Barking at Mama...
 

My yorkie Jack gets randomly insane when we are playing with toys or sometimes just sitting in the house and especially if i tell him no when he bites me. he'll start barking and barking and barking... he's to fast to catch- i've been told to hold his mouth shut. i've started walking away from him and he'll stop and follow me, but it isn't enough to calm him all the way down. in a couple minutes he'll start again. i've recently started time-outs in his pen with no toys, but he still persists. he never does any of this to my husband, or guests, just mama. any suggestions?

:eek:

Sounds like hes trying to get you to play with him. Mickey will get his toys out and bark at me too. all he wants to do is play. If thats what yours is doing then you shouldnt give him time out for it.

i'm already playing with him when he starts most of the time. he'll stand right in front of me, and let me have it. even if i tell him to get his kitty (to throw to him again) he doesn't stop. could it be a control issue?

I think hes just trying to talk to you in the only way he knows how. When your playing with him I think hes letting you know he doesnt want to stop. I dont believe its anything to worr about.

My Rowdy did this too when he was about 4 months old. It was almost like backtalking. Sometimes he'd do it when he wanted me to play and sometimes he'd do it when I told him "no" about something. It really got on my nerves. When I would tell him "no bark" he would just bark right back at me. I finally decided to do what his dog mom might do if he were misbehaving (I've seen them grab their puppies by the nape of the neck) - so I picked him up by his harness and shook him (gently) and said NO! in a real real stern voice. Boy did it startle him!!! It only took 3 times of the shake treatment to completely stop the barking at me. He never started again.

I think it might be that or maybe I have been watching too much Dog Whisperer..LOL...but I think you need to shwo him who is the boss and be assertive an in control. I would ignore the behavior and refuse play with him when he is acting like that. At least that is what Caesar Milan would say...I think...... :confused:

I agree with Kim anytime you react to bad or unwanted behavior
you are only reinforcing it by giving them what they ultimately
want "attention"

omg.... toby does this backtalking thing too, it bigs the hell out of me.... i usually say no bark (and then he does a quiter "talking" thing) i tell him no and he does it even quiter... ill have to try the shake thing

I agree with Kim and Shelly - A dog will do this to demand your attention. You don't want him demanding anythingfrom you, because he will think he controls you. (He controls when you play with him and how you play with him.) The best thing to do is drop the toys get up, turn away from him with arms crossed in front of you, with your head slightly lifted so he does not have access to your eyes. As he continues to bark he may walk around to face you. If he does that keep turning you body away from him. At some point he will stop barking and you should tell him good boy, but not play with him again. If he starts barking again, you will begin the ignor process again. If he stops barking tell him good boy again and then walk away. (in the meantime you are saying absolutely nothing to him like "no bark" or "bad boy", because even negative attention is attention). At some point you should play with him again, but only after he is quiet and he is being good and NOT demanding your attention by bring toys to you, etc. You want to play with him in your own time, not his. This is how you regain control from him. You do it your way not his.

You may need to do this several times over a period of a few days, before he gets the hint. Just be consistent.

I agree 100% with this! You explained it very well. Social isolation is the first corrective step that mamma-dog will use with her pups and it can be a very powerful tool.

Shaking carries some risk and may aggravate the problem.