Inside barking...how to make it stop!

[Jessica & Lucie]

Lucie has become developed a habit of barking inside and my attempts at training her that this is "bad" have not persuaded her to stop. Has anyone had any success or know of any strategies? I do not want to use a "no bark collar".

A little background information- she is a happy 17 month old goldendoodle who gets a good 2 hours of exercise daily (much of it chasing squirrels around the woods and swimming) as well as a lot of attention as I work from home part time. She is only alone for 4 hours a day and I highly doubt she barks at all during that time, she is confined to my bedroom and sleeps on my bed the whole time. For these reasons I don't think the barking is out of boredom, she has tons of toys and bones and will usually bring one over if she wants to play (we can rarely resist). 

Lucie barks at noises in the hallway, because I live in a condo building so we can hear the neighbors if they are getting their keys out or the 2 year old that lives across the hall is rather noisy. Overall though it is an extremely quiet building (thanks to concrete subfloors) and the noises are usually so subtle I can barely hear them myself. We have lived here for 5 months, and I thought that she would grow accustomed to these noises however if anything the barking has increased. 

She also barks when she is looking out the window and sees just about anything move. Whether it is people, dogs, or the crane at the construction site that we can just barely see, she barks. 

We have tried consistently saying "quiet" (in an angry voice) to her, but even if I am right next to her watching she will still bark. She may muffle it a little but it still comes out. I have also tried telling her to come when she barks because it seems that she is scared. She will come but not for long and she will go right back to sitting by the window and watching the scary things outside! She understands that it is bad, because when I walk over to her after she barks she puts her sad face on and kind of cowers like she does when she knows shes been bad. It doesn't seem to make a difference though. 

I am particularly confused by this behavior because when we are outside she rarely if ever barks. She is quite used to meeting many people, seeing lots of dogs, and typical urban elements. 

Has anyone else had this problem? Any tips for training/behavior modification? It gets on my last nerve when I'm working from home...so I really need it to stop. I am definitely willing to put in the time/energy to do the training but I don't really know what to try next.

[Adina P]

Sounds like she's being protective and alerting to things outside her 'territory.' Outside is a different deal as it's off her turf. Normal and annoying, yes! It's my biggest pet peeves and my dogs do it too because although I've worked SOME on this..not with any consistency. My better trained adult will stop if I give him commands to do other things. That's one avenue you can use. Really work on your dog's obedience so that regardless of what she WANTS to do...she will do what you ask him to do. If calling her to come doesn't work...then her 'come' needs work. Or you need to put her in a sit stay or down stay near you after you call her. If her stay doesn't work...then her stay needs work.

You can also train a "quiet" command but 'anger' doesn't really help. Remember dogs don't know what words mean until they've been taught. Saying "quiet" in an angry voice isn't any different than saying 'Go get 'em' or 'flibber flabber' in an angry voice. It's just you being angry and MAYBE the dog will get that as disapproval but if there are no consequences...there's no reason to NOT do it without the dog knowing WHAT to do. Some people say it's easier to teach 'quiet' after you've put "bark" on command.

One thing that worked for me when I was actively working on this was to say a phrase (I used "thank you, that's enough") while I stuck a tasty treat in front of my dogs' noses. I lured them back to me with the treat, and praised them and gave them the treat. At first you are basically pulling their brain away from the window/door with the food...but eventually they start to respond to JUST the phrase you use and turn to look at you...so then you reward them then. And so on until they will come to you from wherever they are when you say that. If you use treats, though, you have to use treats forever (albeit not every single time). So if after a while you stop treating altogether they probably won't respond any more.

Other things you can do are use a squirt bottle and squirt your dog after a warning word. And then no warning.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I totally understand. This is something I've been working on for months with both of my Doodles. We're in a condo, and when they hear things outside (which is often), they run to the door barking. I've tried many, many different approaches to correct this behavior. Last week (because I was at the end of my rope with all this barking) I started something different. Now the minute they start I go after them....I say "NO" in the sternest voice I can "muster up"....I grab their collars and move them away from the door....and I stand right in front of the door. I actually say...."this is my door, and you don't go near it". Of course, they don't understand a word of that, but I feel better, and they totally get the message. They go "slinking away". It seems to be working. The past couple of days there has been very little barking. They still run for the door, but they're quiet (they don't want the "wicked witch" showing up). I know that this is probably not a "behaviorist recommended" solution, but it really seems to be working for me. Good luck!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I need help with this too, as Vern barks a lot at noises, nothing, and himself in the window. The one thing we do at night to mute the outside noises is run a fan. I will be interested to see what others recommend. Good luck!

