Here’s a picture of my daughter Alison and our dog Fisher. Alison has the pink cover-up on.
Fisher (his name is Rushmore inspired) is 9 months old and was a gift from my brother Matt. The fact that our family even has a dog stems from my mid-December cave in to allow it to happen. Since I’ve been a kid , my relationship with dogs has been similar to that of a hammer and a nail…I’m the nail. I always found myself running from small dogs, getting pinned down by large neighborhood dogs while I was wearing snow pants, and on a handful of occasions, getting bit by dogs who, ” Oh please, don’t worry,..he doesn’t bite”.
So when I told my family that I had come around to the idea of having a dog, it felt like a massive step for me, a monumental shift in policy that would afford me years of good will on all fronts. In retrospect I should have put this one on the hip, saved it for when I really needed something strong…like if my meth lab was finally compromised.
Fisher has been kind of a pain in the ass, which, I’ve heard repeatedly, should be expected from such a young pup. There have been similarities between the struggles with Fisher and ones associated with raising actual human babies, although I’m still patiently waiting for feelings like joy to make an appearance. My wife and kids will totally disagree, which is very cool because that’s why we got Fisher in the first place.
Moving on…How do I get this guy to stop barking? It’s a high pitched yelp that’s driving me bonkers. It’s not constant, but has been such a consistent bother that we’ve tried some over-the-counter remedies. The most recent being a collar that beeps directly after Fisher barks. The alarm was advertised to be at a frequency that would be only audible to dogs, but we can all clearly hear it. So the collar alarm really only ends up confirming for everyone listening that Fisher did indeed just bark. Something better please?
I have this same problem with my dog. We’ve taught our dog the command “quiet”. Every time my dog barks at something ridiculous, i.e. a leaf, I point my finger at him and firmly say “quiet”. When he’s quiet, I tell him “good boy” and either pet him or give him a treat.
I’ve heard shock collars actually make dogs more anxious, so I would stay away from those. You don’t want to scold your dog for barking – that’s what they were bred to do – they’re protectors. You just don’t want them to bark at every single thing. I would try the “quiet” command and see if that helps.
is he barking at something or at you to get a response? Any response from you when he barks at you lets him know to keep doing it to get your attention. Alternatively, if he is barking at something you’ll have to train him to respond to a quiet command. Reward him whenever he is silent and associate it with a command (a clicker or a word). Eventually he will figure out what get a response from you (silence) and because he wants your attention, he’ll repeat the behavior.
Find a good dog trainer to help.
My friend trained her dog with a spray bottle. He still barks on occassion if he gets really excited. If it gets annoying, all she has to do it take the spray bottle out of the closet and he shuts right up.
Spray bottle = aversive. While slower than a spray bottle, Olivia’s method works better and will help you form a better bond with your dog.
….loves Chachi! P.S. I got nothing on how to make a dog stop barking….
What kind of dog is Fisher? He looks an awful lot like our Portuguese Water Dog.
Schnoodle
Make sure you socialize him, too. Which I’m sure you already know. I didn’t socialize my two well enough when they were young and now they bark at most people and other dogs.Take him to Petsmart, the local dog park etc. get him used to public settings. :)
I use a clothes pin on their tongue, or hot sauce in their ears. You need to stop this now or you will be that guy in the neighborhood with the annoying dog that barks!!!
Kidding, but you need to stop this now. He is trying to protect ur family. You need to show dominance when he barks ie: put him on his back and wrap ur jaw around his juggler, not hard, but enough to show him.