Nonstop barking in agility class

[SheltieChe]

Bring a frozen kong and put your pup in a crate with a kong when you not working. I am totally ok with dog that barks while in the ring, I am totally not ok with dogs that barks when out of the ring. Simply said- do not let your dog do it, the more he does it the worse it gets. It probably did not start at agility class either- most likely he does small doses of it at home too. Start there and reward for what you want to see. Do you drive with him in crate? Does he bark out of the window on every passing car?
If he can not be quiet when he is not running, that he wins the prize of going to the next room or car and be crated there. If you need to come early or stay late when another class is running and work on one skill only- Can you handle being quiet while other dog working? If it takes you to sit next class outside of your facility under the open window than that is what you should do. Distance will be your friend and you can advance closer when you see behavior you want. IT IS A SKILL and it has to be grown just as asking dog to jump or run tunnel.

 

[Connie]

I second the tug toy suggestion, or a frozen kong as distraction/ reward -- something to put in the barker's mouth! Combine that with the mini-obedience routine and train down-stays and I bet you will be able to reduce or eliminate the barking. It's most likely an excess of emotion or energy that the dog has no outlet for.

Years ago, when I was still training my Sundance in agility (before his joint problems were found), he would bark furiously and lunge toward the tunnel whenever another dog went through the tunnel. It was really annoying, and nothing, but nothing, would divert him from it. One day I was so exasperated and frustrated that when a flat-coat retriever went thundering through the tunnel and Sundance went nuts, I grabbed Sunny's water bowl and dumped the contents on his head.

He never bark/lunged at the tunnel again.

Yes, I'm a bad person and a terrible dog 'mom'.

Good luck! I think the tug will help, also working hand commands for treats is a good thing to do and with no talking on your part, won't bother anyone else. (Personally I am never bothered by people working their dogs on the sidelines in agility class, but I know what you mean.)

 

[aecarr10]

Thank you for all the suggestions!

What about putting him in a down stay? It's harder for most dogs to bark while they are down.

He must be really talented... he has NO problem barking while laying down.

Bring a frozen kong and put your pup in a crate with a kong when you not working. I am totally ok with dog that barks while in the ring, I am totally not ok with dogs that barks when out of the ring. Simply said- do not let your dog do it, the more he does it the worse it gets.

Obviously I'm not okay with him barking constantly either... that's why I'm asking for help! The problem really only started in earnest 3 or 4 classes ago, and my re-directions are clearly insufficient. Hopefully it's not too ingrained already.

It probably did not start at agility class either- most likely he does small doses of it at home too. Start there and reward for what you want to see. Do you drive with him in crate? Does he bark out of the window on every passing car?

With the exception of the occasional bark when greeting someone (a behavior that has drastically decreased in the last month or so), he is completely silent. When he was a little pup, if he barked at anything I would take it away. If he barked at me, I'd leave the room. If he barked at either of my cats or at a toy, I immediately removed it from the room. I have never seen him bark at anything outside my apartment, and he has definitely never barked in the car.

I second the tug toy suggestion, or a frozen kong as distraction/ reward -- something to put in the barker's mouth! Combine that with the mini-obedience routine and train down-stays and I bet you will be able to reduce or eliminate the barking. It's most likely an excess of emotion or energy that the dog has no outlet for.

I would LOVE it it he would tug at agility! He loves tugging when we're alone, but he loses interest if there's anyone else around (no matter where we are). He'll halfheartedly start to tug, then just give up. He's a bit more interested in his squeaky tennis ball... he'll work for it on course, but will only play a bit with it before getting distracted when there are other things going on. I always have it with me at agility, but I'd say it's a far less effective tool than food.

I should have mentioned, he can't see the other dogs when he's not running. There are two side rooms at our training facility- an actual viewing room and an office. The rest of our class hangs out in the viewing room, and Ollie and I usually go into the office. The two rooms share a door, so he can sort of see our classmates (and they can hear us), but he's a decent distance from everyone else. There's a window into the training facility from the office, so I can see the dog running, but he cannot. He can hear them a bit, and IS sometimes reactive about it.

So for next class, I'm going to try taking him outside to calm him down when he gets really wound up. I'm also going to try the frozen Kong. If these don't work, I'll give taking his crate a go (it's only my second line of defense because it's a big, heavy metal crate... so if I don't have to lug it around, I sure as heck don't want to!).

His next class is on Tuesday night. I'll let everyone know how it goes!

 

[Connie]

I would LOVE it it he would tug at agility! He loves tugging when we're alone, but he loses interest if there's anyone else around (no matter where we are). He'll halfheartedly start to tug, then just give up. He's a bit more interested in his squeaky tennis ball... he'll work for it on course, but will only play a bit with it before getting distracted when there are other things going on. I always have it with me at agility, but I'd say it's a far less effective tool than food.

Interesting!

