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My 22-month year old Hungarian Puli has developed a barking problem when out-and-about. For example, if I go into the pet shop, he'll bark constantly at the sales assistant, and other customers. Similarly, if someone approaches on the street to ask for directions, or comment on the dog, he just barks at them until I move him away.

I've tried a few things, including teaching a speak / no speak command, but it only works for a second or two before he goes back to barking. Treats are of no interest to him when he's 'in the zone', and removing him from the situation doesn't change his behaviour for next time. I also trimmed the hair around his eyes, gave him more exercise, and taught him a touch command for the approach, but it didn't help.

Very awkward socially, and obviously super annoying. Anyone have any suggestions?

Plastic bottle, half full of stones, shake it at him every time he barks, ez game.

Adam, post this on Red's diary, he is THE most amazing man I have ever met when it comes to training dogs.

This worked for us for general training, would def give it a try.
But as Tikay said, Reds the dogs.

The plastic bottle ploy may work, it's worth a try.

In truth it's almost impossible to tell someone else how to modify a dogs behaviour without seeing it first hand.

It's like asking the best way to play ace king, the answer is, it depends....

How did you attempt to teach the 'speak - no speak, and why did you fail?

Did you try to teach anything else and fail?

What kind of temperament does he have? Is he an independent 'Alpha' type, or is he clingy and sycophantic?

What sort of barking is it, guarding, excited, frightened, attention seeking?

How, and at what point in the proceedings are you correcting / rewarding him?

What happens if a total stranger walks him?

Does he pull on the lead when he's barking, and if so, does he pull towards or away from the person that he's barking at?

Does he bare his teeth?

Will he follow other commands when he's barking? What happens if you make him lie down at the same time?

If he wont stop barking when you tell him to, does he disobey you in other ways when he wants to?

It's trial and error Adam. Try to get inside his head.

I once cured a dog of barking by covering his head with a coat every time he did it, but I tried loads of things before that.

The most important thing is to be totally consistent, and never, ever let him get his own way by behaving badly. If he barks because he's near a stranger, don't move away until he's quiet, even if it takes several hours and you have to employ a fake stranger to stand there.

I tried this with another problem a while back, but I think it just made him more aroused and eventually he just got used to the sound.


I didn't fail in the teaching as such, and it works fine in practise, it's just that when he's aroused it's mega tough to get his attention, and if I do, he'll only be quiet for a second or two before continuing to bark, instead of remaining quiet which is what he does in training.


Not that I can think of.


Once he gets used to people, he's absolutely fine and will just nap at their feet, and if you play with him, he's your best friend. It's just strangers he has a problem with. He's a confident dog, but also quite clingy (i.e. follows you around the house, gets upset if someone leaves the room, etc). He's also very sensitive to sounds and noises outside the house.


I'm not 100 percent, but I think it's guarding.


Initially, I was trying to correct him once he started barking, but now I'm trying to catch him before that first bark. However, it's a lot easier said than done, as even before he's barked, he's still 'in the zone' and ignores my distraction techniques.


No idea - never happened.


No, he's not pully, and he doesn't lunge at people. He just barks.


No.


Haven't really tried other commands beyond 'quiet'. I have tried getting him to sit down when he barked at the door bell, but he barked from that position too.


No, he's pretty obedient in general, and we've taught him a number of commands. It's just that when he's in this transfixed state, it's very hard to get his attention or distract him.


I think he's trying to raise the alarm. The breed is known for being wary of strangers, but I need to find a way to communicate to him that this situation is fine, and he doesn't need to bark. At the moment, I can't seem to get that message across, or I can, but he's choosing not to accept it.


Yeah. This one's tricky as you need new strangers to practice with, because if you do it with someone he knows, he's just excited to see them.

Thanks for the post.

Is it just me that can hardly read the red font?

What red font?

;)

PL - Lol, he edited it! Think I'll bark at him when I next see him.

No, you're not alone. We're all having the same problem.

Thank god you edited it, I've stopped barking now.

This behaviour can be quite easy to get mixed up.

You might think he's being clingy in a nice cute way when he follows you around the house. It's more likely that he thinks he's the boss so he's actually keeping an eye on what you're doing.

Try getting him to stay on his own whenever you leave the room. If he won't then you need to do something about it. He shouldn't follow you everywhere unless you want him to.

You should be able to give a stay command and go about your own business while he chills out for a bit.

This isn't a definite by the way. As Tom says without actually seeing the dog there's no way of knowing what each behaviour means.

You have to be careful here Adam. He sounds pretty sure of himself.

Every time you give him the 'Be quiet' command and he ignores it, you are reinforcing the notion that there is nothing you can do about it.

If you know he's not going to obey, don't give the command. it's counter-productive.

How close do you have to get to your stranger before he barks?

What happens if you take him to a place that is teeming with strangers. Somewhere like Trafalgar Square for instance?

Karabiner is the greatest.

Yeah, I can definitely see your point, and it's something that we've been actively trying to discourage using a process whereby we go out the room for a few seconds, return with treats, then repeat/rinse with gradual increases in time. We're currently at 4 minutes without a bark. We also plan to thow a 'go mat' command into the mix rather than him hovering by the door. Not the most fun exercise, but really important I feel if we want to avoid complaints from the neighbours whilst we're gone. Radio, toys, exercise, kong, etc were ineffective in this case, so fingers crossed this works.

