You Won The Prize!!!!! (Try This Quick Fix For OCD Barking)

[yorkietalkjilly]

I like the sound of this quick fix for someone who has an OCD type barking issue with a dog but no time to enter into an program of obedience training, life enrichment and exercise to teach a dog how to control its impulses, enjoy the bonding and teamwork of training and games, gain a full appreciation of how learning to obey commands and please you is his gateway to his best life and fulfillment and take in some high-quality exercise together to improve his energy level and health and work out some tensions and anxieties. You can literally modify any dog's bad behavior and change him or her into a model pet with just a little time, gentle patience, love and fun together and needn't always be looking for quick fixes or constant help with this problem or that through simple training, keeping a dog's life interesting and challenging and seeing that it exercises regularly with you.

But until you do, if you have a bad barker, here is something that might work for some of you, "borrowed" directly from a website called Clicker Solutions. Here's the training article called "You Won The Prize!" and it's by Kathy Johnson:

ClickerSolutions Training Articles -- "You Won the Prize!"

[yorkietalkjilly]

Using Chrome this morning, the browser wouldn't open the link to this website up very fast at all but on IE it did. I just copied it as best I could for those that might have a hard time linking to it. Sorry for the loss of formatting,etc.

"You Won the Prize!"

"You won the prize" originated, I believe, with Susan Garrett. The author of this post does a fabulous job explaining it, however.

My female Sandy is just about driving me nuts. She barks at everything that comes to the door and I can't get her to stop. I started with having her on lead and focused on me when I know for example the pizza guy is going to come.

I have used bitter apple and that works sometimes. The main goal for this is that I don't expect the barking to stop 100%, she's a dog, I know that. I would like for her to stop when I tell her to though. If she is at the window barking I can do a recall and reward that, but like I said, the barking at times is more rewarding.

Try the "you won a prize" method. It's basically a time-out, but given so cheerfully that the dog doesn't seem to realize it's in trouble. I used this quite successfully with my greyhound girl Allegra, who was seriously trying to break through an 8-foot-wide picture window several times a day to get to passing squirrels, dogs, kids on skates, cats, crows, mailmen, trash collectors, etc. I got this idea from someone whose dog would not stay off the kitchen table. It requires that you become a world-class actor--the whole point is to never show that you are angry, just give the dog a very short time out **every** time the forbidden transgression occurs.

When your dog barks, just say "You won a prize! " in the most disgustingly chirpy voice you can muster, then go take her collar and cheerfully and gently put her into a crate or a room that's located in a remote area of the house, where she will spend the next 2 to 5 minutes totally alone. Set a timer so you don't forget her. When it goes off, let her out again immediately, and wait for the next incident. You MUST be totally consistent or this won't work.

It took Allegra less than 7 days to go from a screaming maniac who was in danger of killing herself on the picture window glass 10 times or more a day, to a dog who was literally gurgling as she tried to swallow her barks before I heard her. She never once acted as if she'd been "punished", and she would cheerfully RUN, tail wagging, to our basement for her "prize" time-out. After a few weeks of awarding "prizes", I cut the time down to 30 seconds unless the object of her attention was still hanging around outside. After a while, she learned to bark just once, then come and get me to go see what was out there. She's even gotten so I can call her off of fence-fighting with the pitbull-mix next door, one of her all-time favorite activities. All I have to do is ask her if she *wants* a prize, and she comes over to me grinning and wagging happily, and the fence-fight is over. I've been "awarding prizes" for about a year or so now, and she is down to maybe 3 or 4 prizes per *month* on average, some months she gets none at all. It sounds weird, but it really, truly works.

But... *grin* If you don't reward getting into the crate then how do you know the dog wont run away from you when it sees you coming -- to escape having to go into the crate. Especially since most dogs would see it as a negative thing. Even if you are happy about it.

That's the whole point. You don't MAKE it a negative thing. It's a happy-happy-joy-joy-honey-sweetie-doggie-dearest, you just won a wonderful prize sort of thing. The dog won't have any negative body language or sounds to associate with having done something "bad". It's a tad confusing to them at first, but I've used it on two dogs now with the same exact effects. (I'm currently using it on Allegra's aunt, who's boarding with us). The dogs quit what they're doing and get all excited to see what their "prize" is going to be this time! It's always the same, a couple minutes of isolation, followed by a quiet, calm release. But they are fooled (or agree to go along with me) every time. There is no need for a treat to make it a not-negative thing, because it's NOT a negative thing. It's neutral!

I just saw Melissa's response to your post:

"That's why the suggestion is to intentionally be positive. Hey -- he won the prize!! It's up to him to decide whether or not he wants to win the prize. If not, he probably shouldn't play the game."
That's exactly it. After several prizes, the dog quickly learns that this is the new result of barking (or climbing on the table, or whatever). Every time, bar none. If he doesn't want to win that particular prize, he won't bark, or whatever is winning him those prizes. After he figures out what makes you DO that, it's the dog's choice to continue to perform that behavior or not, same as with clicker training!

I swear to you, this works and it does no damage to the dog's psyche. <smile> My brat girl Allegra is one incredibly sensitive dog when it comes to punishment. I nearly ruined her with "traditional training" (choke chain and lots of yanking) before I discovered positive reinforcement/motivational training/clicker training/call it what you will. She literally wilts physically if she's punished for anything, becomes a crawling pile of shivering black brindle fur. She has responded to the "prize" method for reducing the frequency of unwanted behaviors better than she has to **anything** I've ever done with her before, and she has responded with a sincere "doggy smile" and a wagging tail every time.

