BARKING sheltie pup!

[ortegah]

Shelties bark. Period, amen

Either get some earplugs or consider debarking. You can't make them turn into something they're not, so I say don't waste your time on vibration collars or citronella collars and do NOT do a shock collar. Shelties are already high strung and shocking them will not do anything but make them worse in my opinion.

[ClantyreSheltie]

Originally Posted by JessicaR

I am just wondering why people are against a vibrating collar? After all they are used alot for dogs that are deaf, to get their attention. So why cant the same princaple hold for a hearing dog?

First, because in a multi-dog household, other dogs can set it off.

Second, because it vibrates for as long as the dog is barking, and they get immune to it. It's like using their name over and over and over again. Eventually, they no longer care.

Third, that's a lot of expense to not know if it will work. My landlords Standard Poodle had a remote shock collar on to try to get her attention while she was running the fence. The dog never once acknowledged it, it was tested, we knew it worked. $150 down the tube. What if a hairy sheltie can't feel the vibration, or doesn't care about it? or LIKES it, as our first dog did with Citronella. Barked it dry and was happy about it.

[corbinam]

I don't want to be the one voice of dissent, but are we truly talking about debarking a 5 month old puppy?

I'm not vehemently opposed to debarking, but how do you know this isn't just a phase? Maybe the puppy is worried, or anxious, or going through a fear period. There is still so much time to work on training this puppy, it seems a little early to decide to debark.

I would reach out to a local, well-known behaviorist. I don't think obedience classes alone will do the trick (though they are a great idea and certainly won't hurt). A behaviorist can analyze the situation specifically and give you some new ideas.

[SheltieChe]

Originally Posted by kfischer4

Our puppy is almost 5 months old, and we love her to bits, only she WON'T. STOP. BARKING! She barks at everything... people, things, animals, etc.

My husband and I have tried everything... distracting her, spray bottles, shaking things (like a can) at her, "stop that!" spray... the list goes on and on. It has escalated to the point where she barks at a simple noise when she's outside, she barks at almost every new person (and people she knows) she sees, and I can bring her to work, and she has a nice big pen to play in by my desk, but she constantly barks to be let out of the area, even though she has toys to play with. I know sometimes she is barking to be let out of her pen, but we ignore her, because I don't want her to know that the barking is okay... but it's too much now. She is LOUD, and we live in a two family house, so I worry about her disturbing our neighbors and also my co-workers (which is why I rarely take her to work).

Any ideas on how to get her to stop? She is getting spayed in two days, and then after the holidays are over, we are planning on putting her into puppy classes, but is there anything we can do until then?

Please help!



*EDIT - I know there are tons of posts about this problem, but as someone who has tried everything, I am hoping at least one of you has been in the same boat and has some more insight.*

Should keep my mouth shut but feel sorry for the dog. Lets dissect the post above.
What exactly have you tried to show your puppy you like him to be quiet?
How much time did you spent on reinforcing quiet behavior? What methods did you use and what you rewarded it with? You already figured out that yelling at the dog, shaking can makes dog even more anxious and stress bark. Anything else have you tried, how much time you spend on exercise with your puppy, running, fetching, playing hide and seek etc?
If you were to bring 6 month old infant to work with you and leave it 9-5 in playpen with plenty of toys do you really would expect child to entertain himself?
Since you have the luxury to bring your puppy to work, I would assume that puppy gets nice long run jog/ appr to puppy age and energy/ in the morning, then his breakfast gets brought in in frozen kong and he kept in a crate covered on 3 sides as not to disturb him from noise when he happily sleeps after busy morning. And at lunch break puppy goes to park, gets to chase you around trees, play ball, return to office, visit other people, do few tricks for a treat, then happily settles in with bully stick and eventual nap and then goes for nice energy walk again and gets buster cube for the second meal in his x pen... continue the story- how much this pup gets exhausted from playing and running and using his mental energy learning new things?
How does dog know that you want him to be quiet when someone knocking on the door and you are yelling/ barking with him/ at him?
It take tremendous amount of time and energy to raise a puppy. They do not come preprogrammed to know what we want. If we did not teach them that it is highly rewarding to be quiet why do we punish them with shaking cans and yelling and collars?
and yes, shelties are barkers, comes with territory, some worse than others. I do not have any problems with debarking if that is only option left after everything above been done

