Barking Problem and Dominant Problem

[sktwirler]

I have 3 yorkies, Abby 10 years old, Mattie 5 years old and Mokka 10 months old. My issue is with Mattie, the middle child lol. Anyways here is my long situation.

Problem #1

Mattie has had no training besides what I taught her. Sit and stay. Summer time is the worst because once we open up the doors and windows, Mattie starts barking.

If she is inside the house:
-She will look out the screen door and bark at noises, people or another animals.
-Something she will just bark at something.

When sitting outside on the front porch:
-She will bark at anyone that walks past.
-She will bark if a dog is loose or is walking with there owner.
-She will bark when people come over to visit shortly (She calms down once she gets to sniff them).

When taking a walk (she was really good until recently):
-If she hears another dog she will bark.
-If she sees another animal she will bark and try to get to them. I usually have to tug her away and keep walking because she doesn't listen to me. I usually get to her level and say no. Doesn't work.
-If she sees a person, she will bark until she can't see them anymore.

I have tried everything from saying no, to smacking her in the butt, smacking her with a newspaper, distracting her with love and or putting her in the house. None have worked at all and I can keep putting her in the house everything something crosses our path.

I am going to try the can and coins suggestions but I am still looking for more solutions if that doesn't work. I don't want my younger dog catching on to her behavior.

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Problem # 2

This is also regarding Mattie.

Mattie will fight with Abby (usually happens once a day) but then they are fine the next minute. Mattie usually gets in stance (you can usually see it coming) and gets really close to Abby, then they fight. It usually happens when they are around me, my mom or my dad. Mattie will usually tower over Abby because Abby will just roll over. We usually have to pull them apart once they started. We tell them no and smack them. They calm down and go there separate ways until the next fight. However, Abby has started a couple of the fights but it's mostly Mattie. They don't even hurt each other, no blood or anything. I would assume that it is a dominant problem but I dont' know how to fix it. I dont' want my younger dog to start doing it when she gets older.
Any ideas.

[QuickSilver]

Welcome to YT!

I used pennies in a can as you mentioned, and I found it extremely effective. I did it maybe a dozen times and Thor's barking went from a 9 to a 1. Now I am teaching him to Speak, and he's beginning to exercise his vocal cords again.

Also, Thor gets extra barky if he doesn't get enough exercise. Whatever you are doing, I would add 30 minutes of fetch or something else very tiring and see if that makes a difference.

It does sound like your middle child may believe she runs the household, or at least, she is resource guarding the people. There are basic things you can do to correct this. The easiest is to make her Sit and Stay before meal times. If she doesn't obey, take the food away and try again in a few minutes.

Please do not hit your dog, even a light spank is a bad idea. Modern training theory confirms that this is not an effective method and can actually cause behavior problems.

Finally: are your dogs spayed? Female dogs can be very territorial, especially if not altered.

Hope this helps.

[QuickSilver]

Reading your post again, it really sounds like she is exerting her dominance. It sounds like she believes it's her job to guard you.

To expand on the Sit/Stay suggestion, try implementing 'Nothing In Life Is Free'. You can google this training method. It's very simple. Before you give her anything she wants - her leash taken off, a walk outside, FOOD, affection - have her perform a command. Sit is fine. This puts YOU in charge of the resources in her mind.

Also, you might want to try teaching her more commands, it's fun, it bonds you, and it helps her practice listening to you.

[dogluvr]

The can works really well. I am now at the point that if my Silky starts acting up, i.e. barking, I can simply pick the can up and hold it out and he immediately stops. I don't have to make a sound.
Now, I guess I have to admit that my Biewer could care less about it and ignores it fully. But, with him, cookies are always the way to get him to behave. I cut beef jerkey treats into little tiny squares and keep them with me at all times. If he stops barking on command, I wait a few seconds to see if he can keep quiet, then I reward him with a "good quiet".
It's all about training, training and more training.
Good luck.

[kinnykins]

we have had barking issues with our 18 month old spayed sophie. Imfollowing the dog whisperer s advice, ceaser Millan. when sophie starts to bark at anything/anyone etc,we put her long puppy lead on her, usually just this stops her from barking, if not give it a quick jerk (not enough to hurt of course ) and say ssshhhh. thats it nothing else,repeat if neccessary but be consistent, u are the pack leader, we dont ususally have to resort to the lead now just the ssshhh is enough,but catch it before your dog gets to the bark, just have to work on her trying to "kill " other dogs when she s on the lead now !!

[Conjure_Girl]

We taught Lulu no to bark excessively early on. When she would start barking in an inappropriate situation, we would gently hold her muzzle in our hands for a few seconds, and keep it closed while saying "no". it might sounds harsh, but we really didn't hurt or abuse Lulu in any way.

We used to live in an apartment building with really thin walls, and knew that if Lulu barks a lot we would have major neighbor problems. So it was very important to make sure we don't have a chronic barker.

Lulu got it really quickly, and stopped barking. She, of course, still barks when someone is at the door, or when she hears a real loud and startling noise, or whenever the neighbor's cat tries to get into our yard. But it's in no way excessive or disturbing.

Hope this helps

[JoeyP]

It's clear that your "problem" child is asserting her dominance over the other dogs
Now I know this will sound heartless but unless the fights are very often or they are getting hurt in the process it's best to let them be

I wouldn't especially go to smack them as you say
any type of real or assumed violence ups the emotional aspect of the fight

Instead if you want to avoid a fight you need to make a loud noise or hit them with a water pistol. After you get their attention you need to distract them

The barking is coing from the same thing ... your little one is standing guard
as her leader you need to relate to her that her barking isn't needed
What works in this case is try to tell her NO ... and try and soothe her at the sametime
I tell my little barker NO BARK!
and then have him come over and in a soothing voice I tell him it's okay

This seems to work like a charm because barkers are usually trying to get your attention anyway

[YorkieMother]

It is not dominace it is a lack of self control.
She needs to learn that first alone and then adding one dog in at a time until she can manage herself in the right manner with your support.

JL