Barking: from floss to paper towels

[Allie]

Hi,

I have a 1 1/2 year old Sheltie girl. She is a sweetheart but she barks at everything: flossing my own teeth, mouthwash, putting on make-up, paper towels, spray bottles, iron, hair dryer, hair straightener, wiping down the counter, wiping of any kind, dusting, cleaning the dish drain, vacuum, pullng tape from a tape dispenser, etc. I understand feeling scared around the vacuum and hair dryer but the rest I just don't know. I met with a trainer, who had me expose her to one stimulus (iron) at a time, and have her sit, stay and be quiet followed by a treat several times while ironing. Then we played a few minutes afterwards. She suggested doing this for 21 days to break the habit...I did it for 2 months and the habit never seemed to break. Now I just shut the door on her which leads to a very mad, growling/barking dog who scratches at the door. (Unfortunately I live alone so I have no one to distract her. When we visit my parents she generalizes these behaviors there too but I'm able to step in and calm her.) This probably started at about 6 months of age. I've tried positive reinforcement, desensitizing, negative reinforcement and nothing seems to work. Any suggestions?!?! I'm just sort of hoping she grows out of it. :/

 

[Caro]

I'm afraid she won't grow out of it. At some point, as a puppy someone probably laughed at her doing it, and now she's got it ingrained that it's fun. Doesn't take much for a sheltie to bark at sounds.

What the trainer recommended isn't wrong. It's just that it sometimes doesn't work for a dog that's enjoying it far too much. You're right that the vacuum and hair dryer could be a fear/dislike response, that isn't unusual. She probably is sound sensitive but barking at the other sounds is more about fun or attention seeking. My male is exactly the same way.

To start with I'd pick your battles - which sounds you particularly want to work on first. There are a couple of approaches you can use including distractions and controlled barking. It's almost bed time for me so I'll briefly mention distractions and get back to you with more later.

One of the things with shelties are they are darn smart. So it doesn't take them long to go beyond, "I'm getting a treat because I'm not barking" to "she's doing the ironing, she's given me treats before so I'm going to have to bark so she can give me a treat to make me be quiet". I know this because the same thing happened with my male. You are better off distracting her away from the iron so she isn't focusing on the iron - disassociate the iron with getting treats. If you feed dried food this will be easier (and less likely to put on weight) because you can use her allowance of dried food as a distraction. When you do the ironing give her a treat dispenser with her kibble in it, preferably in another room or in the hall, away from where you are ironing. I say this is easier with kibble because, when you are finished take the treat dispenser off her until you next do something that usually makes her bark. This way she gets her food through the day and so is more likely to be hungry enough to ignore you and eat her meal.

Also, get on the internet and download a whole heap of sounds of the types of things that make her bark (or record yourself). Play them on low in the background on a loop (you can do this using computer audio players). It won't stop her completely (because some of this is about having you in the equation), but she'll get so used to the sounds that her ears won't immediately prick up when she hears them.

Tomorrow I'll go into controlled barking - although in the meantime if you do a search on the forum you'll my find another time I've discussed it. This approach was really useful for stopping my male barking every time I switched on an electrical appliance or opened a plastic bag.