Quote: Linda West

It's just that it has been getting worse and worse and I am wondering what's going on.

I agree with Leih that this sounds like upping the ante and that the very worst thing you could possibly do now is reward the dog's redoubled efforts.

Barbara's mention of exercise is so important. It's hard sometimes to see the connection, but a dog filled with frustrated energy has to find a way to release it. Sometimes it's chewing (even on himself), sometimes it's pacing or tail-chasing, sometimes it's barking.

Hello and thanks for the reply,
Yes, I do take them out for at least 30-45 min walks every day when the weather is nice. See they are hairless and as such they have special care requirements. Their skin is so ultra sensitive that if the ground is wet their feet get full of cuts and bruises from sand and small stones. So I can't take them out when the ground is wet. If it is too cold I can't take them out either since the older one got frostbite on his ears about three years ago from just going out to potty in the back yard. I am trying to teach them to walk on the treadmill so that they can at least get their exercise that way. It's a work in progress though.

Thanks,

Lenka

There have been three or four threads on here filled with suggestions for bad-weather indoor dog exercise. Have you seen any of them? I could dig some up a bit later.

Also, remember that physical exercise paired with mental exercise is even better than just physical exercise.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

I would first make very very sure that the dog is not being rewarded externally in any way at all (including negative attention and including having the trigger go away).

Then, because barking is one of the things that has a built-in reward for the dog, which for me means that it's one of the few behaviors that may not extinguish even when you never reward it, I would train no-bark.

But first, I would really look at the goings-on when the dog barks. Even ask someone else to get another set of eyeballs on it in case you are missing something after doing it habitually.

Only trigger is the sound of the other dog outside. Dog only starts out there and stops by the time you get to the front door. When other people are present, she is quiet. If she knows someone is near her room where she is crated, she is quiet. Also let me add that this only happens at my house, with my own other dogs, and only in the crate. I feel my only option if I wanted to fix her noise is a bark collar.

Also for me at least, I don't like teaching my dogs no bark. Reason is simple, I'd have to teach them to bark. This is the only time my dog ever makes a peep. She is very quiet otherwise and I figure I can deal with a 2 minute noise making session a day and have a near perfect dog otherwise. I hope that is understandable and mean no disrespect by that.

I wanted to ask this because I wanted to see if there was another option for me as well as to let others know that it can be self rewarding and it might not stop like in my case after many years of ignoring the behavior. Let me say again, I'm not asking to waste anyones time and teaching no bark is a great tool. It just doesn't work for me in my situation. Thank you.

- Lamarr

I'm with you: I also do not teach bark/no bark.

The topic of teaching bark to teach no-bark has been addressed here many times, with a majority (including me) maintaining that you need to really think it through and be careful what you wish for with teaching bark

BUT .... with a dog who is already barking, I'd teach no-bark.

I'd wait for a silence and mark it instantly, exactly the way you would if you were free-shaping any behavior.

" Only trigger is the sound of the other dog outside. " That makes your setup much easier.

I did do a search for bad weather exercise and indoor exercise. This may sound silly to you guys but what do people mean by "mind games" for dogs?
thanks,

Lenka

Anything that makes them think and solve a problem.

It was surprising to me how quickly marking quiet worked with Billy. Its different now that he gets rewarded for good barking, but as puppy, he picked it up easily.

 Quote: Barbara Schuler

 Quote: Dave Ferguson

A while back I was not a big fan of marker training. Then, we started using it on horses that needed to be rehab'ed. Horses that had many bad riders, bad bridle work, aggressive handlers ect ect. It worked amazing.

So, I thought. Well, I will give this a try with dogs. It worked beyond my expectations, far beyond. There are many ways to marker train. If you have not looked into this, I would take a look at it.

Yet one more happy convert!! It is amazing, isn't it? Of course, knowing what I will do for a good piece of chocolate, the concept came very easily to me.

Hahaha. You have a point Barb!

 Quote: Linda West

I did do a search for bad weather exercise and indoor exercise.

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=15&Number=120195&Searchpage=1&Main=13235&Words=fishing+Connie+Sutherland&topic=0&Search=true#Post120195

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=15&Number=93037&Searchpage=1&Main=10135&Words=fishing+Connie+Sutherland&topic=0&Search=true#Post93037