Chronic Kennel Yapper

J

Jonesdhc

Forums Regular
Hey guys,
Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a big-time kennel barker. My lil rescue pup Bomber spent over 4 of the first 6 months of his life in a veterinary kennel. Because he was just oh so cute, and oh so pitiful, anytime he made a peep someone would come running over to see him... you can guess the result. :rolleyes2:
When he came to us around Christmas, the trainer that was fostering him recommended taking the "fussy baby" approach and just ignoring him. He has gotten a little better, but we still walk on tip-toes when we get up in the middle of the night and have to pass the spare bedroom door.... and we all spend a lot of time trying to tune him out. (He's just in the next room over and the walls aren't terribly thick)
He only gets kenneled as we head to bed... and he spends his days outside, so he really isn't in there for excessively long periods. I've tried a special toy or treat for going "night-night", etc... still he yaps.
I know this isn't the kind of thing that will go away over night, but do you guys have any suggestions for something a bit more pro-active than just ignoring him? :confused2:
Thanks for any ideas!
-Heather
 
Is he only in his crate at night, then? I wonder if you might try crating him for short periods during the day. Maybe if you put him in his crate, gave him a treat, then just left him for a minute or two, and then gave him a cookie and released him.

You could slowly build up to leaving him in there for 30 minutes or so quietly. He might come to associate it with good things coming his way. While he's in there, you could also walk up to the crate and feed him for quiet/good behavior.
 
Jonesdhc said:
Hey guys,
Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a big-time kennel barker. My lil rescue pup Bomber spent over 4 of the first 6 months of his life in a veterinary kennel. Because he was just oh so cute, and oh so pitiful, anytime he made a peep someone would come running over to see him... you can guess the result. :rolleyes2:
When he came to us around Christmas, the trainer that was fostering him recommended taking the "fussy baby" approach and just ignoring him. He has gotten a little better, but we still walk on tip-toes when we get up in the middle of the night and have to pass the spare bedroom door.... and we all spend a lot of time trying to tune him out. (He's just in the next room over and the walls aren't terribly thick)
He only gets kenneled as we head to bed... and he spends his days outside, so he really isn't in there for excessively long periods. I've tried a special toy or treat for going "night-night", etc... still he yaps.
I know this isn't the kind of thing that will go away over night, but do you guys have any suggestions for something a bit more pro-active than just ignoring him? :confused2:
Thanks for any ideas!
-Heather
Click to expand...

Don't take this disrespectful...but why is he left to his own all day outside? I do not feel that a sheltie should be outside all day.They are social butterflys,and being around family and being a part of the structure in the home is what they love doing.
They need the stimulation,and if not fullfilled,they can & probably can form some bad habits.In your pups case..its barking for attention.

As far as the barking,well I do think he is telling you,he has not had enough one on one time with family. How about some mind games,like Nina Ottoson toys,Hide a Squirrel toys ( they make several types).Even at meal times,instead of feeding from a bowl,make him work for his food.Like hiding or tossing his kibble. or put his food in a dispensing ball.
Teach him a new command or trick.These dogs aim to please,and are fast learners.

We only crate here at night.One is crated with door open (Trapp). His brother Jasper & Mia have crate doors closed at night. And by the time all of the pups are down for the night,they welcome thier quiet space,and are quite content.Because they are exhausted from thier day.

I was quite thankful,that we did no tip toeing around at night.And I am sure it was due to the desensitizing they got while at Janets,before they came home.When they did come home at 9 weeks,thier primary crate was right in the hub of the house,in the kitchen.

Lots of noise & activity,so they learned what a noisy house was like. I'm an early riser,it would be nothing for me to be up at 4am,make coffee,be on the PC,or even do laundry,and none of these pups would carry on.If they did,I simply said hush.As I do keep pretty true to a routine.And in the event I did take them out of thier crate to potty at 4am,they went back in thier crates till it was time for breakfast.

if I knew they had full belly's & they had done thier business of potty,I pretty much learned to tune them out.As the barking for attention,and not settling in can get old,especially when its time for bed.

Ashleys suggestion of treating him,while he displays "good behavior" in the crate is really a good one,especially if he needs to be crated for a reason.He needs to associate being in a crate is a good & fun thing.
 