Kathy Johnson

conuremom@home.com
copyright 2001 Kathy Johnson

[McheleM]

I might try this with Allie. She is a horrible barker, and nothing else seems to be working. And 3 am barking at shadows and whatever else it is she hears or see or smells wakes up the entire house.

[kjc]

I do something similar with Tink, and it does work. I had to desensitize her from 'getting her butt beaten', as she's had abuse issues, so using that phrase when she behaving badly but doing something in a positive manner has made it a good thing for her now. Now when I say,' Get over here so I can beat your butt', they all 4 line up for a butt petting session, tails wagging and pushing through to get closest to me. Main thing is it becomes a distraction from the bad behavior, effectively stopping it, so that works for me.

Bad thing though is we have trash and recycling pickup here 3 nights.... early morning here, and she's gotten better but that's been the hardest to overcome. I really don't want her ignoring noises in the night either.

[AllDogBoots]

I am going to try this with cooper and max. It makes sense that it would work.

[kjc]

Want to add that with mine, even harsh or loud talk will make them run for the hills and hurt their feelings. I've gotten so much further in training and corrections by being kind and compassionate, and our bonds have become so much stronger as a result.

[AllDogBoots]

I tried it twice and the problem I'm having is that they are now barking from their prize rooms.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by AllDogBoots

I tried it twice and the problem I'm having is that they are now barking from their prize rooms.

Now there are truly committed little barkers! Wish I could see that!

Patience! All is not lost. Don't expect them to get the message right away or an obsessive little barker to give up on his coping mechanism the first day. LOL - as long-time dog-owners, we more than most know Quick Fixes with most dogs are rarely that successful within the first day but do usually take less time than a whole behavior-modification program. Most Quick Fixes do take about two weeks of absolute consistent cause and effect with stubborn habits before our little furrbutts begin to see a pattern and make a connection, begin to learn to control their obsession. I never put much stock in Quick Fixes to achieve much except as a tool in a whole program of behavior reshaping but I'd give this time to work and send a message that "winning" is going to mean going off into another room every single time all day and night for the next 14 days. Still, no doubt this works for some dogs as it did for the lady who wrote about it and the original lady who is spoken of in the article and no doubt for other dogs. If you have doggies that still keep barking in the crate "win" after "win", hour after hour, day after day, it's going to take a consistent program alone with each dog to help each begin to control himself and his barking habit. It would be like asking me to give up my Diet Cokes - that's going to take a while.

You might try covering the crate the crate completely so no light is showing when the barking in the crate starts, remove it when the dog is quiet, but keep your attitude happy and not intimidating or angry as you cover that crate! After all, he's just won the prize!

[AllDogBoots]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

Now there are truly committed little barkers! Wish I could see that!

Patience! All is not lost. Don't expect them to get the message right away or an obsessive little barker to give up on his coping mechanism the first day. LOL - as long-time dog-owners, we more than most know Quick Fixes with most dogs are rarely that successful within the first day but do usually take less time than a whole behavior-modification program. Most Quick Fixes do take about two weeks of absolute consistent cause and effect with stubborn habits before our little furrbutts begin to see a pattern and make a connection, begin to learn to control their obsession. I never put much stock in Quick Fixes to achieve much except as a tool in a whole program of behavior reshaping but I'd give this time to work and send a message that "winning" is going to mean going off into another room every single time all day and night for the next 14 days. Still, no doubt this works for some dogs as it did for the lady who wrote about it and the original lady who is spoken of in the article and no doubt for other dogs. If you have doggies that still keep barking in the crate "win" after "win", hour after hour, day after day, it's going to take a consistent program alone with each dog to help each begin to control himself and his barking habit. It would be like asking me to give up my Diet Cokes - that's going to take a while.

You might try covering the crate the crate completely so no light is showing when the barking in the crate starts, remove it when the dog is quiet, but keep your attitude happy and not intimidating or angry as you cover that crate! After all, he's just won the prize!

Great advice My personal issue now is that I feel badly because they didn't get to see the mail truck this morning! Maybe when they learn to stop barking they can actually enjoy seeing her deliver mail rather than attack each other during the process.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Personally I just let Tibbe bark at certain things such as the mailman and garbage truck and squirrels as "doggie therapy" but should he just go on until I'm uncomfortable or I think he's going too long, he's trained to stop and be quiet on command for great reward and Mommie's great pride in his ability to stop and say quiet. The reward he gets for stopping is greater than his enjoyment of barking so he thinks it's a good deal.

[yorkietalkjilly]

bumping

[lynzy420]

Ok, I've been running around shrieking "You've won a prize" since you posted this thread....I shriek it out in a God Awful voice every time Vinnie starts barking at the vacuum....I shriek it out, run, scoop him up and put him in his playpen....ITS WORKING...he stands there in his playpen staring out like "ok I won the prize, where is my prize" the look of dumbfounded on his face is priceless!!! Love this and its working!

[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by lynzy420

Ok, I've been running around shrieking "You've won a prize" since you posted this thread....I shriek it out in a God Awful voice every time Vinnie starts barking at the vacuum....I shriek it out, run, scoop him up and put him in his playpen....ITS WORKING...he stands there in his playpen staring out like "ok I won the prize, where is my prize" the look of dumbfounded on his face is priceless!!! Love this and its working!

Haha. Glad it's working. It sounded like it could be a positive tool and I LOVE that it's all happy, upbeat & positive, treated like a big win for the dog.

Man, I'd love to have a barking dog to use this on and video the various looks on the dog's face once he begins to figure it all out!!!!!! What a hoot that would be.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Bumping.

[ilovejoel]

This is a great idea! I'm going to try this with Joel since he's tuned out my "you're in trouble" voice. Not for barking but getting on the table and desk aaand the dresser, lol