Barking at us while playing - it's not funny, Toby!

[Sandy]

Toby is now getting bigger, and so is his voice. He's a couple days shy of six months. When he wants us to play, he will dart around in front of us, butt in the air, head down (which I understand is the play stance), and bark, LOUDLY. When we try to correct him he starts racing around, jumping on us, but is impossible to catch. I need to know how to discipline him for this, because it is loud, and aggravating, and he just gets more and more wound up, which gets us more and more wound up. Tonight when he started we put him in his crate for a few minutes so he could calm down. It's almost like he's an active kid that just can't calm himself down.

I assume that Toby is entering his terrible twos, or adolescence, because suddenly he is less well behaved that he has been in the past. A guy my husband was working with the other day has trained police dogs, and he told us to just hang on - at 8 or 9 months they suddenly get a lot calmer, and seem to "grow up". I'm hanging on, but today it's only by the skin of my teeth!

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

Oh yes I remember those fun times :) We had a lot of "time outs" for Dexter when he would act obnoxious :) He wanted to be with us so this was definitely a punishment for him. It passed - not sure if the time outs worked or if he just matured a bit.

We would also keep him on a leash with us at times so he was forced to learn to lay down and settle.

Good luck!

[Sandy]

I have used the pot in the past - I guess I forgot about that method, because he's been quite good for a while. I have enrolled him in more classes starting in March, and then before the classes he'll also be neutered. Hopefully the combination of those two things will turn him around.

[2zw8n9vphfrc6]

A great way to get him to stop doing something is actually quite simple many times..... NAME what it is he is doing. We use the SATZ method so use the letter X to name something since it usually isnt heard in daily language. So basically something like this:

Toby "X" that is barking heck you could even treat it. Do it about 3 times also as SOON as he is quiet and SPLIT second of quiet NAME IT "X" that is quiet toby i looooove when you are quiet. then you can go as far as to tell him to bark and X that as barking and so on. I posted on another link about satz when someone was looking for training methods. This is the only way that has helped Lincoln blossom into the wonderful dog he is since we rescued him. Dogs need to know what it is we want for them hence why we need to name it. Surprisingly the MORE we talk to our doodles the more they understand us and we can live together with MORE communication NOT less such as other methods that use negative reinforcement and so on'


one of the trainers we had before learning of Satz had recommended banging pots. But all this would do (if we did it though we didnt ) would be to scare him and he wouldnt actually Learn what it is he was doing wrong. i hope that makes sense
michele