Sounding The Alarm

[TrishB]

Parker will be 16 months in a couple of weeks. He's confident and solid. I'm very happy with how he is maturing.

I have noticed that he is slowly beginning to 'sound the alarm' at strange sounds. He isn't full-out barking, but rather a soft 'boof' to acknowledge that he's heard something.

I'm fine with one 'boof'. It's to be expected and I appreciate that he's 'on the job'.

However, how do I encourage keeping it to one single little 'boof' and not allow it to esculate? I live in an apartment and don't want to bother the other tenants. And the 'alarm' is usually when I have the windows open and he hears kids running around screaming / laughing, etc.

I don't want to correct the behaviour, but rather give him the limitations of the requested behaviour.

What do you think?

[spidey]

Rakki is much younger than Parker, and also happy to bark his fool head off, unlike Parker - but what I've been doing to encourage this is when he barks, I go to what he's barking at (front door/back door), tell him "thank you, good boy, that's enough", and make a show of checking (I also click and treat him for being quiet when I ask him to, because he's a vocal dog and "quiet" is a command we need constant work on). My goal is to show him that his alert is needed and appreciated, but that I'll "take it from there" once he's called my attention to something.

[TrishB]

Originally posted by spidey
Rakki is much younger than Parker, and also happy to bark his fool head off, unlike Parker

Ahhh, gotta love those herding breeds! LOL ;) :D

Yes - I'll also train the 'quiet'. I would have trained it before this point, but I haven't needed it! :D

[damp]

When there really is nothing to alarm for, I would simply continue with my doings and tell a young dog: Yah, yah yah… I have heard you…go and lay down.

[samanthac]

If its nothing to be alarmed about I simply say 'Thank you.' If they go off again its "ENOUGH! Platz!"

Kind of a conundrum because I am in the process of teaching Disel the Giblaut command which he loves because he quite likes the sound of his own voice right now. But I can see the wheels turning..."Harumph, how come I can bark when she says so but when I want to show off she tells me to shut up?' Goofball. ;)

[LavenderRott]

My Missy is a BEAGLE. This means that if anything happens in a 5 mile radius, she barks like a fool.

I have taken to keeping a small jar of treats on my desk, I tell her thank you and give her a treat. The eating of the treat is better then the barking and it serves as a distraction. This has been working real well. Sometimes, I can get away with just the thank you part. Depends on what she hears/sees.

[LynnS]

Kind of a conundrum because I am in the process of teaching Disel the Giblaut command which he loves because he quite likes the sound of his own voice right now. But I can see the wheels turning..."Harumph, how come I can bark when she says so but when I want to show off she tells me to shut up?' Goofball.

Interesting because I notice a huge difference in Bella's "Giblaut bark" and her alarm bark which is usually a low load growl punctuated by short "boof" like barks.

Trish I usually just tell her to knock it off because she is already so full of herself I don't need to encourage it (nor do I need a guard dog). It's not her job to bark and growl at unfamiliar noises (of which there are a TON as we live in the city).

[rottnkidd]

Trish - Not to highjack your thread...but speaking of barks...have any of you had the pleasure of THE bark that is reserved for the wee hours of the morning? Somewhere around 3 or 4 a.m.? You know the one...it's SO LOUD and bellowing that it literally levitates you off the mattress! lol It's loud, deep and sustained!. Now THAT'S a bark that I don't want to hear often. ;) But I have appreciated my girl alerting us to something amiss outdoors during the night. Once it was the raccoons raiding the trash can, another time it was the NEW paper carrier that pulled into the driveway with his headlights on, radio playing, and it was 4:30am. I don't think the raccoons ever came back here after that :D, and the morning paper is left on the apron now.
kathy

[Carina43]

OK - can someone explain the Giblaut bark, please?

And Kathy - yes, I know that wee hours barking! Sheesh. We're kind of rural; I think it's when they smell deer - or hear various wildlife dramas going on outside. When I lived in the city, it was the 2 am howling when they heard a siren.

Trish - I do the same thing as Damp, spidey, et al. None of my current dogs are terribly vocal, but I used to have a mutt who would go off and bark for a long time at the slightest noise. I taught her to bark on command, then I could tell her to stop, praise her, and she would. After a while, she got to where she would woof a few times, then come over to me for a pet and "good girl, thank you."

[rottnkidd]

Hey Carina - Giblaut (geeb-lowt) is the command (German) for "speak", or "bark". When I tell my girl to giblaut, she'll give me 1 good, solid bark. It's nothing like her late-night "alarm" barking, or her gate barking. She's got a variety of pitches and tones depending on the circumstances;) And I don't mind any of them providing she respects my order of "That's enough!"
kathy

[danyp1]

Gieb Laut is german for say something.
gieb is give
Laut is sound (kinda)

[Carina43]

Thanks to both of you for the giblaut explanation!

[TrishB]

I've been very lucky so far that I haven't had the pleasure of the midnight bark. :D Parker saves that for when we visit my parents and he plays with my father. Or for when I specifically ask for it. ;)

His alarm bark is really more of an 'alert' bark - a good "boof!". It's not loud, but a very stern, There's something going on Mom! :)

One boof is okay (people making noise, raccoons in the garbage, etc.) it's the additional ones I can do without. ;)

So it happened last night. One 'boof' and it was people downstairs with company. I said thank you (no pats). Boof. "Eh eh! That's enough. Quiet" I then walked into another part of the apartment and picked up somethings, etc. It was enough of a distraction to break the 'boof'-cycle. I then said "quiet" and he did nothing - Good dog! ;) He's so smart! :D

He'll catch on. I was curious how you all dealt with it! :)

[Lorrie]

Originally posted by LavenderRott
My Missy is a BEAGLE. This means that if anything happens in a 5 mile radius, she barks like a fool.

OHH!! I can soooooooooo identify! Lorrie's house of Black and Tan is also home to one mouthy old beagle cross girl that was a foster that never left .. she barks at anything and everything. Most often then not .. doesn't get off her chubby butt to go check it out .. lets the "big dogs" do that .. she just has to sound the alarm!

Now if the Rotts bark .. I go look ... the beagle .. I just automatically tell to "knock it off".:D :D :D

Lorrie
Adopt-a-Rott

[Jaegergirl]

maverick is not a very vocal dog at all and has just started doing what parker is doing. i usually go check out what he's "alarming" me to and then tell him thanks and go about my buisness.

this week, i started letting him have free roam of the house at night (except he's not allowed upstairs where the bedrooms are so he sleeps at the bottom of the steps). at about 2 am this morning, i heard him "boof" a couple times but was too tired to get out of bed. it was really windy so he probably just heard the wind.

today, i heard the mailman outside (we have one of those mailboxes on our house so you can hear him open and close the lid). maverick was laying down and didn't even flinch when he heard the mailman... guess he's figured out that noise is nothing.