Labradoodle & Goldendoodle Forum
Territorial barking (sounds scary!)
Hi everyone, I did a search for "territorial" and "barking" and couldn't find the info I needed so I wanted to post it here to see if you guys could give me any hints or tips.
We have an 8 month old goldendoodle (Oliver) who was neutered when he was 6 months old. Last month we moved into a LARGE house with lots of windows on 3/4 acres of land with 3 homes surrounding our property. Oliver spent his first 7 months of life in a large, end unit townhouse, and he would look out the window and wag his tail when he saw something interesting, but for the most part there was really nothing interesting to see.
When we moved into the new house a month ago he began barking whenever he heard a noise or saw someone outside. He has gotten better over the past month (quite a culture shock going from an end unit townhouse to a huge 5 bedroom house with windows everywhere!) and basically I think it stressed him out. We tell him to "come" and "lay down" (to let him know it's ok) whenever he's trying to alert us of something he sees...and he always slowly walks over to us, whimpers, and does as he is told.
The other day at the park (we were playing fetch in a caged in area) he saw a Yellow Lab on the other side of the cage, walking with his owner......and he started barking at this dog like he was trying to protect me and alert me that he was there! He has a very scary, loud bark and had EVERYONE in the park looking at us. This is brand new for him, normally he just gets really excited and tries to play with any dog he sees! I had him "sit" and "stay" and tried to take control of the situation, but it was difficult and I had never seen him like that before!
A few minutes later we were walking on the same track that the Yellow lab and his owner were on and Oliver saw the dog and did the same type of barking...but then as we got closer he got really excited and tried to play with him...which I was happy to see. It really sounded like he was warning this dog to get back! But in the end he really just wanted to play with him!
Since that incident every time we see a semi-far away person on a walk, Oliver will stop and bark and kind of back up toward me like he's scared and alerting me. I always put him behind me when he does this and calmly give him a command to sit/down and stay, but it's very difficult to get him to pay attention to me when he's in this mode...and it takes me asking him to do it about 3-5 times before he complies. When the person comes close enough, Oliver is fine and excitedly kisses them and acts like he has known them forever! But, if I didn't know Oliver myself and I was the person being barked at...I'd be terrified! I don't want people to be afraid to approach me even though he has a loud voice!
How do I deal with this? What am I doing wrong? I feel like he's trying to be the "dominant, pack leader" and is really scared about that role....but I really feel like he knows that my husband and I are the pack leaders at the same time! I've heard that I shouldnt tell him "NO" when he barks because he'll stop doing any types of alerts or warnings....and if he were ever to really be aggressive toward someone, it would be important to have that alert or warning before he does so (obviously).
We have an 8 month old goldendoodle (Oliver) who was neutered when he was 6 months old. Last month we moved into a LARGE house with lots of windows on 3/4 acres of land with 3 homes surrounding our property. Oliver spent his first 7 months of life in a large, end unit townhouse, and he would look out the window and wag his tail when he saw something interesting, but for the most part there was really nothing interesting to see.
When we moved into the new house a month ago he began barking whenever he heard a noise or saw someone outside. He has gotten better over the past month (quite a culture shock going from an end unit townhouse to a huge 5 bedroom house with windows everywhere!) and basically I think it stressed him out. We tell him to "come" and "lay down" (to let him know it's ok) whenever he's trying to alert us of something he sees...and he always slowly walks over to us, whimpers, and does as he is told.
The other day at the park (we were playing fetch in a caged in area) he saw a Yellow Lab on the other side of the cage, walking with his owner......and he started barking at this dog like he was trying to protect me and alert me that he was there! He has a very scary, loud bark and had EVERYONE in the park looking at us. This is brand new for him, normally he just gets really excited and tries to play with any dog he sees! I had him "sit" and "stay" and tried to take control of the situation, but it was difficult and I had never seen him like that before!
A few minutes later we were walking on the same track that the Yellow lab and his owner were on and Oliver saw the dog and did the same type of barking...but then as we got closer he got really excited and tried to play with him...which I was happy to see. It really sounded like he was warning this dog to get back! But in the end he really just wanted to play with him!