[Jess041]

Originally Posted by corbinam

I'm not vehemently opposed to debarking, but how do you know this isn't just a phase? Maybe the puppy is worried, or anxious, or going through a fear period. There is still so much time to work on training this puppy, it seems a little early to decide to debark.

Agreed. When I first got Missy, I kept asking myself, "what did I get myself into??" She was very vocal, and I live in an apartment. I thought if it didn't get better, I would have to debark her. We worked on "quiet" and a figured out that she was barking for attention. I also taught her to "speak". Our trainer told me that was a big mistake, but she doesn't sit there and bark at me all day so... Now she really doesn't bark inside that much. The only time she barks outside is when she's playing with other dogs. She barks when I get her excited enough, like when we're training and she really wants the treat! Or when we're playing fetch and she really wants the toy.

[BarbV]

SheltieChe!

Thanks for bring us back to reality

You are 100% correct....we're talking about a 5 month old puppy.

I think some of us, myself ESPECIALLY, got distracted with other current threads regarding the use of various positive and negative reinforcement tools....and forgot that we're still talking about a pup here.

At 5 months, you've lots of opportunity to retrain without resorting to debarking or collars.

You are still boMom at this point. But you do have a narrow window to take advantage of this.

At one time, I started into clicker training. There is a wonderful book that I read several years ago, and frankly forgot about....by Pat Miller. The Power of Posititive Dog Training. This is an exactly resource to try to use before having to employ more drastic measures.

I think I'm going to reread this myself.

[rose]

Kayla is my most vocal girl. and she has tons of barks that mean different things.. her most high pitched bark was/is the ''i want it now'' bark, the bark pitch mellowed out some after she was a year old.
so a 5 month old, the barking may soften some, as grows

[JessicaR]

Originally Posted by ClantyreSheltie

First, because in a multi-dog household, other dogs can set it off.

Second, because it vibrates for as long as the dog is barking, and they get immune to it. It's like using their name over and over and over again. Eventually, they no longer care.

Third, that's a lot of expense to not know if it will work. My landlords Standard Poodle had a remote shock collar on to try to get her attention while she was running the fence. The dog never once acknowledged it, it was tested, we knew it worked. $150 down the tube. What if a hairy sheltie can't feel the vibration, or doesn't care about it? or LIKES it, as our first dog did with Citronella. Barked it dry and was happy about it.

Thanks for the explanation. I have never used one nor seen one used so I just thought I would ask.

I thought they just worked on a remote that only you could set off, and that you could turn it into a positive thing by vibrating then treating (kind of like a clicker) That way if you vibrate it the dog would look at you, interupting the barking.

[Justme]

My boy was never a problem barker, but like any Proper Sheltie he was sometimes a bit barky.

I taught him both the Quiet command and the Shhh finger signal.

When he was barking, sometimes I would kneel down right next to him, and while giving him the Shhh signal, talk to him in an extra-quiet voice. He would stop barking, so he could listen to what I had to say. After he quit barking, I continued to talk to him in an extra-quiet voice, while he attentively listened.

[mellie]

Originally Posted by corbinam

I don't want to be the one voice of dissent, but are we truly talking about debarking a 5 month old puppy?

I'm not vehemently opposed to debarking, but how do you know this isn't just a phase? Maybe the puppy is worried, or anxious, or going through a fear period. There is still so much time to work on training this puppy, it seems a little early to decide to debark.

I would reach out to a local, well-known behaviorist. I don't think obedience classes alone will do the trick (though they are a great idea and certainly won't hurt). A behaviorist can analyze the situation specifically and give you some new ideas.

Thank you...