Barking... why?

[Marcino]

Hello All...

My 7 month old has taken up a new habbit of barking for no apparent reason (at least from what I can see). When we are alone at home he just starts barking, not at me, not at the TV... I just can't figure out what he's trying to tell me. Often during the night, he starts barking. I don't know if it's because he's hearing noises from outside that startle him (he's been in the same environment for 4 months, and has never done this).

We live in a condo, and our neighbours are starting to complain... When he barks, I try to reassure him by petting him, talking soft to him etc... he settles down, but only temporarily. I don't want to resort to anti-bark collars if I can avoid it (I definately won't use one of those electric collars, I find them cruel)...

Any advice?

PS. We give him plenty of love & attention and include him in almost all of our activities, I would be suprised if it to seek attention...

[rsaarinen]

Hmmm. I'm not sure what would cause him to ALL of a sudden start barking. Maybe he's singin' a song . I'm going to leave this one to the experianced members. Good luck

[2rotties2luv]

Originally Posted by Marcino

We live in a condo, and our neighbours are starting to complain... When he barks, I try to reassure him by petting him, talking soft to him etc... he settles down, but only temporarily.

When you do this, you are actually reinforcing the barking behavior, he probably thinks you are praising him for barking. Instead, when he barks for no reason, you should tell him to knock it off in a firm, sharp, commanding voice. He has to learn that you are in charge, and that you are the one to decide when there is danger, not him.

If you are not in obedience training with him, you should start soon and plan to continue for a couple of years. OB training builds a bond of trust and respect between dog and owner, besides teaching the dog good manners. Your dog will learn that your "command" voice means business and will listen to you.

Of course you aren't there to correct him if he is home alone while you're at work. He may be responding to noises he hears outside. My rotties have always been crated while I'm at work and when they were young, they were crated during the night as well. Their crates are in an inside room where they are unlikely to hear noises from outside unless very loud. They rarely bark at night and my neighbors tell me that they only bark during the day if someone rings the doorbel or when the lawn is being mowed (I live in a condo too).

[Marcino]

I am doing obedience training (have been for the last 3 months). I also keep him crated and night and during the day and he still barks. He will be in his crate lying down and will start barking (he wont get up or paw at the cage to get out).

At first I was firming saying ''thats enough, no bark! and I would cup his muzzle with my hands while telling him to stop.

[mwaters]

The only things I can suggest are maybe more exercise...in my house tired dogs are quiet dogs. Mine too seem to bark at every little thing if I haven't been giving them enough play time. I also use a radio in the 'dog room' when I'm not home so that the outside noises aren't so obvious to them.

[gomer9855]

I realize it's personal choice, but a shock no-bark collar is a better alternative to getting fined for noise-violations, constantly yelling at the dog, having to move, putting the irritation of an incessantly barking dog on your neighbours, or euthanizing the dog.

[AZBRAT]

Our dog went through a period like that - all of sudden she started barking at EVERYTHING. It was stressful to let her out at 6:00 am when I got up because two seconds after she was out she started barking like a lunatic and waking up the neighbors! At first I just made sure I was out with her all the time and then starting teaching her "that's enough!" When she would bark, I would go over to where she was and say "show me...." and then look to see what she was barking at. If all was OK then I would tell her "OK, that's enough" and when she was quiet I would tell her "good quiet, that's better". She now knows what that means and if she is barking at something that is not a problem (a neighbor or the mailman or whatever) then I just say "OK - that's enough".

[miccmill]

Originally Posted by AZBRAT

Our dog went through a period like that - all of sudden she started barking at EVERYTHING. It was stressful to let her out at 6:00 am when I got up because two seconds after she was out she started barking like a lunatic and waking up the neighbors! At first I just made sure I was out with her all the time and then starting teaching her "that's enough!" When she would bark, I would go over to where she was and say "show me...." and then look to see what she was barking at. If all was OK then I would tell her "OK, that's enough" and when she was quiet I would tell her "good quiet, that's better". She now knows what that means and if she is barking at something that is not a problem (a neighbor or the mailman or whatever) then I just say "OK - that's enough".

We worked on the excessive alarm barking kind of like this too. I did put her back on the leash in the house so I could correct and walk her over to sit down next to me. I also treated, since she is so food motivated, when her attention was on me and the barking stopped even if only for a second.

After a little while of doing this consistently you could see her get the picture. I saw results in a week and it got better from there.

Now she understands "quite" and/or "uh-huh"

[Snooze]

At 8 mos Jake discovered his bark and would bark for seemingly no reason. When I really took notice he was barking because - a tree made noise in the wind, the house made a soft settling noise. He also discovered that I noticed when he barked at night and that was kind of cool I guess because it made I woke up and spoke to him! I think he was and still is, also trying to figure out when to bark to protect his home. At 10/11 mos he has pretty much stopped the random barking - it was just a phase

[denverday]

It is possible that he is barking at the heat coming on. Denver started doing this and I couldn't figure it out. Your temps are probably pretty in sync with mine sooooo.....see if you can tell if it's the heat and when your home is reheating.
Nighttime is when denver is more apt to bark because it's quieter and he can't see as well(I THINK)

[tmatty]

We have never allowed our dogs to bark continuously. I don't know how they are when we're not home, but our neighbors say that they rarely hear them. Durring the day they are all outside, either front or back yards or in kennel runs. We have three of our own, two we show/handle for other people, and at any given time we could have several rescues, as we do rescue work and fostering (all rottweilers, btw.) I do allow an alarm bark or two, but as soon as I investigate, I deside if it warrents a bark and correct accordingly, or not. We often get rescues in that are terrible barkers, thank goodness I live in the country where there is no noise ordinances, but quite quickly, they learn the rules. The trick is consistancy. I have one rottie female we handle in conf. ring, who is allowed to be on furniture, jump up on the windows, up on people, bark constantly, just generally no rules at all in her own home, but when she comes to our house, she figures out real fast that in this house there are rules. It generally takes only one "no bark" or one "off" the furniture and she remembers the rules. The rescues quite often take a little more time, but any dog can learn with patient, consitant rules enforced with love and understanding. You don't have to be mean, just firm in your conviction. Funny thing is, now that we have started our male in Schutzhund, we have to teach him to bark. LOL Just my oppinion, but I think that barking is a conditioned/learned response similar to when the baby cries in the crib. "I make a noise, you, the parent/owner, responds." Positive or negative, you are responding in some way. If you are looking for a specific behavior/response from you dog, the dog needs to learn that it is better to do what you want than to not. Just my oppinion...

[Judi W]

In general, Rottweilers are not barkers and certainly not expected to do frivolous barking. They are more than happy to talk a little trash at a passing dog, but no more than that and it should be no more than a few "we're watching you" barks. They shouldn't be so nervy as to bark at nothing noises let alone continue barking.

I believe that kind of barking should be corrected. When you are not there, put on a radio to muffle sounds, make sure your crate is in an inside room or at least the back of the house where there will be a minimum of activity and always when you are present instruct the dog as to what is acceptable.

[Wolf355]

Gucci doesn't bark but my previous Rottie (tatou) did. what I did was two fold 1) I taught him to bark on command and stop on command and secondly, when he would get carried away (more than a warning bark) I would clap my hands loudly once and give him the stop command in a low voice (so he had to pay attention and sorta forget about what ever triggered him to bark in the first place). It worked out well for Tatou and I. Although I don't know if this could be unproductive trainning if you plan on doing shutzhound with him (gun fire).

Just my two cents.

[Marcino]

Thank you all for your advice, much appreciated!