I am having a problem with Bella that I would like you all to help me with, please...

Bella has started this habit of barking when she is stressed. I know I probably reinforced this at some time, but I just can't figure out when I did it...

She used to go through the normal progression from soft whine to louder whine to shrill crazy noises and then, finally, barking. But now it is just barking for about 10-15 seconds with no build up to it. For instance, if I get up in the morning and go to the bathroom...barking. Sometimes when I go into the kitchen to make her food, or even when I am feeding the cat in there, she barks. I would say it is because she can't see me, but there if I go into one of the bedrooms, she might whine, but no barking.

I just did an experiment this morning, and I held my bathroom for about 15 minutes, and then got her out and made her down next to her crate in the living room. Usually when I have her out of the crate, I take her with me to go to the bathroom. So, I halfway expected her to at least whine because she was practcally in the same place as her kennel, but nothing. She was not at all stressed, just lying there with her head in between her paws. So, I think it is having to do with being in the crate.

I have read a few threads on SA, and whining and barking in the crate, and I found a few suggestions to try to re-create the scene where she barks and come out of the bathroom just before she barks about 1000 times and praise her for not barking. My question is do I just come out of the bathroom door and say "good girl" or do I walk calmly over to the crate and give her a treat, or what?

I have also considered getting a bark collar, but I have read in some of the threads that some people are of the opinion that the bark collar increases stress in the kennel, which I don't want to do. Is this a viable option at this point?

Have you tried just ignoring her and what was the result?

I do not let my dogs out of their crates (except for the puppies) until they have been completely silent for several minutes. I just carry on my business pretending like they are not even there until they shut up and go back to sleep. Before I had this litter of puppies, I would be up for like 1/2 hour before I even let the dogs out. They get used to it and stop fretting in their cages. So (If you are not disabled and Bella is not your assistance dog) don't bring her in the bathroom with you in the morning until she has broken this habit. I think she is fretting because she is anxious for you to come and LET HER OUT.

What kind of cage does she have? If it is a wire crate, try putting a blanket over it to make it like a den.

Where is the crate located? With my female, I had her in the basement and she cried for weeks until I finally moved her crate upstairs. Now she loves it.

Angela, I really appriciate the reply! Thank you...

 Quote: angela burrell

Have you tried just ignoring her and what was the result?

I always ignore her when she whines, but when she does this barking thing I am in another room. I just stay in that room for a few minutes, and wait for her to stop making noise before I come back into view.

 Quote: angela burrell

I do not let my dogs out of their crates (except for the puppies) until they have been completely silent for several minutes. I just carry on my business pretending like they are not even there until they shut up and go back to sleep. Before I had this litter of puppies, I would be up for like 1/2 hour before I even let the dogs out. They get used to it and stop fretting in their cages. So (If you are not disabled and Bella is not your assistance dog) don't bring her in the bathroom with you in the morning until she has broken this habit. I think she is fretting because she is anxious for you to come and LET HER OUT.

I guess I wasn't clear. During the day, I keep her with me. So, if I go to the bathroom, I take her with me. (She isn't an assistance dog, I just keep her with me at all times, or in the crate.) I only included that info because I thought there was a chance she was barking because she didn't like me to go into the bathroom without her being there. But I don't think that makes much sense. And because she didn't bark today when I had let her out but kept her away from the bathroom in a down, I think it shows that it isn't the case...I think she just wants to get out of the crate.

I also don't get her out for about 15-30 minutes, and I don't really look at her during this time. I just try to go about my buisness, and when she lays back down and relaxes for awhile, I will get her out.

 Quote: angela burrell

What kind of cage does she have? If it is a wire crate, try putting a blanket over it to make it like a den.

Where is the crate located? With my female, I had her in the basement and she cried for weeks until I finally moved her crate upstairs. Now she loves it.

She does have a wire crate, so I will try adding a blanket, as you suggest...

The crate is in the living room. We live in a two bedroom apartment. I think she likes her crate. Every time I say "kennel" she goes right on in. But after being in there all night, I can understand how she wants to get out.

Someone suggested (maybe Whole Dog Journal) that you could not only wait for quiet to open the door of the crate, but you could also actually look for and reward quiet being-in-crate.

It was kind of a good POV reminder for me, to remember to look out for and reinforce wanted behavior, even though it's unwanted behavior that usually grabs our attention.

I have been trying to remember that!

The crate is right here by the computer, so sometimes when I am sitting on the computer in the morning, I will pull a treat out of my pocket and give it to her if she is quiet. But, I don't remember to do this on a daily basis, so I am sure it isn't working too well. I will try to focus on this.

