RikyR
Premium Member
Today, for the first time, Zulu barked at a dog on leash passing by our house. He is beginning to develop that distinctive Sheltie bark. Looks like I have another barker on my hands!
Still barkless
- Thread starter Sparta
- Start date
Sadly, it turns out no barking doesn't equal peace and quiet, not with this puppy...
2GoodDogs
Forums Enthusiast
I like the "my sheltie puppy doesn't bark, except at the vacuum" problem. 
Flyer is a crier, but only when he wants out of his pen, his crate, or he wants food....right now.
Flyer is a crier, but only when he wants out of his pen, his crate, or he wants food....right now.
dmeyer123
Forums Enthusiast
I have Lexi, who barks like a nut case and Pyper who almost never barks.....I prefer the non-barker!!
Sparta is now well into her 20th week of existing, and I've almost given up on her growing into her bark. Well, that's not entirely true, she can bark up a storm if she wants to! Like when we bring out the vacuum cleaner. Or when she sleeps - and probably dreams about vacuum cleaners.
But really, she only barks at the vacuum. That's it. That's all the yapping we get. There's no "OH MY GOD YOU'RE HOME!" or "ATTENTION! ATTENTION!" and definitely not any "WHY IS THERE A STRANGER IN MY LIVING ROOM" - she's just quiet. Excited and alert, but quiet.
She'll make some noise at the "There's something out there, someone better check it out," but that's a sort of inwardly muted wruff and nowhere near an actual bark.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't want any of you yappers telling her how to do it, so shhhh...
20 weeks? Oh honey, give it some more time
My boy was mute at 20 weeks. Now he's my sweet guard dog <3coming in loud and clear
Kaleigh is 9 mths, hasn't really barked much and because I am not fond at all of nuisance barking, I let her know, once is fine, but that is adequate. But we now have new neighbors, that brought dogs they keep in the backyard-and ignore them, and it takes EVERYTHING I have not to be in their face, because I have NO TOLERANCE for people who confine their dogs to the backyard and don't interact with them, to me it is CRUEL. They don't deserve pets IMHO. They have one that gets started and just DOESN'T quit, it is a yoddel type bark, and highly annoying. And now Kaleigh comes in from outside paces, and wants to "talk" about this dog making noise. Her playmate comes in a week-I am SOOOO excited, and I fear she will be more "talkative", never had two shelties at once, so I hope I survive, ha. Her parents are quite vocal, yikes, but I am determined not to have barking...notifying is fine, barking is not. Will see if I prevail as the alpha dog on this issue, ha...
Kaleigh is 9 mths, hasn't really barked much and because I am not fond at all of nuisance barking, I let her know, once is fine, but that is adequate. But we now have new neighbors, that brought dogs they keep in the backyard-and ignore them, and it takes EVERYTHING I have not to be in their face, because I have NO TOLERANCE for people who confine their dogs to the backyard and don't interact with them, to me it is CRUEL. They don't deserve pets IMHO. They have one that gets started and just DOESN'T quit, it is a yoddel type bark, and highly annoying. And now Kaleigh comes in from outside paces, and wants to "talk" about this dog making noise. Her playmate comes in a week-I am SOOOO excited, and I fear she will be more "talkative", never had two shelties at once, so I hope I survive, ha. Her parents are quite vocal, yikes, but I am determined not to have barking...notifying is fine, barking is not. Will see if I prevail as the alpha dog on this issue, ha...
One Sheltie (depending on the sheltie) is silent, two is loud... three is louder etc. They find their barks in each other and one will get the other barking. If Honey barks, Ruutu will bark at her for barking.... He's goofy. Also, you would hate my shelties based on what you said about your neighbors. No, we don't leave them outside but my female prefers outside so when we're at my parents she basically lives outside, by her choice. Barking her head off. We also let the pups out the backdoor to run and play who also are out there barking and unsupervised sometimes. Luckily, my neighbors are used to our shelties and never say anything. My one neighbor who Honey barks at the most always says "Oh look, Honey is home!" because she used to be my parents dog until i took her to NC with me. Anyways, I would recommend getting to know your neighbors before you judge their case... Honey whines if we don't let her outside to bark and play.
That's kind of one of the roots to my confusion with Sparta - Junior is a DSG/DSF and while he's no Sheltie, they are pretty alike in temperament (and size, and a few other things). He has a low threshold for barking, so I expected him to set her off, but he doesn't. My sister/neighbour's retriever mix starts barking? Nothing. Junior accepts the barking contest challenge - still nothing. At most we've had three dogs barking around her, without setting her off.
She let out a single high-pitched bark when my mother came home from the shops earlier this week, that earned her a very stern no, and she hasn't done it since.
That said, the breeder's dogs were also impressively well-behaved and quiet - only 9 month old Lotta had to be told twice to shut up. Fingers crossed it's genetic.
oh wow! That's awesome. Good luck
