Comment

Comment by Beauty and the Beast on October 22, 2009 at 3:46pm

Second:
Oh he will definitely learn the bark-quiet-treat! Try shaking the jar or get one that you can actually throw in his direction. I mean not at him, but that way. Can filled with pebbles could be an option and I would even get a few. Make sure he doesn't see you do it. The message you're trying to get across is "when i bark bad loud things come flying at me".
Reward him when he's quiet for a long time, like laying on his bed nicely or chewing his bone.

Comment by Avyon on October 22, 2009 at 1:06pm

The quiet/can shake thing is working wonderfully :)

The problem now is he figured out the barking/me turning around thing. Which was funny when I realized he realized it. I would ask him to sit up.. and he would bark.. and I would turn around.... .... he trained me to do a trick!

So I ended up walking away and doing something in the kitchen for a moment or two which turned out to work instead. lol. So hopefully that will keep working.. oye.. y

Comment by Rachel on October 22, 2009 at 10:59am

The thing that worked with Izzie was whenever she'd start barking at the windows when she "heard" or "saw" something outside, I would tell her "quiet!" and when she stopped barking, gave her a treat and said "good girl." That way, she learned the command "quiet."

Comment by Avyon on October 21, 2009 at 8:48pm

The methods seem to be working so far. Especially the coin/jar idea. Except Im still fearful of him catching on as corgis do ;)

I think my big problem will be to get the roomies to keep up with it.

Comment by Bev Levy on October 21, 2009 at 8:42pm

Mine all go nuts over the stray cats! It happens a lot because we are on the edge of the neighborhood before the woods. Sparty really only barks at little sounds if one of us gone. He is always on high alert so he can let the person that is home know the other is back!

Comment by Beth on October 21, 2009 at 7:49pm

You know what's funny, though? Maddie, who is not a real big barker, will just bark at random stuff. A door closing, the sight of a dog we have seen dozens of times. Jack, who is my big barker, always is barking at something very specific. He will bark to get your attention, to tell you that a toy or bit of food went behind a piece of furniture, to let you know that someone is going by the house with a stroller. I have found the thing that really gets his dander up is if someone lets a loose dog run onto our property. He is very dog friendly, but boy do his hackles go up for a loose dog on the front lawn. Someone occasionally goes by at about midnight with two loose dogs that wander up near the house, and you would swear someone is coming through the front window with how furious that makes Jack sound.

We have an empty parking lot or two within earshot of the house, and like empty parking lots everywhere they sometimes draw nefarious-looking characters, so I have decided I'd rather be awakened occasionally at midnight to a false alarm than deal with the other alternatives.

It sounds like the methods you are using for Charlie are good ones! I might consider an electric collar for a dog who was, say, an escape artist who chased cars, but definitely not for barking. I think your methods should give you the results you want. Charlie will probably never be a quiet dog, but you can bring his barking to a manageable level.

Comment by Bev Levy on October 21, 2009 at 6:23pm

I would never use a shock collar to train a dog. They do make collars that whistle or emit a spray that might be ok. It sounds like you are doing well with the methods you are using. So far we have one big time barker out of three. Sparty loves to tell us about everything and we just have not been successful at convincing him to shut up! I finally gave up when people visit and just trained him to go sit on the top step so people can come into the house with out having him following them around barking. Izzy and my other corgi, Buffy, rarely bark. It is funny though, in Sparty's younger years we had a boat we spent most of our summers on. In the marinas you really could not have a dog that barked at everything so we were on top of it better than we were at home. He learned not to bark at every passerby. Now we camp and he is very good at our camp site. I think because we trained him in the small space of the boat that he really understood. Good luck with your training!

Comment by Beth on October 21, 2009 at 6:14pm

Jack is a big barker. I tolerate him barking when he does other commands, as long as he does the other command too. He doesn't really bark with obedience commands, only tricks, so I don't mind.

He's a big one for sounding the alarm. Honestly I consider it a good tradeoff for having one heck of a watch dog; if a car so much as idles on our street he will let us know. I have found a balance by going to look outside EVERY time he barks. If it's something I consider worthy of his barking, I say "good boy" and then say "It's ok" and usually then he'll stop. If it's something he should learn to ignore, like the paperboy, I just say "Jack, no" and he will, over time, stop barking at that thing. It's not instant, but it does work. The key is that I look and see what he's barking at. It seems to make him confident that I'm keeping an eye on things too and it's not all up to him.

He is, though, a very responsive dog. I know some dogs who once they start barking will not quit, and of course that would take a different management style to correct.

Comment by Melinda (Penny's Mom) on October 21, 2009 at 4:31pm

My Penny is a barker too...she will run outside and bark randomly at nothing, or bark to get my attention...I've been working with her but the whole outside thing seems to be a loss!