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Originally Posted by marcie  great post...Marcie is a barker with a capital B. Lucy used to not bark however she now has became a barker too. So I am looking for advice also. They bark on command but it's the quiet command they ignore. I know they think their mom is nuts. |
Did you check out that link? I actually tried the plate of peanut butter tonight. I had someone ring the doorbell and when my dogs barked I chimed in with them and said Bark! Bark! Bark! and gave them my made up bark hand signal. When i wanted them to stop i gave them a plate full of peanut butter and reinforced quiet and clicked the clicker. Of course they were quiet. I did this repeatedly and on about the 10th knock or ring at the bell i told them to quiet (without the plate) and they did. Ten minutes later we cleaned up and my partner started randomly banging a wall on the other side of the house. They went running while barking toward the noise. I wasn't prepared and it took quite a while to quiet them down.
I'm going to work on this a few times a day. I really think we can do this.
I also found it interesting when that article stated that dogs think when they bark at a delivery person it causes that person to leave. It's only because they've already delivered the item and they are done! It's very interesting trying to understand my boys' behavior.