When Maverick was a puppy and I first introduced him to the crate I sat in front of it and said quiet when he barked. When he was quiet for 5 minutes I let him out. Then 10 minutes, 15 minutes and so on. I would also move farther from the crate and then completely out of site. I practised this routine with him several times a day and in a week he was completely comfortable in his crate.
 
mbfrench said:
Don't take this disrespectful...but why is he left to his own all day outside? I do not feel that a sheltie should be outside all day.They are social butterflys,and being around family and being a part of the structure in the home is what they love doing.
They need the stimulation,and if not fullfilled,they can & probably can form some bad habits.In your pups case..its barking for attention.
Click to expand...

I think by outside she means outside of the crate.
 
Turn on a radio quietly near his crate. After the activity noise of his previous situation, the silence can be overwhelming. I play country music in the kennel building during the day for the dogs. I think it soothes them, and is more interesting then silence.
 
missjenneygirl said:
Turn on a radio quietly near his crate. After the activity noise of his previous situation, the silence can be overwhelming. I play country music in the kennel building during the day for the dogs. I think it soothes them, and is more interesting then silence.
Click to expand...

My pups listen to the weather channel all day while I'm at work. people talking, nice music- seems to work for them :yes:
 
mbfrench said:
Don't take this disrespectful...but why is he left to his own all day outside? I do not feel that a sheltie should be outside all day.They are social butterflys,and being around family and being a part of the structure in the home is what they love doing.
They need the stimulation,and if not fullfilled,they can & probably can form some bad habits.In your pups case..its barking for attention.
Click to expand...

When I said outside, yes, I mean outside. We have a large fenced in backyard with lots of toys, shade, and shelter, and all three shelties spend the day outside while my husband and I are at work. I don't see anything wrong with this scenario, as the only other option would be to crate them. They love being outside and play together happily all day. When we are home, they are our shadows and we play with all of them on a daily basis for extended periods of time both inside and outside. While my husband works very little with them training-wise... I do it every day.
I don't make them "work" for their food, but nobody gets a treat without running through a few commands first.
And as I said before... this habit is not something that Bomber developed with us as a result of neglect. We were warned from the very first by his "foster mom" that he was really bad about barking when kenneled. She is a professional police dog trainer and had recommend the course of action I described in the first post.
Once again... Bomber is a rescue dog. We have only had him for 3 months... we knew that any rescue was going to come with a little "baggage behavior" and our main goal is to find a way for him to integrate seamlessly into the household, and become the all around well adjusted pup that we already see in him.

Thank you for the positive reinforcement suggestions and the timing scenarios... I will certainly give it a try... Were he to be kenneled during the day, I would not hesitate to turn on NPR for him, but I have heard that silence, especially during the night hours is particularly important for dogs.

One thing I did notice over the weekend... I tried to pay really close attention to him... just watching him... looking for patterns... It seems he really just wants to be close to someone. He likes physical interaction, but he is also content to just be nearby. He was totally relaxed all night, just hanging out with me and the other dogs in the bedroom... As usual, I got up around ten to put the "boys" to bed (Murphy and Bomber have kennels in the next room, where they go only between the hours of 10PM and 6AM) Murph knows the routine... he goes to his kennel, gets his treat and settles right down. I tried to keep everything as relaxed as possible, I even put Murph to bed a little early so that I could have time to take Bomber back into the bedroom and get him totally relaxed first. When I picked him up to take him to the crate his entire demeanor changed... his breathing rate escalated... it almost seemed like he was about to have a panic attack... it absolutely broke my heart. So I sat down in front of the kennel and held him and calmed him until he was relatively at ease, then took my time putting him in, reassuring him the whole while, and rewarding him gently and quietly, both verbally, and with tiny bits of hot dog.
This seemed to help quite a bit... he did bark, but only several hours later when something woke him up. So I'm hoping this is a good start.
 
The most counter-productive things you can do are

A) allow it to happen as it will become habitual.

and B) yell at the dog when it barks. Just like young children, any attention is attention. If the dog barks, you come in. Many don't mind that you are yelling at him/her. You are giving the dog a classic lesson in classical conditioning by inadvertently rewarding the negative behavior by giving it attention. Ignore the bad behavior.

This may sound stupid, but has your dog learned "good" and "bad" yet? If not, train the dog to sit, and do other tricks. Not only do they learn the tricks and bond with you, they learn the meaning of "good". This way, when they do good, they know.

The treat idea in the crate for silence is also good. You can equally reward them with attention when they are quiet. I NEVER walk in to the room with a sheltie puppy yapping or crying. I wait 60 seconds after the last yip before I enter. This way, I never accidentally reward the dog for this behavior. As a result, my home with four shelties is more quiet than many homes with one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top