Need Help! New dog mum here…

[Keely]

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I recently rescued a dachshund who was found tied to a tree.
He’s 1 year old and is a lovely little boy, he has a lovely temperament and is so loving with my kids.

My only issues are and things that I really need help with are that he:

1) Barks at everything, even his own shadow. When he’s in the garden he barks and barks at everything, both my neighbours have dogs and when they are in the garden he goes mad barking excessively and I’m worried I’ll get a noise complaint he barks that much.

2) He chews absolutely everything! I’ve provided him with appropriate toys and chew toys but he shows no interest. It’s almost as if he doesn’t know what a toy is! If we throw a ball he doesn’t follow instead he just looks.

Please help me, I want to help this lovely boy so much!

 

[JudyN]

Welcome to the forum. How long have you had him for now?

What types of things does he enjoy chewing? There must be some reason why he prefers to chew them than 'proper' toys - maybe more interesting textures or smells, or maybe it gets a more 'interesting' response from you. Don't worry about him not playing with toys - some dogs simply don't, particularly if they've not learnt to play with them while puppies. Often rescues do start playing with toys after a few months or even years, so there is hope yet.

Hopefully someone else can advise on the barking - my best advice is to take your neighbours some flowers or chocolates, apologise in advance, and say that you're doing your best to prevent it.

 

[Keely]

Welcome to the forum. How long have you had him for now?

What types of things does he enjoy chewing? There must be some reason why he prefers to chew them than 'proper' toys - maybe more interesting textures or smells, or maybe it gets a more 'interesting' response from you. Don't worry about him not playing with toys - some dogs simply don't, particularly if they've not learnt to play with them while puppies. Often rescues do start playing with toys after a few months or even years, so there is hope yet.

Hopefully someone else can advise on the barking - my best advice is to take your neighbours some flowers or chocolates, apologise in advance, and say that you're doing your best to prevent it.

Thank you for replying it will be a month tomorrow and he’s settled in so well!
To be honest maybe it is the reaction because he tends to go for the kids in plastic toys, anything wooden particularly their play food and books. Surprisingly hasn’t touched the Christmas tree yet!

As for the barking the neighbours have been so considerate they understand he’s had a bit of a hard time, and he needs some settling in time, I just wanna nip it in the bud before he thinks that’s ok to do!

 

[JoanneF]

For the barking, it would be helpful if you can identify why. Is it because he is alerting you, is it because of excitement, frustration? Or something else?

 

[Keely]

For the barking, it would be helpful if you can identify why. Is it because he is alerting you, is it because of excitement, frustration? Or something else?

Thank you for replying! I honestly couldn’t tell you, like I said he barks at his own shadow when we’re out walking, I’ve also caught him barking at his own reflection!

When he’s in the garden the barking really starts when there is other dogs are in the neighbours garden, then it’s an alert I guess. Any new person that he comes across he barks at, even if it’s someone walking on the other side of the road.

 

[JudyN]

Barking does seem to be what dachshunds do best... This article has some ideas that might help: 10 Reasons Why Dachshunds Bark All The Time [How To Stop It] - Dachshund Station Be wary of anything that smacks of 'correction', and avoid anything that could be seen as 'punishment'. It's still early days, and it won't help him feel calm if he feels he's being 'told off' for doing something that he's convinced is his job, and telling you thinks he thinks you really need to know.

For the chewing - you could try giving him something like cardboard boxes to shred. Bones could be good too, but as you have young children you might have hygiene concerns - he'd have to be somewhere away from them so they don't try to share, and he doesn't drag the bone up onto the sofa next to them. In an ideal world you'd remove everything that you don't want him to chew on - tidy away all the toys, books, shoes, etc. - and a large box you can sling things into might help here. If the only stuff available to chew on is his stuff, he may grow out of the habit of chewing random stuff. But realistically, if you have young children that's probably about as achieveable as learning to fly by flapping your arms...

 

[JoanneF]

It's best to identify the cause and deal with that rather than they symptom, but I can suggest a technique to teach him 'quiet'.

Get a yoghurt pot, and smear the inside with wet dog food, squeezy cheese, yoghurt or anything else your dog likes. When he starts to bark, you can offer the pot to lick - he can't bark and lick at the same time.

As he is doing that, repeat the word that will become your ”quiet” cue.

After some repetitions and you think he has got it, give the cue and if he stops barking, give the pot as a reward (if he doesn't stop barking, stay at step 1 for longer).

When he is stopping on cue, gradually increase the delay between the cue and reward. Once it is reliable, you can start fading the reward to something more convenient.

 

[Mum of Ted]

We are also have a problem with our Teddy barking..we've tried the yoghurt pot but when do you know somebody is going to be at the door, by the time we've got the pot from the fridge he's barking away. We try to use 'stop' and as soon as he stops even for a second we praise..but he rarely stops on cue. Walking he also barks at people and dogs, he's only a yr on the 27th Dec but his behaviour is so erratic..we also do the scatter treat as soon as he spots a dog but he will still lunge or bark, feel like we need to throw loads down..but then if he hasn't seen the dog walk past however will he learn to see one and be ok? Our daily walks normally include avoiding anyone, and I wish he could socialise more with dogs but dog walker or a creche probably wouldn't take him...he's so friendly but over excited. I've asked for lots of advice on this site and have followed most of it but Ted seems to be a handful for us...

 

[JoanneF]

I think you need to have the pot closer to hand - timing is important, you need to be stopping him as soon as he starts or he won't make the association. Can you arrange for people to come to the door at particular times so you can engineer this?

 

[Hemlock]

If you set up meetings with friends as a series of training exercises, they can phone you before they knock on the door/ring the doorbell, so you can have the yoghurt pot to hand. Make sure your phone is on vibrate only, so your dog doesn't associate it ringing with the visitor arrival.