Not telling you what you should do, just thinking what would I do if this were my Sheltie ... I would work on the tugging to get him to do it even when not at home. I posted this link in another thread, but I really do think tugging is a super way to 'connect' to my dog and to manage his emotional energy:
http://www.leecharleskelley.com/servicesphilosophy/dontplaytugofwar.html

With my BC (I know, not a Sheltie, but still --), we get to agility a bit before the class starts and I take him and his knotted fleece tug out on the floor, and engage him in tug for 5-7 minutes. I also tug with him when we're on the sidelines during the class.

Your Sheltie might need to be encouraged to do this, and you could work on that and even give food treats for it, but I think if you can get this behavior from him, you will also decrease the barking, because the undischarged emotional energy is the cause (or the power, if you will) of the barking, and tugging will give an outlet for that. Right now he loses interest in the tug when there are other stimulants present, and he's directing emotional energy to them; I would want to channel that energy back into a connection with me, through the tug primarily.

Hope something works for you!

 

[SheltieChe]

Thank you for all the suggestions!





I would LOVE it it he would tug at agility! He loves tugging when we're alone, but he loses interest if there's anyone else around (no matter where we are). He'll halfheartedly start to tug, then just give up. He's a bit more interested in his squeaky tennis ball... he'll work for it on course, but will only play a bit with it before getting distracted when there are other things going on. I always have it with me at agility, but I'd say it's a far less effective tool than food.

It is stress problem. He gets too stressed when at agility and can not tug- tugging will mean he has to stand out too much and reflexes take over. Something like if you running away from a lion and someone offering you nice pastry it is kinda not a priority anymore
Bring stress home! Take out chunk of cheese and put next to you when you tug at home... let out kitty near his bowl, ask your kid to eat ice cream or neighbors knock on the door etc... whatever you think might help you to get him going... It might help with barking too...

 

[Meldor]

I would LOVE it it he would tug at agility! He loves tugging when we're alone, but he loses interest if there's anyone else around (no matter where we are). He'll halfheartedly start to tug, then just give up. He's a bit more interested in his squeaky tennis ball... he'll work for it on course, but will only play a bit with it before getting distracted when there are other things going on. I always have it with me at agility, but I'd say it's a far less effective tool than food.

I can't help but mention that one of the sections in the Control Unleashed book is: But he only plays with his toys at home! It explains how Leslie's dog Snap would only play at home but not when there was more interesting or stressful things going on around. She then explains the training steps she took to overcome this and how it helped her learn to read her dog better.

 

[aecarr10]

I can't help but mention that one of the sections in the Control Unleashed book is: But he only plays with his toys at home! It explains how Leslie's dog Snap would only play at home but not when there was more interesting or stressful things going on around. She then explains the training steps she took to overcome this and how it helped her learn to read her dog better.

Whoops, I forgot to mention that in addition to the rest of the plan, I also ordered this book. Can't wait to read it!

Just for fun, here's a picture of the little yapper (at 9 months, he has a good bit more hair now lol). I can't wait to get some of him on the agility equipment!

 

[Meldor]

What a gorgeous boy!

I think you will make great progress with all the changes you have planned. Let us know how it goes.

Another quick suggestion: you could keep a lookout for crates that fold and are easily transported in classified adds online (like craigslist). I've seen a few with a decent size, sold around here on kijiji for about 40$. It will certainly be useful if you decide to do agility trials in the future.

 

[k9kreationz]

If he is being reactive, you can find things to calm him or to distract him. You can cover him up in a crate, put up a barrier so he cant' see the dogs running, etc.

Some people mentioned tugging. Good idea. Another idea, teach him to chew on a toy when he gets worked up. Or hold a toy. Can't bark if a toy is in his mouth.

Koji is reactive. I tried so hard to work with him, but nothing really worked. Ugh! He's not a tugger/toy player anyways, so I had to try something else. Stupid me forgot about something we trained many moons ago. Have you heard of "go to your mat"? Basically, they have to go to their mat, lie down, and be quiet. At first, it took a LOT of CONSTANT treating to calm Koji down, but after awhile, less and less treats. Sometimes he still barks, but he is nowhere as crazy as he used to be. Now, I use it for everything and he's so much more focused.

I guess it depends on why he's barking, to find a good solution. Keep trying different things though.

 

[aecarr10]

It's been storming every morning and evening here for a few days, so he hasn't gotten nearly as much exercise as normal (I'd say we've run/walked 4 miles each day?), and he's been wound so tightly. I've tried to give him some mental outings (a trip to Petsmart, to the hardware store, etc.).

I'm not sure if it's that I'm paying better attention, or that he's been especially wound up, or both, BUT... I'm really starting to see the reactivity "bleeding over" into other situations. He got so overexcited about being in several locations that a few barks just slipped out. They weren't even at anything in particular, it just seemed like he was so overstimulated he just had to let it out in some way.

I had a tug toy and treats with me; he barked a couple times while responding to commands for treats, and he didn't want to tug at all (we've been practicing with distractions at home, but this was clearly too much).

I'm really glad I ordered the Control Unleashed book; I'm probably going to sit down and read it cover to cover when it arrives.