How should I deliver the treat when I am going out of view to try to get her to understand that her quiet is what gets the treat? Should I just give verbal praise with a learned command. I.E. "Good quiet." Or should I just walk over and treat? Or should I treat and say "Good quiet?"

What about the fact that she recieves no correction for this? This is why I am considering getting a bark collar. If she doesn't get a correction for the bark, how can she know that she shouldn't do it?

She won't really learn that she "shouldn't", she will just learn that "it doesn't work" to get her what she wants.

I posted on here a while back about a male foster I have that would carry on in his crate when I took other dogs out. Eventually I was able to let him out with the other dogs, but I let him out last. He no longer carries on when I let the others out first, I think just with the passage of time (weeks) he figured out that barking and whining didn't work. Now he lays quietly. I don't think I did anything other than just not letting him out until he was quiet. It just took him a while.

 Quote: angela burrell

She won't really learn that she "shouldn't", she will just learn that "it doesn't work" to get her what she wants.

Would the bark collar teach her that she shouldn't bark? I am not advocating this method, just asking questions.

 Quote: angela burrell

I posted on here a while back about a male foster I have that would carry on in his crate when I took other dogs out. Eventually I was able to let him out with the other dogs, but I let him out last. He no longer carries on when I let the others out first, I think just with the passage of time (weeks) he figured out that barking and whining didn't work. Now he lays quietly. I don't think I did anything other than just not letting him out until he was quiet. It just took him a while.

The previous owner probably gave the dog attention when she whined, but I adopted her about 5 months ago. So, I have been using the ignore method for quite awhile now. I just can't wait for her to get it. Perhaps I need to work on my timing when I get her out.

I want to add here, I heard Bella whining in the crate this morning and I said, "Oh great, here we go again..." Well, I ignored her whining, which progressed to crazier whining, then barking. I thought something was wrong, and I was right. When I came out about 30-40 minutes later(this is how long it took her to stop making noise) I smelled the culprit. Big ol' pile of poo poo in her kennel. Super!

Should I have investigated the situation when I heard her bark? Will this reinforce her barking to get my attention when I don't want her to?

This kind of thing will happen when you're crate training puppies. Let 'em carry on in the crate but then there will come a day when there is a real reason for all that noise. It can be hard to distinguish a "let me out" whine from a "I gotta go NOW" whine.

I see no reason why you can't walk by and check it out. It's letting her out that will reinforce the barking. You should be able to move about your home freely without being "nagged", IMO.

If you strongly suspect the whining is a "potty" whine you could take her out to potty but then right back in the crate where she must remain quiet before she's let out.

Bella's 2, right? So she's a big girl now and should be able to hold it. You haven't had any housebreaking isssues with her? If not, then I'll guess that sticking to your guns may have caused her to work herself into a more anxious, frenzied state, stimulating her to poop.

This seems similar to dealing with kids. They up the ante, their behavior gets worse before it gets better, until they realize it doesn't get them anywhere. Your job is to remain calm and consistent, no matter what she does. You'll win this battle of wills...Bella just doesn't know that yet

Wowee!

She just gave me some hell after getting back from the store today!

I walked in and went around the corner into the kitchen to put stuff away and Bark, bark, bark...bark, bark....for about a full minute this time! I was trying to wait her out, but she wasn't going to stop. So, I stepped around the corner and said calmly, "Now, come on, Bella. Why don't you just lay down and be quiet? Don't you know that's what is going to get you out?" I have no idea why I did this, it just came out. Well, she stopped barking, and I went back around the corner, still not barking for a few seconds, so I grabbed a few treats and said "Good girl!" and treated her. Since I started working on the computer here, she did lay down and now she is chillin'.

I just don't understand why she has started barking like this. I should also mention that she has also started barking at my GF on the way in the door. And this is out of the crate. Now she is barking at me. I feel like this is very disrespectful. That is why I want to correct it with a bark collar.

It seems to me that she shouldn't be acting like this without permission from the pack leader, let alone directing it towards the pack leader. Does this mean she doesn't respect me? Is this just a phase that will pass?

Rick, I do think it's a phase BUT NOT one that will pass on it's own. To me, it's a dog being bossy, telling you what it wants you to do and you better do it now type mentality. It's probably due to her age. Teenage time. Ask me how I know....hmmmm :smirk:

This is NOT what I think young puppies are doing (the bossy thing), so for other readers, please don't take it that way. Young puppies are a completely different thing. Rick's dog is however coming of age and pushing a bit, IMO.