Barking at the window

[AngieTorres]

My dog is a rescue Chihuahua and she has issues with barking at this window I have. Closing the blinds doesn’t work out, she just pushes her nose through it. She barks at just about any human or dog that passes by. What is the best course of action for this?

[Adrienne]

Hello and welcome to the forums,

There are several ways to tackle this. I like to take a multi-faceted approach.  

-Most important is to prevent rehearsal of the problem behavior (barking).The more she barks at outdoor triggers, the more the behavior puts roots and establishes. You can do this in several ways. 

-You can invest in some opaque window film that visually blocks her from seeing all these exciting outdoor stimuli. Being a small dog, you may have to just apply a small portion. You can find it in different decorative designs.

-You can block off access to window areas using a baby gate or indoor pet fence.

-You can place some bulky items she cannot jump over in front of the window area.

-To block sounds (or at least buffer them a bit) that attract her to the window, you can use white noise. I think Simply Noise has an app that's 99cents and generates white noise.

 -Make sure to drain some energy through brain games, training, walks and play. Providing food puzzles and interactive toys (Kong, Kong Wobblers, Buster cubes) may give her something more interesting to do. 

-Train an alternate behavior, but you'll have to be around her to call her off from focusing on the window. Don't allow access to the window when you can't work on training as this may cause the behavior to come back at some point. Here's the alternate behavior. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/

 

[AngieTorres]

Would picking her up and taking her away from the trigger to a different room be effective when she begins to bark?

I’ll definitely try counter conditioning. I’ve tried reaching quiet for a few months and I don’t think it’s doing much. Where she barks I say quiet then treat once she’s quiet. She just takes the treat and resumes. 

[Adrienne]

Well, picking her up and taking her away from the area can stop the behavior at the moment, but there can be some significant downsides:

1)Some dogs may react instinctively (snap/bite) when they are aroused by something they see and are barking. 

2) If she is picked up and taken to another room (like for a timeout) she may come to dread being picked up and play hard to catch or nip hands that try to pick her up. 

The quiet exercise is one often suggested by many trainers, but as you can see there is one major flaw; the dog may learn to bark and then quiet, then bark and then quiet in what's known as a behavior chain.

I find it more effective blocking access to windows when we cannot train, and then working on training an alternate behavior to engage in. If she does the alternate behavior and then goes straight back to barking (because a trigger is still out there), it may help reinforcing the alternate behavior with something that will keep her busy for some time (scattering several kibble/treats treasure hunt style, hiding some in a Snuffle Mat, placing kibble in a Kong wobbler, or placing a bit of canned food/peanut butter on a Licki-mat. Choose things that will engage her and surpass her desire to go check things out and bark.

Also, we want to preferably catch our dogs before they bark so that they're easier to distract (and this prevents barking from becoming part of a chain). 

I also like to desensitize and create positive associations with certain sounds that dogs are reactive towards and that trigger window barking. See the 'hear that' method by scrolling to the bottom of the guide: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-noises/. If she likes her kibble a lot, you can toss her kibble for the milder distractions. I always keep some kibble/treats in my pocket or treat bag when training so to capture and reward good behaviors as they unfold. 

 

[AngieTorres]

10 hours ago, Adrienne said:

Well, picking her up and taking her away from the area can stop the behavior at the moment, but there can be some significant downsides:

1)Some dogs may react instinctively (snap/bite) when they are aroused by something they see and are barking. 

2) If she is picked up and taken to another room (like for a timeout) she may come to dread being picked up and play hard to catch or nip hands that try to pick her up. 

The quiet exercise is one often suggested by many trainers, but as you can see there is one major flaw; the dog may learn to bark and then quiet, then bark and then quiet in what's known as a behavior chain.

I find it more effective blocking access to windows when we cannot train, and then working on training an alternate behavior to engage in. If she does the alternate behavior and then goes straight back to barking (because a trigger is still out there), it may help reinforcing the alternate behavior with something that will keep her busy for some time (scattering several kibble/treats treasure hunt style, hiding some in a Snuffle Mat, placing kibble in a Kong wobbler, or placing a bit of canned food/peanut butter on a Licki-mat. Choose things that will engage her and surpass her desire to go check things out and bark.

Also, we want to preferably catch our dogs before they bark so that they're easier to distract (and this prevents barking from becoming part of a chain). 

I also like to desensitize and create positive associations with certain sounds that dogs are reactive towards and that trigger window barking. See the 'hear that' method by scrolling to the bottom of the guide: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-noises/. If she likes her kibble a lot, you can toss her kibble for the milder distractions. I always keep some kibble/treats in my pocket or treat bag when training so to capture and reward good behaviors as they unfold. 

 

Thank you for the help! I’m definitely going to be working on training look at that, but her threshold seems to be very low, but not consistently. It seems to be that she’s more likely to bark at people she’s never met, as she was quiet with two people in our apartment lobby today who we’d seen before. But of course she can’t bark on sight (be it from a far away window or across the street) at anyone she doesn’t know. She does this on walks too if someone comes too close. This is her biggest manners problem. Otherwise she’s practically perfect. I’ve been trying to work quiet for like six months and it definitely formed a behavior chain. My current plan is to keep her in my room when I’m working and can’t train, be ready to train when cooking (unfortunately I can’t stand at the window and watch for people with her to catch her before she barks, but sometimes she gives some warning grumbles and I can distract her then. Will try the scattering of kibble or treats to keep her distracted longer), and spend time when I can trying to catch and treat her pre-bark. 

[Adrienne]

Sounds like a plan! You are very welcome. 

Many dogs are more reactive towards seeing people behind a fence, window or in a car, but are then fine when meeting them in other areas. Certainly, having seen people before versus total strangers can make a difference. With window barking, barking on walks there may be some component of fear, territorial/protective behavior or some type of barrier frustration going on.

With a low threshold, you may have to find that 'sweet spot" where she sees a stranger from the window but without getting so overwhelmed by barking. You can do this by increasing distance from the window (I use the leash in this case) or maybe placing her on a table or furniture where she's high enough to see people passing by without feeling too compelled to react. Try to be quick initially, catching her right before she has the chance to bark, like as soon as she sees somebody you make your smacking sound and present food in front of her nose. After several trials of this, you may have a chance for opening up a window of opportunity to get started.  You can then practice more, tossing the treat away from the window so that she also gets some exercise. 

When you are in the kitchen, it can also help training her to go to her mat. So let's say, you catch her going towards the window? You can make a smacking sound and offer something to enjoy something good on the mat that keeps her busy for some time. With time, she may come to enjoy this routine and sticking to the kitchen area more than the window. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/

The look at that exercise you do from the window can turn handy as well on walks. You would walk her at a distance from where she's under threshold and make a smacking sound and feed her treats contingent upon spotting a person. Now, with a small dog it may be a bit difficult bending down repeatedly, so it may help to drop the treats or you can use crouch down at her level and just let her watch people walking by creating positive associations in a open bar/closed bar fashion. : https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/

It also helps to do brain games, fun sessions of positive training and impulse control exercises to help her gain more confidence, bond with you more and keep herself busy in more productive ways. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/

Keep me posted on how things go. You may have some setbacks here and there, but with management when you cannot train, and positive associations and reinforcement for looking at triggers without barking, and keeping her brain busy, there should be a reduction in the barking behavior over several days.

Happy training,

Keep me posted on how things go!

Best,

Adrienne