Can I decrease his barking in a week?

[Deb McD]

Just some background info. I have a 4yr old doodle and 2 of her pups, both 15wks old, one of which I am keeping and the other has finally found his forever home and will be leaving Sept 1st. I have to get control of the barking before Henry, the 15wk old puppy, leaves my home and goes to his forever home next week. Henry is a barker, barks at people walking by the fence, barks at the neighbour walking out of his house, and last week, barked like a mad man at the little dog at the vets. It has worsened in the past 2 wks. From what I have read, I know that there are many types of barking and I believe his is the alert/warning bark type. I try to distract him but he seems intent on backing his head off and the only way I can stop him is to pick him up and get him into the house. Believe me, it isn't fun at 5:30am in the morning when I let him out for a piddle and he sees the neighbour come out the door at the same time on his way to work and scares the living daylights out of him. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.?? I'd like to cure this quickly and easily asI don't want it to be a turn off to his new owners.

[Deb McD]

Well, I took Henry for a nice walk before dinner tonight - thought I'd prep him for his visit to the vets' for his last set of shots. He actually encountered 2 dogs and didn't go balistic. I tried with a calming voice - no bark, no bark, good boy ......and then when he did bark - I tried consistently to use the word enough. I also brought treats and "watch me" to try to distract him, but that didn't really help. However, tonight we got to the vets and a big doberman got out of the car when we were just arriving - Henry started barking, the doberman started and before long, every dog in the waiting room was barking. So....we went for a little cool off walk and when we went into the vets waiting room - he was fine. He sniffed the other dogs, and was really quite good. I will encourage the new owners - to get him into puppy classes right away. Luckily, they have a 2 yr old lab so he will have a pal when he arrives at his new home.

[Adina P]

How is it going? When I first read your question my gut instinct said "no way, not with a 15 week old, not in a week." But maybe with diligence you've gotten pretty far. Is he barking less? Did the family express concern over the barking?

[Deb McD]

Hannah and Honey - Thank you for the suggestion - I remember the watch me from training classes with my first doodle and that was an excellent way to capture attention - I will try working on this.
thx

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

Does this puppy have any treats that he likes more...when he starts barking take the treat in your hand and let his sniff for a sec, not nibble on it, than hold it up by your eyes in a closed fist and say "Watch Me" as soon as he looks up...reward, than repeat, but keep the treat a little longer, reward and repeat again keeping the treat longer and longer. If he moves away and breaks the sit command, put him right back into the sit where he was and start again with the "Watch Me", if he starts to bark tell him "No Bark, Watch Me" when he looks at you and no barking reward him. 4 months old is pretty young for him to really be getting it consistent, it will take time and practice. Can you also leave him out a few minutes later so your neighbor does not scare him. I would also let the people know who are taking Henry that they need to work on this with him.

[F, Calla & Luca]

A week with a puppy sounds like a daunting task. If the dog were older an antibark collar might do. I I have an electronic collar (Dogtra) which I have never used on anything but vibrate for Luca. I used it to help get him to come, which can be lifesaving, and it worked well. It was totally painless for him. But the puppy is way too young for this. I'd start by telling him something like "Quiet" when he barks and rewarding the slightest compliance. I think the new owner will have to continue working on this behavior especially since the puppy may be anxious at first in his new home. It takes time, consistency and repetition to get dogs to comply well.