Excessive barking

[c_l_7]

My 3 year old toy poodle barks continuously and very high pitched when we go out for a walk or when I stop when walking etc. I have chronic migraines and it is so very hard to take. Every little sound in the house triggers him. He’s just gotten worse. We r at our wits end. We r getting a new puppy in a week ( 14 week old standard poodle pup ) and have also a very small toy and a standard poodle. I’ve never encountered this in all my years of dog ownership. Please help. It’s why I joined in the first place actually ;( he doesn’t hear me when I try and correct him. He goes into puppy brain ( although not a puppy )

[JMFS]

Welcome to the forums! You're in the right place. :)

 

Have you had the 3-yr old all 3 years or is he a recent addition? How long has this been going on? I get you with those migraines and the barking, oh man! Like an ice pick through the area that's hurting with every sound. :( The new puppy arriving will make 4 poodles total? Aside from the barking that's going to be such an adorable crew!

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello c_l_7 ,

Migraines are awful! Hopefully, the addition of the new puppy will keep your barking poodle a bit busy so he'll have less time to think about barking! On the negative side, we don't want him to teach the new puppy to bark excessively too as puppies are like sponges and very impressionable at that age!

 

Now to tackle barking, these vocal creatures often require a multi-faceted approach, but also an individualized approach depending on what form of barking we are dealing with. You are describing various forms of barking: barking at triggers on walks, barking when you stop walking and then barking at every little sound.

 

For barking on triggers on walks, I will need a little bit more information because this may arise as a result of barrier frustration (the dog wants to go meet and greet people and other dogs on walks but barks because he's frustrated he can't do that- therefore we are talking about a distance-decreasing behavior) or reactivity (the dog is anxious about certain triggers such as people, dogs, sounds etc. and therefore, in this case we are talking about a distance-increasing behavior). These two forms of barking require a slightly different approach. Does he bark and lunge towards people and dogs? Does he get along well with people/dogs? Does he startle and act fearful when he sees people and dogs? What does he bark at exactly on walks?

 

For barking when you stop walking, does he bark at you as if protesting? Some dogs get easily bored and want to keep going on walks so they'll bark in hopes of getting you moving again. Let me know if this sounds like the case. Otherwise, it may still be barking as a result of frustration or reactivity and stopping just makes him more aware of things or perhaps he feels more vulnerable.

 

In regards to every little sound triggering him, you can work on this on using a variety of strategies. Some of these strategies may require you to work with your dog being separated from your other dogs (so that you can easily focus on him, and for safety, in case any of your dogs are prone to resource guarding treats). Please note that you need to be logged into the course to access the reading material found in the links.

 

- Make sounds less salient by buffering them using some noise-making machine. A fan, radio, TV can sometimes help.

-Identify if there are any specific sounds that your dog is reactive towards. This article can help you identify them and offers some tips: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/behavior-training/barking/nothing/

-If your dog is reactive towards doorbells and knocks here are tips on how to tackle that: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/behavior-training/barking/doorbells-knocks-on-doors/

-If your dog barks as a reaction to visual stimuli from windows or doors it helps to block access to them.

-Once you identify sounds that cause him to react, you can try the 'hear that method" you can find details on this method here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-noises/

-Many dogs who bark do so because they are bored and take their watch dog role too seriously. Exercise, training and most of all, mental stimulation (brain games!) is important. Engaging him in more productive, fun things to do should help him reduce his barking.

-In some case, redirection can help reduce the quantity of barks for repeated barkers. So for instance, if a trigger gets him barking many times in a row, you can cut things short by asking him to perform an alternate behavior that is incompatible with barking. For example, he barks just once, allow just that one bark and then ask him to target your hand and reward that by tossing a treat. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/

 

These are just a few tips, more ideas will come to mind once I gather more info about his other forms of barking. On a side note, it is very common for dogs to not listen to us when they are barking. This is because they are often way too over threshold https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ to listen and cognitively function, on top of that, if we yell at our dogs, they likely think we are barking alone with them!

 

As seen, dogs bark for different reasons, so it's important tackling the underlying emotions triggering the barking in the first place so to address them correctly.

