Barking at every noise...

[Budda]

Hello. I apologize in advance if this has already been posted here.

Our 6 month old Budda is barking at every noise. We cannot have the front door or back door of our house open because he charges at the door and starts barking if someone walks by the front of the house or if someone is parking a motorcycle in the parking lot. Also, he was non-stop barking last night when some people down the street had some family over and they were talking outside they weren't loud or anything so i don't understand why he was barking at that. I understand he is trying to be protective but barking at a noise far away or kids running home on the street in front of us i don't understand.

Do you have any suggestions on how to get him to stop barking? We have tried to say "no" and we have also tried to lay him on his side so that he is in a submissive position every time he barks but it isn't working. Thank you in advance for any suggestions. =)

[SABELLESMOM]

I disagree he's being "protective." What he's being is a nitwit. In fact it is a far cry from the calm, aloof, wait and see attitude he should be demonstrating. "Charging the door" is absolutely unacceptable and potentially dangerous.

What have you been working on in obedience? You could apply some of his obedience skills (sit, down, stay, etc) to direct him to doing something you do want, in place of the incessant barking.

For instance, snap a lead on him in the house. If he charges the door, take him calmly to a previously selected spot and use your down-stay. Have him hold it at least 5 minutes, before he can get up. You, in the meantime go about your business as if nothing extraordinary is going on. He should begin to feed off your calmness.

Repeat for each infraction. This is not as punishment but as a substitute for the previous behavior. Someone walking by on the street is not, I repeat not something for him to be alarmed about. The street is a normal place for people to walk. There is no "danger!" He should be taught to ignore it.

Don't have a sit or a down stay strong enough to combat this? Make sure you're signed up for class, and get to work. If you've finished a class sign up for another. I'm sure you love him, but you really need to be in charge of what is and is not acceptable from him. Instead he is telling you!

Good luck! Hope to be hearing positive things about thie guy in the near future.

[Budda]

Thank you very much for the suggestions. We are finishing up an obedience class at this moment and we are constantly getting suggestions from the instructor but they aren't working. We keep coming to him and telling him that they aren't working and he will give us another solution, however, even the new solutions don't work. We will definitely try your suggestion as we are very open minded about any logical and humane suggestions. I hope that he gets better soon too as some of the neighborhood kids are getting really scared of him and he is not an aggressive dog. He is every submissive with kids and dogs but the only problem that we have is the charging at the door.
Thanks again for your suggestion. It is greatly appreciated. =)

[SABELLESMOM]

It may take persistance and determination on your part. But you quite obviously love him. This age is sometimes plagued with butthead antics and incorrect free thinking ideas. Keep working with him and don't give up.

Giving him something he can do in place of charging provides necessary guidance for him. Do you know why some dogs get so involved with incessant barking? Think about it. He sees a pedestrian, he barked, and the person kept walking... But to him? "I chased him away!" so the barking worked!

How do you get him to realise that the sidewalk is OK? you change the response. Show him you expect a down stay instead. In a week or two, if you're getting: a start for the door, a "Ba-rooh or Ma-ruff...," and a lay down, you'll know you're making progress.

Good luck with him. He sounds like a character!

[cormic]

Maybe another thought is to just sit out in front of the door with him for a few minutes each day. Let him watch the world go by and see that there isnt anything out there for him to be upset about. Just a thought.

[Budda]

You are definitely right. He is going through this tough stage right now or as our trainer said..."welcome to teenage years for dogs" as budda has decided lately to forget everything that we have taught him so we're trying to re-teach him everything...
thank you so much for your advice...it is already starting to help. =)

[GypsysMom]

Gypsy barks at other dogs, but not people she only barks inside because my lil yapper barks at everything so when she barks its a chain reaction for all 3 dogs, like now the other 2 are outside and Gypsy is calm playing with her toys, have you introduced her to noices when she was younger? we have a motorcycle so Gypsy is used to that as well as the tractor, car lots of kids and loud music (she only doesnt like it in the car) she is also in obedience and barks at a lab in there, they have a staring contest and i always have to move to avoid conflict! good luck

[Budda]

Thank you so much for the advice cormic and GypsysMom.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. We are trying to do anything we can to stop the people in the neighborhood from thinking that we have a killer dog. He loves people and dogs. He is very friendly and will go up to anyone and let them pet him and to dogs he is very submissive, that is why i don't understand why he barks at every noise. I'm not sure if he feels protected so he is barking or if he is just doing it to be a rambunctious "teen".
Thank you again for your advice. We greatly appreciate it.

[busbysix]

Hi Budda!!! Nice to see someone on hear that we're related to...ha ha I'm Kelly, Raider's mom, Budda's older brother. Im sorry to hear that you are having an issue with him, but excited to see that you have found this forum. This place is absolutely AMAZING. I am sure that these people will come up with some great advice for you. As for me, I have none for you regarding charging because Raider doesn't do that. He is quite the opposite - he could care less!!

Well I wish you the best of luck with Budda. Can't wait to see him again. Any plans on bringing him back by to see his mom, Roxy, and his brothers?

[smileygirl]

Do a search on NILIF (nothing in life is free) it saved this household from the long enduring "teenage yearS". We had the same issue, only with charging the front window for squirrels. The pennies in the bottle worked great for us as a PART of NILIF! Good Luck...Tina

[missrock]

Ditto what Smileygirl said. NILIF training will help greatly. As for repeating another obedience lesson.........we train our own therapy dogs at our hospital. When a dog becomes a therapy dog they stay in training forever. It mostly just basic obedience, but the instructors will constantly remind us that dogs sometimes forget things they've learned or "get sloppy" so training should be on-going.

When I rode horses, I never stopped taking lessons because there was always something new to learn.

Sounds like you love your guy and are willing to correct this problem and have a calm happy dog. At six months old, he IS "feeling his oats" but you can direct this enthusiasm in the right direction with training. Best of luck to you and this IS the place to be. Please keep us posted on how he progresses.

[Budda]

Originally Posted by busbysix

Hi Budda!!! Nice to see someone on hear that we're related to...ha ha I'm Kelly, Raider's mom, Budda's older brother. Im sorry to hear that you are having an issue with him, but excited to see that you have found this forum. This place is absolutely AMAZING. I am sure that these people will come up with some great advice for you. As for me, I have none for you regarding charging because Raider doesn't do that. He is quite the opposite - he could care less!!

Well I wish you the best of luck with Budda. Can't wait to see him again. Any plans on bringing him back by to see his mom, Roxy, and his brothers?

Hey there!! How are you doing? That is awesome to see you on here as well. We found this a little while back and we have gotten so much great advice here that has really helped us out. Budda for the most part is good but he does have his times where it seems like he just loses his mind...and that is what we are trying to get under control. Let us know when you guys are free and we can bring Budda by to see his brothers and mom anytime. It is so great to see them all grow....as they are growing so fast. =)

[Budda]

Thank you so much for the advice smileygirl and missrock.

We appreciate any and all advice. We want to correct this problem. He is doing a little better but i know that it will take a while before this problem is fully fixed. At least we are seeing some progress though.

We will definitely do a search for NILIF. Thanks again!