Very hyper loud dog

[Matthewgray77]

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Hi all
I'm in desperate need of help.
I have a 15 month old Staffordshire bull terrier named Jess
We got her as a puppy and everything was fine.
House trained in weeks
Good on and off leader
Now over the past 2 months she is uncontrollable barking 24/7 in house in garden on walks.
We have received complaints and even had her to trainer with no end in site.
Help please

 

[JoanneF]

I think more detail would help a lot. Do you know why she is barking? If not, can you describe in detail what leads up to the barking?

 

[JudyN]

Can you think of anything that might have changed around the time this started? New electrical device installed? Dogs or children moved into the area? Any routine changes, such as her being left at home for longer?

Apart from the barking, does she seem generally more agitated/less chilled? Any sudden unexplained change in behaviour warrants a thorough vet check in case there's some underlying medical cause.

 

[Hemlock]

Also please would you tell us her typical day: when fed, when walked and for how long, when left and how e.g. with a chew etc, and so on.

 

[Matthewgray77]

Hi
Thanks for the replie.
No changes that we have noted.
Walked 6 am 30 mins
Walked 6pm 1 hour.
Fed morning and 7.30 at night.
She's not overly agresive just very much agitated
Thanks

 

[JudyN]

How long is she left for each day, and do you know what she does then, e.g. play, sleep, chew on a chew, look out the window?

What sets off her barking? i.e. when are her calm periods (assuming there's some), both on walks and in the house, and what happens immediately prior to her barking?

What do you mean by her not being overly aggressive? Is there any aggression (in any situation), or is this more an 'alert' barking, or barking for attention?

Are her walks on- or offlead, and in what sort of environment, e.g. pavements, woods, fields? What is she like with other dogs - does she want to play with them, bark at them, ignore them? If she reacts to other dogs in any way, how do you respond?

How much 'other stuff' do you do with her, e.g. play, training, general interaction?

Has her food changed at all - what do you feed her?

There will be a reason for her barking, but we really do need to have a very good picture of her life and how she responds in different situations to be able to advise.

 

[Matthewgray77]

Hi thanks again
She spends a lot of time during the day outside in garden playing. Again hasn't been issue until now where all she does is bark.
Rest of the time she's either laying in her crate or roaming around downstairs.

She tends to bark at night when in her crate we have a monitor up and there is nothing that sets it off.
We originally thought maybe needs to toilet but soon discovered this wasn't the issue.
She can easily bark from 1 am to 4am solid.

She is now kept on leader for walks as the beach we take her to is very busy.
She likes to play with other dogs but can be defensive if other large dogs come running towards us.
Most time a simple walk on jess will draw her attention and she won't even look at other dogs or people

The kids spend time playing with her and her toys but again we have had to stop as with how unpredictable she is at the moment we don't let the kids round her on their own just incase.

Food hasn't changed and vet has done check ups and said she's fine although they did say sometimes the change in behavior could be her age and her being a bitch.
Thanks

 

[JudyN]

Has she been spayed, and has she had a season?

Are you concerned that she might snap at a child if she got too worked up? Has she shown signs of this, or does she just get so hyper that she could hurt them by accident, e.g. getting too mouthy?

 

[Matthewgray77]

Hi
She isn't spayed and has had a season which coincides roughly when this started.
She hasn't give indication that she will just she gets so hyper and jumpy especially near her food or toys.
I haven't been given any reason to suspect aggression towards any of us just I can't take the risk
Which is a huge shame as she is such a big part if the family and up till the issues started we could let her do most things known she would be fine.
Thanks

 

[Matthewgray77]

I'm to the point where I don't know if I should be looking for residential training or something along those lines as rehoming her just isn't a option
Thanks

 

[JudyN]

Residential training wouldn't be a good idea - there is something in her environment (unless it's a health/physiology thing) that is agitating her, so training in a different environment wouldn't help. Plus dogs are very situational - if she learns to be quiet in a different place, with a different person, that won't translate into being quiet in your home and with you.

Plus, assuming there is something that is stressing her, if she was trained not to bark, she would be suppressing her feelings without removing the cause, which is never good - the emotions would still be there.

I'm not an expert and don't know enough about bitches and their cycles, but here are some ideas that might help:

Notice and reward calm behaviour.

Check out Kikopup's video (on Youtube) 'Calm Settle'.

Also have a look at Kikopup's videos on training your dog not to bark - this is the first in the series:

I know I said it isn't a good idea to get dogs to suppress their feelings, this might help if the barking has simply become a habit. Kikopup's videos are always reliable.

There are various calming aids for dogs, such as Adaptil (a pheromone) and skullcap and valerian that might be worth a try.

Depending on their ages, get your children to play calm games with Jess, maybe 'find the treat/toy' or rolling a ball along the floor. The moment she gets too worked up, get them to simply walk out the room and ignore her.

Do also consider getting a behaviourist to come into the home as they might be able to spot what is going on. Make sure this is a positive trainer, NOT one who says that you need to be the leader of the pack and she should listen to you or whatever, and NOT one who advises you simply to correct/discipline her for barking.

She is still an adolescent and some adolescent dogs, like some teenagers, can be very 'trying', to put it mildly, so she should calm down in time. But of course, your neighbours will only havve so much patience. Apologies, chocolates and flowers, plus assurances that you're doing what you can to fix the problem, may help ;-)

Hopefully others with more experience will have more thoughts.

 

[Feverfew]

I would say, before any thoughts of training, get the vet to check her more thoroughly. Many, many behavioural problems are caused by pain (even in young dogs), so that would be absolutely my first port of call, to see whether there are issues of pain.

The second thing to consider is not how you can stop the barking, but what she is trying to tell you. Without seeing her, it's difficult to know, but it sounds to me as if she gets very little downtime - e.g. 'plays in the garden most of the day'. I wonder if she is on her own in the garden, left to her own devices? Or stimulated by playing with children? Because both those scenarios are unsatisfactory for different reasons. Similarly, barking in her crate for hours at night sounds as if she is extremely distressed: you have ruled out needing the toilet, which means it is something else.

This dog sounds lonely to me, so maybe that is something to ponder on. being lonely is not always relieved by training, toys, games and walks. Staffies are very, very affectionate dogs. Maybe she needs more quiet attention from the adults in the house? Maybe she wants to be heard?

 

[Flobo]

She tends to bark at night when in her crate we have a monitor up and there is nothing that sets it off.
We originally thought maybe needs to toilet but soon discovered this wasn't the issue.
She can easily bark from 1 am to 4am solid.

I have to pick up on this, is she actually shut in the crate during the night?
As @Feverfew said above Staffies are incredibly sensitive and family orientated dogs, maybe if she is shut away from the family, the cause of her barking at night is her distress at being separated and 'trapped', for want of a better word...