Barking Issues - REALLY need some help

[BTmom]

I have a 6 year old Chihuahua and I love her to death, but there is one issue I'd really love to fix - that is, her barking.

I got her when I was still living back at home. I was young and naive and didn't know how to manage this issue back then. When she first learned how to bark, everyone was so happy and always seemed to encourage it. Despite my protests, that kept going on and pretty soon, I had a very barky dog on hand.

Now that I've moved out, I need to fix this problem because it's getting me in trouble (I rent).

When I have friend over, she will continually bark at him/her until he pets her or pays attention to her. I have tried isolating her in another room and she will keep on barking for the hour or two that they're over - it's very annoying. The ONLY way she'll stop is if they're holding her. Right now, I can't really help it but give in to that since I'm renting and the landlord lives upstairs.

I have previously tried: coins in a can, squirt bottle, ignoring, even the citronella collar, all to no avail.

The coins will startle her and then she'll go right back to barking.
She doesn't mind being squirt with water AT ALL. In fact, she'll bark and then close her eyes and WAIT for it to come.
Ignoring doesn't work - done it numerous times...she'll just keep on going.
The citronella collar doesn't even faze her at all.

I'm getting very desperate. I KNOW this is going to be difficult to fix because it's been going on for 6 years now and for the first 5 years, my family paid attention to her whenever she barked.

Can someone please please give me some suggestions to try? She is otherwise a very sweet dog, just barks too much for attention. I don't know how to fix this without the landlord coming down to complain. Keep in mind she is very very persistent and stubborn. I don't know what to do.

Also, I was seriously considering getting another dog, but I've put that thought aside because I don't want her teaching the new dog this bad habit...then I'll have TWO barking dogs

THANK you for reading!

 

[Herschel]

Can you give her something fun in her crate, like a bully stick, that will keep her busy? She's going to have a hard time barking while she is chewing.

 

[adojrts]

I would clicker train her to stop barking. But condition her first to the clicker by teaching her watch me, sit, down etc.
Once she knows that the clicker means good things are to come (rewards such as her meal or very very yummy small treats), you can progress to when she is barking.
You have to be very careful at this point, you have to click the moment she stops barking (even for a second to take a breath). When using a clicker, you are marking a desired behaviour. So if you click when she is barking, your marking that behaviour.
I recommend that you pick up anything by Karen Pryor. She has several books out on clicker training. Here is her site: www.clickertraining.com
also check out www.clickersolutions.com

This would be your best bet in my opinion, but you have to learn first how to use the clicker correctly and why it works.

Good luck
Lynn

 

[fillyone]

I agree with Lynn - Though with Dante (Barked in class, drove us all nuts) I put it with the quiet command. I like him to bark, so I just wanted him to stop when I wanted him to.

 

[lizzybeth727]

Of the methods you mentioned, the one I'd give another try is the coins in a can. You said that this startles her but that she just goes back to barking. So, be ready with the can and some treats and your clicker (once you do some clicker research as suggested). As soon as she barks, shake the can, and as soon as she's quiet, click the clicker and jackpot her with treats. As long as she's quiet, continue giving her treats about once every second and praise constantly until she's calm and ready to greet the stranger.

Remember that whenever you punish a bad behavior, you have to reward the good behavior at least 3 times as much, to teach her that quiet is good.