Excessive barking - collie

[DianeB83]

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Hi folks, I’m new to the forum and hoping someone can help with some issues I have with my collie.

We adopted him around 4 months ago (he’s about 22 months old now) and he came to us very well house-trained but had issues with walks as his previous owner had been unable to take him out for weeks/months due to poor health. At this time, I was furloughed from work so I was at home with him every day, as were the kids. Walks were a challenge but improved and for the most part, they are good now.

As time went on, the kids returned to school and I got a new job. Max is only alone for a maximum of 4 hours a day. He is walked plenty and seems happy on walks but has become harder work at home. I realise it could be due to a change in his routine but don’t know how to fix it. He barks when people walk past (our house is far enough off the street that they are not close), he barks when people leave our house, he barks when the kids come up and down the stairs (we have a stair gate) and he barks when he knows my husband is upstairs. My husband in particular gets no peace from him. He is constantly vying for his attention - and he already gets plenty. If I’m home with him alone, he settles well but when we’re all there, he gets agitated - like he needs to round us up.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to restore peace to the house?

 

[JoanneF]

Kikopup on YouTube has a series of good videos on barking, that's probably a good place to start.

You could also try this. When she is barking have a yoghurt pot smeared inside with wet dog food, squeezy cheese, meat paste, yoghurt or anything else she likes. Let her lick it, when she is licking she can't bark. While she is doing that, capture the quiet behaviour with a sound that will later be your cue, like ”shhhh” or ”good quiet”.

After enough repetitions that you think she will understand, use your cue word to ask for quiet and then give the yoghurt pot as a reward.

Slowly build the time between cue and reward, so that you are getting longer periods of quiet.

Then, when you are happy with progress, fade the reward by mixing the yogurt pot with treats sometimes, or a toy. Mixing the reward adds value with the ”what will it be ” factor, it's apparently the same reason people play slot machines.

 

[DianeB83]

Thanks. Shall check it out. I have watched a few videos on YouTube but they don’t seem that great. Hadn’t seen this though.

 

[JacksDad]

I will watch the Kikopup later as I don't have time right this moment. However, Kikopup is a GREAT source for sound training advice. BUT....you still need to be sure the advice fits the issue. And as Kikopup says there is no reason to use pain or intimidation to solve this.

The first thing is to separate out the barking. It's not just barking. There were a couple different contexts described in the OP and how you approach them will be a variation on a theme.

For example how you would handle the attention/bossy barking at the husband would be different from how you handle alert and possible fear barking of people passing the house. I know that sometimes barking at people passing becomes a game and there is no fear involved, but when someone indicates a dog spent sometime isolated from the world, I always start with the assumption of fear until I have information otherwise. Because in these cases it is very likely a factor.

Just teaching the dog a "stop barking" cue is one possible solution, but not one I have found to be a go to solution in most cases. Primary reason, unless the dog is just an excessively talky dog, there is a reason for the barking, address the reason, and the barking to a large degree solves it's self.

Example with the husband, this is likely a learned behavior to get attention. Solution, teach how to get attention another way.

Granted this is an assumption because I am not observing the dog, but assuming no indications of fear toward the husband, this is likely "bossy"/attention getting barking. bark long enough, I get attention. And remember, even turning to the dog and saying "stop", "shut up" etc is still attention.

Step 1. how do you want the dog to 'ask' for attention. sit, stand on head etc. what you choose doesn't matter, but you choose something other than barking. I like to use sit because often it's already trained. So, start the following routine, dog approaches...get the sit, ok to ask for it initial, then give attention. CRITICAL you do this this EVEN IF you really do not have time to play to start. Later you teach a not now and build tolerance for delay in getting what the dog wants. The amount of attention duration wise can be a "good dog" and chest scratch. The key is sit got the attention, not the barking.

The first few times you work on step 1, "ignore" the barking if it happens before you get the sit. focus on the sit makes attention happen. Make every effort to proactively get the sit before the bark. DO NOT intentionally wait for the bark then ask for the sit.

Within the first 5 minutes of this, I am often transitioning from "ignore the bark" to bark makes us start over. I step a couple feet over "there", dog follows, and before the bark starts, I ask for the sit. The sit makes lots of attention and food treats happen.

Step 2. phase out asking for the sit, wait for the dog to give the sit. Steps 1 and 2 do NOT wait with the dog in the sit to respond. Bottom hits the ground, they get attention.

Step 2 might start happening within that first training session, certainly the first day. by the time I stop asking for the sit, I am also expecting sit with no barking to get my attention. if there is a bark, we start over. I move to another place, dog often follows, and we start it all over. Sit + no bark = attention.

Step 3. once the dog is approaching and siting, start adding in duration of waiting before attention. 1 or 2 seconds to start can be a BIG challenge to a dog.

Consistency is the KEY. if you slip even once, not the same as dog getting it wrong, then your training slips back a bit.

You getting it wrong = dog approaches, does not sit, and barks for attention and you respond.

As you dog's skills and new habits improve, you can expect more. when you expect more, make the "more" happen in very small increments. This prevents the dog from being discouraged and reverting. you are building a new habit and new habits take time.

This is also one of the barking scenarios I do instruct using a "time out" once things are rolling. However the key is you do not "time out the dog" as in pickup, herd, lead, grab collar, call over too etc in order to put the dog in another room an close the door. That is all attention, might as well give a bit of hot dog for the barking. Rather you leave the room. you disengage. barking makes you go away. Barking makes you ignore and not provide attention.

Initially the second there is quiet...literally a second or pause in the barking any pause, reward that small bit of quiet. Build from there. If you leave the room, disengage, it is for seconds, 5 at most to start. Do not make any you got it wrong/too bad noise, just disengage/leave the room.