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Old 03-30-2006, 10:56 AM   #14
FirstYorkie
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: American in London
Posts: 1,739
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I've also taught a "quiet" command which usually works pretty well.

To teach quiet, when Joey was barking, I said "quiet" and in that one second that he stopped to listen to me, I said "GOOD! GOOD Quiet!". If he was still quiet while listening, he got "GOOD quiet. You're such a good boy. Let's go get your treat!". I gradually increased the length of time that I expected him to be quiet before he got his praise and his treat.

As far as the barking at strangers, from what I've read, you need to drastically increase her exposure to new people. Take her for MORE walks, not less. Take her to places where there are alot of people. While there, do as Julie suggested and try to distract your dog and give lots of treats when NOT barking. Do NOT reward barking with your attention. Dogs are like kids - negative attention is better than no attention.

I wish I had seen your original post. I would have told you to stop tapping her on the nose for barking at strangers. Strangers are stressful to her. She barks because she thinks you and she might be in danger. Tapping her on the nose increases her stress level and "adds fuel to the fire". So does yelling at her. She thinks "strangers come. they're scary. even mom gets scared. i know she does cause she starts barking (yelling) and lashing out".

As far as the night-time barking, I would do 2 things. I'd try to wear her out more in the evenings. Take her for those walks we talked about above. I would also consider buying a DAP diffuser. Vets here carry them; I'm sure they do in the States, too. You might even be able to find it online. It emits a scent that is soothing to dogs. It takes several days to build up, but if you're losing sleep, it might be worth looking into.

This is long. Hopefully, there's something here that you'll find useful.
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