How do I tell him I'm not happy

[VallejoSheltie]

I'm not sure I agree with the 'they don't know what they did 5 minutes ago".

My guy will very occasionally grab a napkin or piece of paper and carefully rip it into tiny strips. Usually I will catch him when I walk out of my home office and he's laying in the general area.

I usually look at the paper, then at him, and simply "Boots, no no, no no no.". He does actually get a guilty look on his face, looks at the paper, then me, and usually starts to get up to go to his kennel. I'll usually tell him 'kiste" (crate), and he'll go to his crate for a short time-out.

I'm not loud, or even particularly annoyed, just bemused if truth be told.

The last year its probably only happened 3-4 times, so it definately seems as though he's made some sort of connection.

I don't think I totally buy into the belief that dog's have a memory or ability to make connections thats as short as a goldfish.

 

[VallejoSheltie]

I would think your dog is alerting you to the fact that the phone is ringing. Because everytime it does, you stop what you are doing and immediately pull it out to answer.
So, he/she thinks she is helping you.

You could try some different strategies to abate this.

1. Get an app that allows you to have your phone/alarm tone ring randomly every couple of minutes.
Spend a couple of hours letting it go off without answering.
or
Spend a couple of hours letting it go off, answering it intermittently
or do I what did
Set your daily alarm to your ring tone. I always hit snooze (several times) anyways, so my dog has learned just because it goes off doesn't mean I'm actually getting up. But, my dog is always quiet when I'm sleeping, so this may just be something that worked because he knew I didn't wan't him barking when I was in bed.

Rewarding him with treats when your phone rings is only going to increase the response. You need to train him the no-bark command, or give him timeout/crate-time whenever he barks when your phone goes off.

My dog is really bad when the phone rings. I keep changing my cell phone ringtone, but that usually lasts a few days and then she realizes it's the sound of my phone and barks again. If anyone comes over my house and has a ringtone I've used in the past or if she hears one on TV, she goes nuts as well.

I basically gave up on training and tell the caller to hold on a second. She usually stops barking a few seconds after I answer the phone. Thankfully, she does not bark when I make the call or am just talking. I think in my case it's me rushing to answer my phone that sets her off.

 

[windy]

Most all your responses talk about Blithe's reactions to my phone ringing, but on thinking more about this, I believe it's to me talking to someone who is not there (in the room). I live alone, so it's just me and Blithe. I think it's jealousy either way. He does not react to my phone ringing, just to me when I'm talking on the phone. I would put him in his crate, but although he readily goes into his crate when he's supposed to, he knows, he just knows when I want him in there for other reasons and will play hard to get.

This is my first Sheltie, and I'm not red-hot at training. I'm in my late 70's and don't get around especially well, but I do the best I can. We did go to obedience, and he and I did learn a few things. But not 'no bark'. Somehow no bark and Sheltie don't seem to appear very often in the same sentence.

I'm fortunate in that he doesn't react to things he sees outside, or other noises. Well. . . he does love Family Feud on TV and will run to the TV and sit in front and watch. At least he doesn't bark at all when he's outside. He has a doggie door, and since I live in a garden home, the neighbors are very near to me. I do have some things to be thankful for when it comes to his barking.

 

[SheltieChe]

Regarding crates, try to put him more in the crate when you do not have to. Like when you sit by the computer, or watch TV. Again does not have to be long, sometimes 30 seconds just to eat a cookie, sometimes 20 minutes so he can relax and take a nap. I would see as your goal creating better association that crate is great place to be.
In those cases when you MUST have him in crate now, just go get him and put in the crate. You really do not want to practice ¨catch me if you can¨ game
For the phone ring I think it is easy to check- what happens when you just pick up phone and pretend call? Does he still go into barking fit?

 

[Caro]

Most all your responses talk about Blithe's reactions to my phone ringing, but on thinking more about this, I believe it's to me talking to someone who is not there (in the room). I live alone, so it's just me and Blithe. I think it's jealousy either way.

I agree it is attention seeking behaviour - my boy does exactly the same thing. I'm not giving attention to him and neither is the person I'm talking to on the phone. He also doesn't bark when the phone actually rings.

The reason you want to 'disconnect' the sound of the phone ringing with you talking, even though he doesn't bark at the sound, is it breaks the anticipation of you talking on the phone. Think of Pavlov's dog, the bell rings he salivates. The phone ringing works like this with dogs, phone rings, adrenalin kicks in. So by the time you do start talking the dog is already in a heightened state. Getting Blithe used to the phone ringing without you talking stops the adrenalin link and makes it easier to manage the behaviour.

Otherwise still focus on withdrawing attention when you are on the call, it's the best solution for dealing with attention seeking behaviour. I wouldn't give a treat when it rings unless you can ensure it will last the whole call and you can do it every call. Adding a treat when he is in a heightened state is just going to make him worse. If he was just barking at the phone ringing then a treat might work, but not for barking when you are talking.

You may find you need to do some reinforcing every once and a while. My male is such an attention seeker he can't help himself. We can go months without barking when I'm on the phone, then he starts up and I will spend a few days playing phone sounds and pretending to talk on the phone and he settles again.