Puppy's barking

Hi everyone,

We've had our 5 month old puppy since he was 11 weeks, and up to recently he has been a joy.

The problem is his increasing barking. At first he would bark occasionally at something on the the TV or the postman, but now every time he goes in the garden for a wee or poo he barks constantly. He is always clawing at the back door to go out, and when we let him out he's off again, often not needing to go to the toilet. Sometimes it goes on all evening!

We've tried ignoring his barking and restricted his access to the back door, keeping him in the lounge, if he's recently been to the toilet, but the moment we let him out off he goes again.

We live on a housing estate and worry that we may start getting complaints from our neighbours.

I would appreciate any advice or ideas on how to sort the problem out.

Where was your puppy for the first 11 weeks of his life? Sometimes they pick up habits from other dogs that they lived with.

Try to find out what sets him off. Does he hear noises? Is he sensing a cat about? If it is noises then he may need reassurance that you are happy with the noises and he need not worry about them. Let him bark once or twice and then interrupt him and praise him for stopping.

Is he a sensitive dog? It may be a fear reaction to things that worry him.

You could try, once he has toileted, distracting him away from the door and giving him something else to do. This could be a chew or a stuffed Kong. Or you could do a little bit of training. Anything to stop him obsessing over the door.

Whenever he is quiet give him attention. Make eye contact with him and tell him how lovely he is just lying there quietly like a good boy. If he gets ignored, or distracted, for the barking but gets lots of attention for playing nicely or lying quietly he should start to change his behaviour.

On a more general note - what sort of food is he on? Some foods are like rocket fuel and cause dogs to be reactive. How much time is he spending out and about? He may not need masses of exercise at his age but he should be out experiencing the world and learning that it is not a scary place.

hi gypsymum2

Our puppy was still with the breeder when we brought him home, and was very easy going and eager to learn. But he was very sensitive and still is occasionally. We've socialised him fully from the start, also going to puppy training when he was able to go out with positive results. There is a dog nearby and he often barks in response to that, and also there are cats around our area, plus he's taken a strong dislike to next doors washing and barks furiously at it!! He has 2 walks a day, about 30 mins each walk. With the 2nd walk early evening when his barking is worse in an attempt to tire him out

We're happy with his food, but will look at the training treats that we give him as there may be a link there, and will certainly try distracting him with training, attention and chews. Many thanks for all your advice

Staying with the breeder until he was eleven weeks of age may be a big factor in his behaviour. Puppies are like sponges up until 12/14 weeks of age. Nothing phases them and it is during this "critical" period that they learn all about the world they are going to inhabit for the rest of their lives. After this critical period they enter a fear period where they learn to be suspicious of anything not experienced before. He will have come to you with all his knowledge of life having been gained at his breeders premises. Your environment will now be alien to him.

Some things will be familiar, particularly if he was home bred, but other outside influences will be strange and he will be fearful of them. Your job, now, is to familiarise him with all those things he finds scary and give him the time and support to learn that they are nothing to worry about. This means slow and gentle exposure and allowing him to distance himself, if he wants to. Do not over molly coddle him just be there and show him how relaxed your are about the scary situation. Reward all brave behaviour. So, if he goes out into the garden and does not bark then reward him. If he barks just talk in a calm manner until he settles. Once he has been settled for a few seconds you can reward him for being brave.

I took great pains to ensure the last breeder I bought from socialised my puppy as much as possible. I asked her to keep them in the busy kitchen and to let them play in the garden. I also gave her a cd of Scary Noises to play to the litter. The one thing I did not check was that she used the vacuum cleaner near the pups. When my puppy came home she was terrified of it. The breeder had just swept and mopped her kitchen floor! I had to run the vacuum cleaner in a distant room each day and slowly bring it closer and closer until my puppy was comfortable.

Your main aim is to identify the scary stimuli and work on building your puppy's confidence with it. If it is noises then the "Sounds Scary" cd may help. It is natural for dogs to join in with other barking dogs. I would allow the odd "woof" and then distract and reward for quiet. Some dogs are also more nervous when it is dark. This may be something to work on too.

I think 30 minutes twice a day is quite short, if it is every day. Do you do more at weekends? Do you vary the routes you take him on? for example; take him down the beach some days, woods the next etc. Also does he go off his lead yet? I look after an 8 month old puppy, which is slightly older than yours but he runs miles. He's like a greyhound when he gets going lol But I am blessed to live by the sea. He's also exceptionally good at coming back when he is called. So I don't have to worry about him running off. Maybe puppy training classes would help.

Does he spend a lot of time alone during the day time?

Actually, following the 5 minutes exercise per month of age rule, 30 minutes is not too short for exercise Hollysh. You need to watch out as their little bones are still developing.

I figured somebody would mention that yes I do know about the age rule. Don't over work the puppy if tired, but he loves to run freely off his lead. Bags of energy.

I know how it feels Holly - i have two dogs of my own - ones two and the others 14 months. I walk a five month old puppy during the week who is absolutely gorgeous, but really tiny and not off lead yet. She really is desperate to run around with my dogs, but she isn't mine, and i respect her owners decision to keep her on lead for now. It's difficult, especially with the hot weather, i have rests when I'm out with her, usually in shaded areas. It reminds me of when my two year old was a pup - it's like being famous - everyone stops to fuss her!

Our pup did come from a home breeder. While he was very well cared for, I think his exposure to the outside world was limited. Since we've had him we have really tried to correct this. In general successfully. His walks are varied as we live near the coast and also have many lovely country walks nearby, he walks often off lead with good recall. Fortunately hes OK with most noises. But he is just a pup so still a work in progress. We are at he moment using distraction/ training with reward when he barks as surgested by gypsymum, with great results.

That's great that the barking thing is working for you!

Joanne, I've been meaning to ask this question on a thread, but i know some conversations can be seen as controversial, so thought I'd ask here - hope you don't mind but i value advice from people like yourself who clearly have good advice to offer..

When i had my first spaniel pup - too long ago to reveal dates here! I was taught about distraction techniques - or filling an empty plastic bottle with stones to shake when struggling with stopping unwanted behaviour, or using a squirty bottle to spray water for the same. How do you view this? I thought it was pretty harmless, but was talking to someone who said they were bad techniques as they use a 'fear' approach? Would really appreciate your, or anyone elses, views on this? Many thanks

I don't really like these because while the may get a result by stopping the unwanted behaviour, the underlying cause of the behaviour is still there. So they sort of suppress that rather than resolve it if that makes sense? There is then the risk that the unwanted behaviour transfers and comes out in other ways. As an example; when I was 5 at school I was left handed. The teacher used to slap my hand with a ruler if she saw me using my left hand. Fortunately ideas were changing and I was soon allowed to use my left hand but lots of kids developed other problems like stammering. So if we spray or rattle a can at a dog for a behaviour like barking, he may stop barking but he still (for example) fears the thing he was barking at and the fear is now even greater - the trigger for the barking AND the spray or rattle can.

Hope that makes sense!

That does make sense, thanks