Quote:
Originally Posted by GrayC25  Our 3-year-old Yorkie, Samson, is starting to become a real barker. He is completely fine on walks and mostly ignores other dogs that bark at him. However, when he is in his on home (and sees a person/dog/animal out the front door or windows) he barks like crazy! No one likes to have a dog - big or small - barking at them. I don't know how to stop him.
We moved into our house in November. Before that, we lived on a second floor condo that faced the courtyard, so he didn't really see many people or animals. He would bark once in a while, but not like this.
I have a feeling we have the beginnings of an alpha dog in our hands and I would like to put an end to it. He sometimes growls when he has a bone on our bed and one of us moves around him or when he's eating and someone walks closely by him. He also hops up on furniture when uninvited. I pointed this out to my husband and he said "I want my dog on the bed with me" and I said "I do too, but he should only come up when invited!" I have printed out some papers and have tried to talk to my husband about it, but he seems disinterested. He seems to think the way Samson acts is okay, but I don't. I want to get his under control.
How do I work on the barking? I really, really, REALLY don't even want to consider a shock collar, but what about a beeper collar? Are those effective at all? What else can work with barking? What does training a dog to "speak" do to help with excessive barking at other animals/people? I don't even know if I'd know how to train him to bark on command.
Does anyone have any suggestions to help with the barking and maybe some of the other issues?
THANK YOU!!! |
Yorkies are barkers that's for sure lol. When Alice or my Beagle (they're the two barkers here) barks at something out the window or a noise, whatever, I just block them and stand in front of them in my "alpha" stance and they stop immediatly. You just have to keep stopping him every single time and eventually it gets less and less, but don't count on it ever stopping completely lol, it's just how this breed tends to be, you can limited it though with consistancy. Now that I've had Alice for a little over 2 months, usually I only have to snap my finger towards her and say "shhh". It's probably the new location too, if he couldn't see out windows as much before, alot of the sights probably seem different to him. If Alice is really on a ripper and starts up again after I walk away, I pick her up and make direct eye contact so she knows I mean business.
For the food guarding, you can teach him "leave it" - put him on his leash and put a treat or a toy he loves on the floor, as he aproaches it quickly but gently tug on the leash and start walking with him away from it and say "leave it" as you tug. Repeat until you only need the command and don't have to make him walk away. Make him sit before you give each meal too. I wouldn't let him eat a bone on your bed at all, make him eat it on the floor, don't let him dominate your bed like that. When I first got each of my dogs as puppies, I'd put my hand in the bowl as they were eating and the slightest protest out of them, the food got taken away, then I'd make them sit again before they got it back, repeat. If he growls while chewing a bone, give him the leave it command and he can't have it back until he's calm.
It sounds like you have a good idea about how you should handle your dog and you're 110% right that he should only come on your bed or the couch if you invite him
As far as getting your husband to listen to you, good luck with that and if you figure it out, by all means let me know how LOL. Seriously though, maybe pick up some of Cesar Millan's books and let him read them. They're really easy to read and make sooo much sense he won't be able to deny the wisdom there.
Good luck