Edited January 6, 2020 by Adrienne Farricelli

[c_l_7]

Thanks so much for your very informative answer. I will try and go into more detail. About 2 1/2 years ago we lost our other toy poodle to cancer. Prior to this the dog that barks now , never barked like he does now. They were good buddies , evenly matched in temperament. Shortly after the other poodle died we bought a very very small toy 3.5 pounds. Although very small , (and even though they play together very well ) the little guy is very alpha. Even over our very large standard. That’s the dynamics in the house. The breeder did not want me to have another male ( they are all neutered) so we r bringing home a female who will be spayed, into the mix. The barker has anxiety - he will not go for a walk with me unless my husband is there too -providing my husband is home. We live in the country and my dogs are off leash in forests and trails. The barker will literally start on the walk then run back to the house if my husband isn’t with me , and wait at the door. He seems to want us both there. If I go somewhere and drive a vehicle to get there , and it’s just him and my standard dog , then there is no problem.( the little guy doesn’t go on hikes - if he does it’s in a backpack for most of it ) If we see the odd dog walker my barker will charge and bark but then usually jump up to the owner for a pet ( not cool ) I think he barks bc he’s afraid in this instance. He needs a lot of exercise but on some days if I walk locally he misses out bc he’s turned around and gone back home if my husband is out and about or just isn’t on the walk with me — but he will follow my husband all through the property right by his side , when he’s working on our property — no problem.

An example in the house— if I knock on a cabinet by accident - he will bark. Something like that. Also if people come to the door —which doesn’t really bother me.

So high anxiety. Needing both of us to be together on local walks. I’m the main dog walker / hiker / and also they run alongside me /us when I /we bike ( no car -?dirt roads ;) but I think it would be the same if the roles were reversed and it was just my husband on the walks ( never the case though as he doesn’t take them for walks by himself) as “ barker” is always checking for me on walks - Where I am etc. ... waiting for me if I seem to be lagging behind ..

I have tried getting him to sit before I open the door. If he barks I get him to sit again and don’t open the door til he’s quiet but once that door is open —holy cow ! He’s very food motivated but didn’t want to use food as didn’t want to reward him. Raising my voice does not work ! Lol I found that out quickly. But seriously I am going crazy here. If he knows we r driving to a hike - which we do everyday btw -omg the barking and he doesn’t stop til he’s in the car and then as soon as the car door is open he’s on full force again for a good long time. Stopping the bike ( for example when i stop to close our driveway gate ) he Will then bark bark bark high pitched crazy frenzy out of my mind tension ratcheting barking. When I go to get my bike - same thing. Then all the way up the drive and continues barking. It’s so hard to stay calm. I’ve tried to ignore it but that just Makes it even worse. I hope I’ve clarified a few things. They are never on a leash walk but hikes off leash as we live In an area conducive for that I will read what you have mentioned. But any help you could give would be greatly appreciated. I’m not a vet or trainer but I think he has generalized anxiety disorder.

Edited January 7, 2020 by c_l_7
Spell check changed words

[c_l_7]

Ps. To answer your question yes we’ve had this dog since he was a pup but his personality changed once we lost our other toy to cancer 2. Years ago

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Thank you so much for taking the time for providing all these details, they are very helpful!

 

So sorry for your loss. It sounds like the dog affected by cancer provided a somewhat reassuring effect on your barking dog. It is not uncommon for changes in a dog's social group to have an impact on others at a deep level. This temporary imbalance along with the addition of another dog, could have unsettled things a bit, paving the path for insecurity which put roots. Of course, until dogs can talk and tell us what's going exactly in their minds, this is just speculation.

 

It may also be that your barking dog simply coincidentally reached social maturity around that time. Social maturity in dogs in general starts around 9-10 months up to 1-2 years of age lasting up to 36 months (in large breeds mostly), with behavior problems peaking between 12 to 18 months of age. Of course, there are variations in these time-frames based on dog breed and size. If this is the timeframe in which the barking started to get out of hand, this can be a culprit (on top of the aggravating addendum of stressors taking place around that time, such as the loss of your other dog).

 

Data from research has shown that, the fact that many pets develop problems at social maturity is a major contributing factor as to why many dog owners give up their pets at around 1.5 years (Salman et al., 2000). Veterinary behaviorists attribute the onset of problems during social maturity to myelination and regressive pruning taking place at a neurochemical level. In simple words, this is a time of significant developmental changes in the brain. In particular, this is a time of the formation of neurobehavioral developmental patterns with the frontal cortex being particularly involved in the regulation of “emotion” and emotional outbursts.

 

And then we have genetics, the inheritance factor. Just as dogs can be selectively bred for certain traits, a predisposition for reactivity may come along for the ride. It can even start as early as in the womb, if mother dog is stressed, her stress hormones cross the placenta impacting a developing fetus.

 

Neurochemistry and genetics aside, we must consider that barking can be a highly adaptive behavior, especially for dogs who are anxious. In other words, if every time the dog barks, the person or dog moves away or the door knocking stops or the guest moves back, the dog perceives as if his barking has helped move the trigger away or stop it, ultimately giving him relief and keeping him safe.

