Problem child

My Mollie is a 10 month old welsh corgi. She seems to be the dog from hell! When we got her, I drove 3 hours and she pick me. She was the runt of the litter. Only weighed 4 pounds. She was so precious. She ended up having to be in an oxygen tank for 3 days. That trip cost us almost 3 grand. She is much better. Now all she does is bark at everything! She keeps us up at night. We go outside and she barks. Right now we are in the living room watching a movie and out of no where she barks. Does anyone have any suggestions?

1 member likes this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tami Whitehouse on November 18, 2012 at 11:01am

What is the nilif program?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Beth on November 18, 2012 at 12:04pm

NILIF stands for "Nothing in Life is Free" and it's a lifestyle adjustment used to show dogs you are a strong, confident leader. It can be used for dogs who challenge authority, or for dogs who come from chaotic backgrounds and don't trust leadership. It's a very good program and I use bits of it with my own dogs.

However, alert-barking is a trait that dogs of any status will use. Confident, pushy dogs will alert bark but so will submissive people-pleasers. Some alert bark more than others. But since we have selectively bred dogs for thousands of years for this trait, it's really not entirely fair to the dog to just expect them to stop.

The best way to reduce it for most dogs is the program outlined above, where you acknowledge that you heard the dog, understand what she's barking at, and have determined it's not a threat.

What I usually do with Jack is if it's an obvious noise I can hear (a loud car, say), I say "I hear it, Jack. It's ok." If it's people or something outside, I look out the window, say "I see them Jack. It's ok."

The tough one is wild or stray animals on the property, because then he's angry and not alerting (I can hear the difference in his bark). In that case, I have found a sort of "How DARE he?" said in a huff helps him see that I recognize the intrusion and am put off by it too. But again, that's the hardest scenario and the only one where he is likely to ignore me.