No, why are you "hoping" for that? Or, is HE hoping for that (a "barkback")?

Now that I read my first answer, I see that of course it's him hoping for a barkfest.

I couldn't/wouldn't live with that. I'm afraid neither could/would my neighbors, if it was my dog starting the festival.

So my dog wouldn't be outside alone until that was trained away.


JMO, though.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

I couldn't/wouldn't live with that. I'm afraid neither could/would my neighbors, if it was my dog starting the festival.

So my dog wouldn't be outside alone until that was trained away.

JMO, though.

If your dog indulges in his BARK-A-THONS while you are outside With Him, here is something that used to work for a pitbull my son's previous roomie had a few years ago:

BEFORE taking that dog out in their backyard, they would "load him up" with his FAVE TOY to carry around while he conducted Perimeter Patrol and did his "outside business" -- He would hold onto that TOY for dear life & could NOT bark loudly with his Mouth Full, although he still managed to emit muffled woofs which were no big deal ... Not a permanent solution like training the No Bark command, but it might help as a stop-gap measure (???)

Gahaha that sounds Hillarious. Doesn't work on this guy. He'll drop it at his feet, bark, and then pick it up. Connie, the neighbors complained once, and it drives me nuts.

John, may have missed it but have mentioned how much training/exercise/fun burning off energy stuff this dog gets?

I am curious and would like to know.

I have never developed as a trainer of behaviour issues simply because my dogs are too gassed out to bother with crappy behaviour, seems 99.999999999999999999999999999999999% of problems on the forums are due to dogs being bored, that simple, at least as far as I can tell.

I just took him out for a ride next to my bike. Nothing crazy, I just had him run next to me through the neighborhood to get an idea of how he would be on the trails. I am literally shocked at how good he was. I got him running about 6 ft off my left side for about 3 miles. Right past people walking their lunging, barking dogs. You should have seen their faces as this perfectly behaved, jacked, 100lb American Bulldog just strolled right past them and their barking collies without a care in the world. He broke heel twice to pee, and when cars would pass I'd stop, have him come all the way to me, and sit next to me.

there you go, awesome news. gas that....dog out.

may I suggest a caution to a prob I just come across, get some mushers secret or the stuff Ed here sells as dogs pads can get a hammering running on roads, and look out for heat-stoke/dehydration.

hey john , with respect to number 2 . . .

first rule of eliminating behaviours you don't want , is you don't allow them to happen in the first place .

so , until he gets the idea that you are not his personal fight toy , you don't just let him out . he goes out on lead with you where you lead him to do his outside business . do not let him engage you with his game . walk purposefully to where you want him to go , and then you occupy him with the things you want to do with him , like tug or some quick upbeat OB or the mountain bike ride . the main thing is you are directing the action and you will play with him when , where and how you want to play .

as for the GF and roommate , it is your responsibility to see that your dog does not impact their lives in a negative way . so until the dog gets the idea that you are directing things , they should not have to deal with with him unless he is supervised by you .

which leads me to my next point . . . is this dog crate trained , and if so , is the crate an integral part of his everyday life ? the crate can be used very effectively as a training tool : " i don't like the way you play right now , how about you take a time out in there ? " . . . not punishment , not malicious , not angry tone , just " i don't want to play with you like that , see you in a bit ".

also the crate serves as his comfort place , so you can use that in the vehicle to help get him over that source of anxiety as well .

as for the barking thing , it's pretty tough for the dog to determine on his own when you want him to bark and when you don't . i'd start by teaching both the " speak " command and conversely , a " quiet " command , both rewardable behaviours that you can apply appropriately to each situation as they present themselves .

Marker training does not mean rewarding with food. You can marker train using any reward system. My dog will work for just a release. Tug, ball tosses, praise... there are many rewards that you can mark with.

agreed duane , but john , you should understand , regarding marker training , is that the dog has to want what you have , so if it is food you are going to use as the reward , it is helpful if the dog is hungry , like maybe really hungry . . . it won't hurt the dog to miss a couple of meals .

furthermore , to do a " little " marker training i guess is better than none , but a handler won't get the full benefit by using it only part of the time and in fact might be leading to confusion in the dogs' mind because he is using one form of " communication " some of the time , and something else the rest of the time . . . the dog doesn't know what to expect . if the handler wants consistent results from the dog , the handler has to be consistent in his methods .

john , think of marker training as the " language " that you are developing to communicate what you do and don't want from the dog .