Since that incident every time we see a semi-far away person on a walk, Oliver will stop and bark and kind of back up toward me like he's scared and alerting me. I always put him behind me when he does this and calmly give him a command to sit/down and stay, but it's very difficult to get him to pay attention to me when he's in this mode...and it takes me asking him to do it about 3-5 times before he complies. When the person comes close enough, Oliver is fine and excitedly kisses them and acts like he has known them forever! But, if I didn't know Oliver myself and I was the person being barked at...I'd be terrified! I don't want people to be afraid to approach me even though he has a loud voice!
How do I deal with this? What am I doing wrong? I feel like he's trying to be the "dominant, pack leader" and is really scared about that role....but I really feel like he knows that my husband and I are the pack leaders at the same time! I've heard that I shouldnt tell him "NO" when he barks because he'll stop doing any types of alerts or warnings....and if he were ever to really be aggressive toward someone, it would be important to have that alert or warning before he does so (obviously).
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lynne B on
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He was scared in the new environment, that's all. New sights sounds and smells can be scary and exciting to a dog at the same time. Introduce him to new things in a non-threatening way. It sounds like he and the other dog were just saying 'hello' to each other- I see no problem with that. I wouldn't try to infer much from the sound of the bark, I would look more for stress signals when he greets another dog, raised hackles, panting, etc.
It's your call whether you want him to bark at things he sees outside, I don't want my dogs to bark at all, but some people allow their dogs to bark once, then they say "thank you" which is the signal for the dog to stop barking.
I don't prescribe to the dominant pack leader alpha stuff, it used to be popular, then was replaced with positive reward based training and only became popular with Cesar Milan. This article explains why it doesn't really work for training our dogs:
http://www.avsabonline.org/avsabonline/images/stories/Position_Stat...
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Permalink Reply by Doodle Kisses on
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Pretty please won't you share your technique for getting Zero barking? I can quiet my dogs...but I'm dying for NO BARKING in the first place even if some 'rude' teenager dares to ride his skateboard on the sidewalk across the street (LOL).
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I know this sounds crazy- but I teach them to bark on command first, once they do that- I teach them to stop barking on command, I use 'quiet' and give them a hand signal. Neither of them react to people walking by anymore, or to the mailman. I guess they are sick of me messing up their fun by telling them to be quiet, so they figure why bother.. but I am stil having a hard time getting my Aussie not to bark at the UPS guy- the good news is she only barks once though!
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Permalink Reply by LuvMyAbby&Kaela on
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Good article. Thanks for the link.
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Permalink Reply by Oliver on
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I thought he was just scared in the new house as well...but he does it when we're out on walks now to the point where he's scaring other ppl...??? I'll go check out the article. Thank you!
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Ok I just skimmed this article (I will read it more in depth when I get home) but I guess by being "dominant" I didn't mean "forced aggression," I simply meant that I am there to assure Oliver that everything is alright and show him that he doesn't need to be upset or scared (i.e. I put him behind me and put myself between him and the other person/dog, and calmly tell him to sit/laydown and stay.) I think that puts me in the "I'm in charge" role, but I don't do it aggressively...are you saying I shouldn't do this?
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You are the perfect doodle parent if you are there to make your dog feel safe and confident, that's what we all should do! Sometimes I overreact when people talk about being the pack leader and being dominant, because to me that means that they think the dog should be forced to submit to their will, and I think thats the worst thing you can do; if you force the dog to submit to a situation that it fears, it will still fear it, but it will become more and more hostile and frustrated because it has to suppress all the anxiety
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That makes perfect sense! I think we're on the same wavelength after all...I'm totally against that type of training stance!
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I allowed my dogs to bark but put a stop to it if I thught it was innapropriate or enough. They were pretty good at responding to "ENOUGH!" or "SHHH NO BARK!" I will see how this doodle turns out! I hope she is as easy to deal with barking as my other dogs were.
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I totally agree...and awesome suggestion (about feeding outside)! Thanks! :)
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