[Jessica & Lucie]

In my bedroom we have a fan and a sound machine that plays ocean noises which is SOOO helpful at night (and when I'm not home thats where she is), if only they made one that would quietly drown out outside noises everywhere!

[Kelli, Fenway, & Dustin Pedroia]

We live in a condo too and both of our dogs have been here since they were brought home, but this doesn't seem to matter. They still bark. Like your dog mine bark at things they here in the hall, things they see outside, and things they evidently hear or see that I don't. I have used what Adina suggests and my Fenway and Dustin both come and sit and stay (we've actually done this so routinely for so long that they run over and sit next to me anytime they bark without me even saying anything most of the time), however Fenway will continue to bark from her sit/down stay next to me. So... I have just started something new. Fenway is absolutely obsessed with tennis balls and balls in general as well as fetching, and since she is the instigator she's the one I have to work on. Whenever she "alerts" us to outside trouble I say in a really excited voice "Go get your ball!" She takes off all over the house looking for her ball and usually comes back with the closest thing she can find and I will throw it for her for a couple of times and we are all good. The noise or object she saw has passed and we don't have any more trouble until she hears/sees something new! I'm not sure if your dog has an obsession with anything, but it seems to work as a distraction and hopefully after doing this a number of times she will begin to go get something on her own (I'm hoping anyway) without me telling her instead of barking. Either way she's not barking her head off all the time anymore!

[Martha & Cooper]

Cooper is really developing a problem with this too! He didn't bark much at all until we went away for a couple of days and we left him with of all people, our trainer! She was keeping several dogs that week and I guess they taught him to bark. Anyway, I have tried some of the above suggestions and haven't had a lot of success with anything other than giving him something else to focus on, like fetching a toy or completing a command. Frustrating for me is the fact that Cooper will bark while in the stay position. Wish we could remedy that! More tips Please!!!!!!

[Kami Allen]

I work from home and some of my customers don't know that I'm at home vs in the office, pretty embarssing when my dog starts barking! She will bark if she hears someone knocking or ringing a doorbell on the TV! I just watched a video on youtube - type in clicker training barking - this lady trains her dog to run to her crate everytime she hears the doorbell. This isn't going to work for us since we don't do crate training but I read that if you can just create another diversion that works - suggested that someone in your family rings door and then you run with the dog to a different room - or run to get a toy......we are going to try and see if it works. Would love to hear if anyone else has any great ideas.

[Patty, Roxy & Spencer]

We have the inside barking and inside the car barking. It started when Roxy was about a yr old. We live in a real quite mtn area so there are not a lot of outside noises. But, when a car goes by a bark fest begins. Roxy starts and Spencer follows. They run to the front door and chase the bad bad car away. Part of it is that they see the car pass and they think they chased it away. They are so proud that they protected their home from the bad car and then get so carried away they just keep barking. I have tried the spray bottle (Roxy loves water!), the coins in the can (didn't take long for them to get used to that) and the unit you press that produces a loud sound that they can only hear. Nothing really has worked. My husband will yell at them to be quite (doesn't work!). So now I go to the front door and claim it. I also (with and without treats) back them off and have them do a sit/down or some other trick to distract them. Sometimes I get a toy and play with them. I stand at the door with my hands on my hips and feet apart in front of the door and either say mine or stop. It's starting to sink in now and they stop barking sooner. I know this will be a process and I have to keep consistant. Now, in the car barking is another story. I'm working with STOP. They do pay attention most of the time but if they've seen another dog, watch out. My pups are so social when we're on our walks or visiting, so again I think this is a protective situation. I've tried the water, coins, treats, and it really hasn't helped. Maybe someone has been successful and has some pointers for me for inside car barking.