Had any success training Dana to do things on command?

Do you offer her treats if she obeys?

That makes sense.

I probably wouldn't take him to somewhere as busy as Trafalgar Square as so many people would want to stop and ask about his dreadlocks and whatnot. Also, children are enthralled by him, and I don't want him intimidating a small child with his bark. In fact, if I see kids, I try to avoid them as it could put us in a tricky spot if he did react negatively.

To be honest, we don't have problems with busy places as long as we're continually moving, and the proximity of the stranger isn't necessary the biggest factor. It's more just when someone attempts to interact with either him or myself. For example, someone could ask directions from across the street, and just that momentary interaction would set him off.

Yes, but her treats are either alcoholic or illegal, unfortunately.

Ahhh! The plot thickens.

This is exactly what Matt & I mean about it being better to actually witness the behaviour before offering advice.

Not sure if returning with treats is a good thing - when imposing yourselves as alpha to a dog, ignoring them at first when you enter a room is a tool to use, likewise always eat something before giving them food even just a biscuit - the alpha dogs only pay attention to the lower ones when it suits them & they always eat first.

Snoops - I'd a friend who got saddled with her daughter's dog which became aggressively defensive of her. I sent her the book below & she followed the instructions in it & ended up with a well behaved dog.

May be worth a try, or, try dog trainers near you - like EvilPie says you don't want him biting anyone.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Dog-Listener-Jan-Fennell/dp/0006532365/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1343824334&sr=8-4 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Dog-Listener-Jan-Fennell/dp/0006532365/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1343824334&sr=8-4)

It's almost as if someone was describing Ronnie.

You need to seek professional help. I'm not joking here either, you could have a serious aggression issue if it's allowed to develop.

I've learnt the hard way through having a similar dog. Now he's absolutely fantastic around the house but I'm still very wary when he's around strangers.

These situations can be managed but you need to do it as soon as possible.

Also I'd have to say that the barking thing can actually be a blessing at this stage. The bark is a warning to people to not come any closer. It's better than him staying quiet and then biting them when they get within range. Once he's bitten you've pretty much shot it. You'll never trust him again. Whilst he still in the warning phases you've got a chance to pull it around.

I've already sought help from a behaviorist, but there's only so much we could do in one session, and we mainly focused on getting him used to being in rooms alone. Although Hank's not aggressive with his barking, we are remaining cautious just in case. It's for the reasons you mentioned that I'm perhaps less inclined to try bottles-and-stones methods as this might mean he just skips the warning bark in future without actually solving the problem. Out of curiosity, how did you fix the issue with Ronnie?

Thanks for the tip Rod. The training was a method given to us by a behaviourist. I think the idea is to make him realise that my leaving the room isn't a bad thing as he gets treats and that we're playing a fun game. When I return for the final time, I don't give treats and just ignore him.

You can't necessarily 'fix' these issues particularly the defensive aggression. Some dogs just don't want to be around people the same as some humans don't.

Rather than try to change the dog's personality you just have to learn to manage situations so that your dog isn't put in to a potentially difficult position.

For example, I'd absolutely love to take Ronnie to the pub with me on a summer evening. I know though that I can't because if he takes a dislike to someone he'll get grumpy and be unhappy and I could potentially be causing an aggressive reaction from Ronnie.

You just have to make every situation a positive one rather than a stressful one and slowly they get better.

You might find this DVD useful Snoops http://www.cadelac.co.uk/dvd.html

It was made by the team that I worked with as a trainer. Denise who presents the DVD is a very good friend and was very helpful with my problems with Ronnie.

It won't give any definitive answers to your problems but I'm sure it'll give you some good tips on small things you could change to make life better for you all.

As little things improve around the house you'll notice your relationship with Hank gets better and then things get so much easier.

Whilst Denise could never 'fix' Ronnie's problem she was the one who was mostly responsible for mine and Ronnie's relationship changing to the point where he's now the best house dog I could ever wish for.

where do dogs think you're going when you go to work?

Dogs don't think in those terms Patrick. They are just reassured by past experience that this is a normal state of affairs. They know you will return.

You will still have to take part in the greeting ritual when you get back though.

If you usually come home at the same time every night, they will become anxious if you're late. Dogs are excellent time keepers. (Especially watch dogs)  ;marks;

^^^

I'm sure I heard a mass internet groan there.

Pearls before swine.....

I'm wasted here Ralph.

My dog was with my girlfriend for 3 years before me but is extremely claps to
Me now.

Sometimes my gf goes away for a week for work, maybe once every 6 months or so. Where do the dogs think she's gone? After 5 days or so what are they thinking?

They are clever girls and defOnitely mummy girls even if v close to me

They are not capable of thinking about where she's gone. When she doesn't come home they will miss her, increasingly so for the first few days, and then gradually less and less.

Yeh I realised that. Quite sad :(

Thanks.

Poor Dog

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19124242

Regards

M

That's nature's dog training in action.

I bet it works.

Regards

M

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/dog_paradox (http://theoatmeal.com/comics/dog_paradox)