 

Barking therefore puts roots and establishes as a dog's default behavior when dealing with the perception of a dangerous world full of triggers. The more the dog rehearses the problem barking, the more it puts roots. Dogs as such need help, but not in suppressing the barking directly by yelling, shaking cans filled with coins or bark collars, but rather in addressing their internal turmoil at an emotional level. These need their confidence levels boosted, they need to feel safe, and sometimes, in severe cases, they may even need medications to put them just in that specific state of mind where they can relax enough so that their brains can be put to work to learn coping skills.

 

I know you likely love to keep your dogs free off the leash when hiking, but your barker dog may need a little bit of restrain so that he doesn't get to rehearse the barking behavior over and over and feel like he must bark at every leaf that moves. It doesn't have to necessarily be a leash, since he's small, he can even be carried in a little Sherpa bag-at least until he learns better behaviors. This just temporarily for the part of the walk where you are more likely to encounter people with other dogs and other startling triggers. Then, if you have the all clear, perhaps you can allow him to walk and explore or use a long line so that you have at least some level of control.

 

If you carry him in the Sherpa bag, there may be chances that, if you reach a certain point of the walk where you are farther away from the house, once you snap on the leash, he may not try to run back to the house (if he panics and starts pulling though, avoid this). Or you can just carry him in the bag for the whole way and let him walk on leash back home. He might not get the amount of exercise you might be hoping for (by romping around), but surprisingly many dogs get more tired with mental stimulation (brain games and training) than lots of exercise.

 

The purpose of the leash is not only to prevent him from rehearsing the problem behavior, but also to keep him at a distance from triggers and under threshold. You see, the closer dogs get to triggers, the more likely they are to react. And the more they react, the more stress hormones circulate in their bodies, potentially leading to trigger stacking (the accumulation of stressful events having a cumulative effect) If he is about to react or reacts, you can always turn around and walk the opposite way to make him less reactive and give him an opportunity to learn an alternate behavior than barking. A helpful behavior that can help in the long run is attention heeling: here is how to train that:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/

Here is how to train an emergency u-turn upon seeing a trigger:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/

 

For the car rides, it would help to keep him crated. Crating often dramatically decreases barking in the car as the dog doesn't get to go back and forth looking at triggers and feeling the need to protect himself from perceived threats. Some dog owners find it helpful placing a blanket over the crate and playing calming music to buffer sounds.

 

Now, most of the things suggested so far are for management purposes (preventing him to rehearse the problem behavior). To actively work on his anxiety, you would likely need to implement desensitization and counterconditioning techniques. You can read more about these techniques here:

 

Because anxiety-related behaviors have also a negative effect on a dog's welfare considering that stress influences both the mental and physical health of dogs, it would therefore be important to work on the problem barking perceiving it as an external manifestation of an internal turmoil. You would therefore need to take a multi-faceted approach of boosting his confidence levels, preventing exposure to stressors and actively working on his fears using desensitization and counterconditioning.

 

Depending on how stressed your dog is, he may need calming aids in the form of supplements (L-theanine,), DAP collars and diffusers, Thundershirts or Anxiety Wraps or even prescription medications provided by a veterinary behaviorist to be used in conjunction with behavior modification.

 

I hope this helps! I know it's a lot to absorb. If I haven't covered everything completely in depth, please feel free to follow up with details on what you would like me to explain more in depth and I will make sure to provide more elucidations. With anxiety-related barking, it falls more under behavior modification rather than regular dog training so things tend to get more complex.

Edited January 7, 2020 by Adrienne Farricelli

[c_l_7]

Oh thank you so much for your detailed answer. Much appreciated. There are great ideas that I can work on. I actually used food today as a good lure to distract him and it went quite well. Probably just a fluke 😂but it was a pleasant change. I will try your good suggestions ! Thank you !

[Adrienne Farricelli]

You are very welcome! I forgot to post the links on desensitization and counterconditioning. These are the methods that are commonly used to deal with barking that stems from underlying anxiety. Other forms of barking such as attention-getting barking or separation anxiety barking are tackled in different ways.

 

Desensitization:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/

Here you can see an example here using door knocks:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/behavior-training/barking/doorbells-knocks-on-doors/

 

However, desensitization works best when it's powered up with counterconditioning:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/

 

Now, it needs clarified here that the use of food is not to reinforce performed behaviors as done with traditional training, but to create positive associations. It's behavior modification, not training. In other words, when we traditionally train we use food/toys/life rewards to reward operant behaviors like sitting, coming when called etc (operant conditioning). In behavior modification, we are pairing triggers with something pleasant (food more commonly) for the goal of changing the emotional response (classical conditioning, counterconditioning).