How can I stop my springer barking?
Discussion
Do not want to stop him barking when the door goes but would like to stop him barking after I have let the person in. He is 4yrs old and just will not stop no matter what I do until the person who has come in has given him some fuss. The barking is not aggresive as his tail is constantly wagging.
Any ideas or is he too old now?
Any ideas or is he too old now?
I'd never say a dog is too old to be trained 
I think your first step should be to put a name to his barking behaviour. Once you have taught him to bark on command (sounds counter productive, I know) you can then teach the opposite command 'quiet'.
Just found a link for you: http://dogs.about.com/od/basiccommands/ht/speakqui...
But I would do it in reverse, and teach 'speak' first seeing as that is already presenting itself.
I think your first step should be to put a name to his barking behaviour. Once you have taught him to bark on command (sounds counter productive, I know) you can then teach the opposite command 'quiet'.
Just found a link for you: http://dogs.about.com/od/basiccommands/ht/speakqui...
But I would do it in reverse, and teach 'speak' first seeing as that is already presenting itself.
I keep meaning to get round to curbing our little one's acquired habit of going to the top of the stairs and barking...
Teaching "Speak" then "quiet" as commands is the way I'm going to do it. Soon...
boy said:
I can just see our one's face when squirted in the mouth with water...! At least it would stop her barking though... of course, she'll have stopped barking because she's too busy going mental for being sprayed with water... 
Teaching "Speak" then "quiet" as commands is the way I'm going to do it. Soon...
boy said: Try correcting with a water spray on jet in the mouth when he doesn't stop when told too.
I can just see our one's face when squirted in the mouth with water...! At least it would stop her barking though... of course, she'll have stopped barking because she's too busy going mental for being sprayed with water... Couldn't agree more with Superficial!
Best way to untrain a bad habit, is to teach them to it on command.
My old (rescue) dog used to have a bad habit of jumping up, and as a huge retriever, this wasn't always the best thing, he could knock most people over doing it without warning! So, taught him to jump up on command, then jump down on command, he soon learnt he only got any kind of food/fuss, if it was done when asked. If he did it when not asked, I walked away, turned my back on him, so he got 0 attention for the bad behaviour - was a lot more affective taking away a good thing, than punishing a bad. Dogs don't have a concept of "right" or "wrong", and when they do, they can't always make a mental leap towards a punishment and the "wrong" thing, but they'll soon learn that certain things stop any fuss or attention so are a lot less inclined to do it.
He did used to forget and jump up from time to time, but he'd soon remember and jump back down!
Best way to untrain a bad habit, is to teach them to it on command.
My old (rescue) dog used to have a bad habit of jumping up, and as a huge retriever, this wasn't always the best thing, he could knock most people over doing it without warning! So, taught him to jump up on command, then jump down on command, he soon learnt he only got any kind of food/fuss, if it was done when asked. If he did it when not asked, I walked away, turned my back on him, so he got 0 attention for the bad behaviour - was a lot more affective taking away a good thing, than punishing a bad. Dogs don't have a concept of "right" or "wrong", and when they do, they can't always make a mental leap towards a punishment and the "wrong" thing, but they'll soon learn that certain things stop any fuss or attention so are a lot less inclined to do it.
He did used to forget and jump up from time to time, but he'd soon remember and jump back down!
Update: Have been doing the reward for barking and then stopping thing for a few days now and it does seem to be working. I do not want to stop him barking when someone comes to the house but I need him to stop when I tell him too and he does seem to be getting better. Thanks for the help and advice
nick_j007 said:
Also Steve. Place a lead on your dog when the person enters. Ask the visitor to IGNORE your dog until it is genuinely calm. Once calm you can allow a controlled (dog sitting) greeting.
Nick
Yes I was going to say if he barks until he gets attention then you don't give him attention!! Nick
Training a dog to bark or not to bark is something done with certain military dogs. Sometimes silence is golden
Dogs bark for all sorts of reasons and mostly because it's defending it's property whatever that is. If its not barking outside apart from men then does it bark only at men entering the house?
If that's the case you need to work on that being the trigger and not the barking. The dog just needs to understand that men are just men and not something to be barked at.. Sensory overload helps and you do this by taking the dog to a place full of adults....entrance to a motoway service station...pub...main streets etc.
If its mainly in the house then I'm sure it's been mentioned but get your dog to meet the person outside first. Bring the dog back into the house and then let your friend in...friend does not say anything to the dog until he's done something like putting the kettle on etc.
The dog sees it as normal and no reason to bark. Keep this up and eventually the dog takes it as a done deal.
Dogs bark for all sorts of reasons and mostly because it's defending it's property whatever that is. If its not barking outside apart from men then does it bark only at men entering the house?
If that's the case you need to work on that being the trigger and not the barking. The dog just needs to understand that men are just men and not something to be barked at.. Sensory overload helps and you do this by taking the dog to a place full of adults....entrance to a motoway service station...pub...main streets etc.
If its mainly in the house then I'm sure it's been mentioned but get your dog to meet the person outside first. Bring the dog back into the house and then let your friend in...friend does not say anything to the dog until he's done something like putting the kettle on etc.
The dog sees it as normal and no reason to bark. Keep this up and eventually the dog takes it as a done deal.
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