Dog barking at neighbours in the garden

Hello there,

A Question you get a lot of on this forum no doubt.

My parents have had a problem with a dog that their neighbours acquired (they didn't buy him and I think they took him after a friend of these neighbours said they were going to give him to a shelter). He seems like a nice enough dog, a bichon frise that the neighbours LOVE to bits. Trouble is he is becoming a bit of a nuisance. This dog barks at the slightest thing you do. Quite often my parents just need to walk into their garden to set him off and sometimes even pottering around the kitchen as normal upsets him. But it's not just humans; squirrels, cats and foxes all get him barking too. Obviously, this dog is getting a bit annoying and can easily ruin an afternoon in the garden minding your own business. As I say, you only need to simply be out in the garden for him to bark at you.

The bark is usually a string of three short sharp barks, not particularly low (at a guess it is high pitched but it could be just a normal pitch for a bichon frise) but is usually started with a growl before hand (I'm not sure whether the growl is present with the animals but it seems to be the same string of three barks for them). He can go on for hours. The neighbours seem to be a bit clueless about training him and even though my dad has put some angry notes through the door the only thing they seem to do when he's set off barking is just gently call him back into the house or if he's really transfixed pick him up and bring him in.

It seems to me that if he is frightened (which is what they claim) what these neighbours are doing are only putting a plaster on a more serious underlying problem. Being interested in dog training myself, I wondered what the right method for correcting him was since, now a year later, the current method clearly isn't working. The barking is so common that the magpies in the garden have started to mimic the dogs barking LOL.

Thanks
~Scribbled

Hi Scribbled,

It appears that they either have a very nervous or a very dominant dog. With the growl coming before the bark I would probably go with the latter.

The breed itself can become quite dominant and get a case of "little mans syndrome" which is common in quite a few small dog breeds. The correction needs to come instantly from the owners, Not just to call the dog back in, but the tone of voice needs to change and a correction that follows. Without this instant correction nothing will change. The dog does not know that he is doing anything wrong. You have 3 seconds to correct a dog after the initial unwanted behavior occurs. Any later than that and the dog will not understand what they have done wrong. Or think whatever they are doing at that time is what is wrong and not the unwanted behavior.

Unless the owners are willing to follow through and be willing to correct the dog and give him some training then I think you are a bit stuck I'm afraid!

Sophie x

Thanks for the advice Sophie. Yes, I know my parents are kind of stuck with this dog. Apparently, my mum watched this dog get gently nudges away from a hole it was digging in their lawn once which the dog only went back to after rolling over playfully. I guess they find it hard to be firm with this little guy. But what I've seen discipline wise has been in a very neutral tone almost as if they are trying to reason with him. I'd liken it to the tone you'd us when a child is play fighting with you and you half-heartedly say "No, Stop it. No don't do that!" while the child is killing themselves laughing.