Barking mad
I have a 6 month old and completely mad OES called Phoebe. She is wonderful and we wouldn't be without her - however she will not stop barking. Although it is understandable that she is going to bark when she wants to go out - saves any puddles - she constantly barks at us as if she wants something. We always make sure she's well walked and fed and we play with her and give her cuddles but the moment we sit down to eat or relax she starts barking. We have just started putting her in the garden for 5 or 10 minutes (she has access to the garage and water when she is outside) and then letting her back in but even then she'll just bark. In the evenings it takes ages for her to settle down. Are we forgetting something obvious that we should be doing?  |
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| Just a thought: when she barks (behavior), she gets your attention (reward). By giving her attention when she barks, you are reinforcing her behavior. Try ignoring her - it may take a long time at first for her to quit barking. When she quits, then give her your attention with the praise "no bark, good girl" or some response you will use consistently. If she barks again, repeat the negative response (ignoring, etc.). |
| And also - catch her randomly being good (not barking, or any other behavior you LIKE) and praise her for it.
Think of it like a scale - you want it to balance out. If you are giving negatives for an undesired behavior, you need to be praising the positive behaviors at least that much. If all she hears is no, gets time outs or other things like that, she will get frustrated or more upset. She needs to get lots of praise for the good behaviors so she has some incentive to change. |
| I like George's advice.
Have you done any obedience training with her? Another option is to teach her the command for "bark" and then another command for "quiet". |
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