend around on a check collar).  It is not needed. He is very obedient and happy.   During short 10 to 15 minute training sessions when he was young, I might pull him a few feet to me.  There was no harm done to my dog.  I just want to point out that there is more than one right way to train a dog.  No matter what method you decide to use, the main thing to remember  is to use consistent commands so that you can clearly communicate with your dog.  Communication is really the key.  If your dogs likes and trusts you, he will gladly do what you want if he knows what you want.

[woofgang]

if you pull a dog to you on a check chain, the chain will tighten around the dogs neck and continue to do so until the weight is off the leash (try it yourself if you don't believe me but use a chair, not a dog!!) If you don't want that choking effect, then why are you using a collar that does it?. That "firm tug " you reccommend will also tighten the collar and choke the dog!!

[newtron]

Right, for a second, he is being choked (it's not like I drag him across the yard, its just three or four feet).  The dog figures out real quick that this training is serious.  If this method is used consistently, the dog will understand that if he comes on his own, he gets praised and a treat, while if he does not come he gets pulled uncomfortably to you.  I used this method with my dog for only two sessions of 10 minutes and that was it.  I've never used the check collar ever again.  My dog still trusts me and is very happy.  Also, if you read my first post, you'll see that I recomended this method only if the first method didn't work.  As I said before, there are many effective methods that can be used.  I just wanted to stress that the dog needs to know that he does not have a choice of whether or not he comes when he hears the "come" command.  It's very easy to teach a dog to come to you  in the back yard when there are no distractions, but when you are out in the real world with many distractions such as other dogs, small animals, people, etc., the dog may decide that he would rather greet that dog across the street instead of coming to you.  From this scenario, you can see how the "come" command may very well save the dogs life.   

[shonyh]

Thanks to all of you for giving me such good advice. This dog is a rescue yorkshire terrier of 1 year old. I needed advice, becuase all my other rescue dogs have been fairly good with comming and barking after a while, but this one is taking a long time and i was wondering if i was getting it right...i wasn't. I am going to try your suggestions and will get back in touch in a couple of months, or earlier if he responds.

Again, many thanks.