I need help with my parents little problem child, Goldie. 
mainly her barking
She is a 3-4 year old rescue Cocker (possible mix with something smaller, cav or sometimes I accuse her of being part Chi), I've been helping them work through some of her issues with a lot of success with patience, consistency, and lots of positive reinforcement (she responds really well to clicker training).
This was a dog who hated being groomed, or handled in that manner, and had to be muzzled for grooming and especially nails... but now she can be groomed fully (and nails!) with no stress, and no muzzle :banana:
She's pretty high strung, so when I moved back in I upped her exersize (throwing balls in the backyard, running, romping with the other dogs wasn't enough for me. She also gets walked with me and Maddie - typically a 1/2 mile on the sidewalks and running around the park dragging her leash (not reliable off)daily - unless the weather is really really bad)
She knows sit, stay, come (wouldn't trust her offleash in an unfenced area, though - she was previously a stray, door darter and runner -- now is NOT a door darter whatsoever) leave it, and "watch me." Her "leave it" and "watch me", however, doesn't work while she's running her mouth lol
I would classify her barking as alert barking, but this is not my area of expertise. She barks if she hears any kind of car door slamming, keys jingling, any noise outside of the house, if someone drops something that "thunks" upstairs, or any sort of knocking-type sound. It's a VERY loud, VERY high pitched (for her size or breed), YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP that goes on and on and on
Her pervious management for barking is yelling no, stop, quiet, shut up, that's enough, OMGIMGONNAKILLYOU :rofl1: Which obviosly doesn't work. And, yes, I'm guilty of this too
I have taught her the "quiet" command with the clicker, I have not been able to teach her how to speak -- we've been working on this for moooonths. I can get her to bark by knocking on something myself, and when I say "quiet" she'll stop, and I'll reward her for stopping. She's been getting bored with this and sometimes doesn't bark when I knock. Which is good, to me
But I think I must've messed up somewhere with "quiet" because unless I am standing in front of her with the hand signal she doesn't understand (or comply). So, for example, we're all sitting on the couch watching TV. She hears something (that we can't) she charges off the couch barking and charging the window or door. And she will not stop until I get off the couch, body block her from the window and command "quiet."
I've also been carrying treats with me, when I come home and walk in the door and she does NOT bark, I say "good quiet, good quiet" and give her a treat, praise and pets. But its hit or miss she still barks at me sometimes (NONE of the other dogs bark when anyone in the family comes home - I personally prefer this!), when she barks it goes on and on and on on, its like she doesn't have any sense of "self control" or self regulating... I don't know what the word is :rofl1:
I've tried leashing her to me, but that doesn't stop the charging(tugging at the leash) and barking. I've been working on "watch me" with the clicker outside and with more and more distractions, and higher value treats but I still can't get her to watch me while charging and barking.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated -- and I will let you guys know how she's doing and progressing, I will work with her as much(often) as I can. I've been sick, and her barking has made me feel sicker on somedays, its that bad. No joke. A lot of the time its as if she's barking at nothing because most of the time we don't hear it. We have amazing neighbors who love animals and have never complained -- but the one neighbor mentioned in passing about Goldie's barking and so the family has discussed a no-bark collar because we are getting desperate.
TIA
mainly her barkingShe is a 3-4 year old rescue Cocker (possible mix with something smaller, cav or sometimes I accuse her of being part Chi
), I've been helping them work through some of her issues with a lot of success with patience, consistency, and lots of positive reinforcement (she responds really well to clicker training). This was a dog who hated being groomed, or handled in that manner, and had to be muzzled for grooming and especially nails... but now she can be groomed fully (and nails!) with no stress, and no muzzle :banana:
She's pretty high strung, so when I moved back in I upped her exersize (throwing balls in the backyard, running, romping with the other dogs wasn't enough for me. She also gets walked with me and Maddie - typically a 1/2 mile on the sidewalks and running around the park dragging her leash (not reliable off)daily - unless the weather is really really bad)
She knows sit, stay, come (wouldn't trust her offleash in an unfenced area, though - she was previously a stray, door darter and runner -- now is NOT a door darter whatsoever) leave it, and "watch me." Her "leave it" and "watch me", however, doesn't work while she's running her mouth
lolI would classify her barking as alert barking, but this is not my area of expertise. She barks if she hears any kind of car door slamming, keys jingling, any noise outside of the house, if someone drops something that "thunks" upstairs, or any sort of knocking-type sound. It's a VERY loud, VERY high pitched (for her size or breed), YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP that goes on and on and on
Her pervious management for barking is yelling no, stop, quiet, shut up, that's enough, OMGIMGONNAKILLYOU :rofl1: Which obviosly doesn't work. And, yes, I'm guilty of this too
I have taught her the "quiet" command with the clicker, I have not been able to teach her how to speak -- we've been working on this for moooonths. I can get her to bark by knocking on something myself, and when I say "quiet" she'll stop, and I'll reward her for stopping. She's been getting bored with this and sometimes doesn't bark when I knock.
Which is good, to me But I think I must've messed up somewhere with "quiet" because unless I am standing in front of her with the hand signal she doesn't understand (or comply). So, for example, we're all sitting on the couch watching TV. She hears something (that we can't) she charges off the couch barking and charging the window or door. And she will not stop until I get off the couch, body block her from the window and command "quiet."
I've also been carrying treats with me, when I come home and walk in the door and she does NOT bark, I say "good quiet, good quiet" and give her a treat, praise and pets. But its hit or miss she still barks at me sometimes (NONE of the other dogs bark when anyone in the family comes home - I personally prefer this!), when she barks it goes on and on and on on, its like she doesn't have any sense of "self control" or self regulating... I don't know what the word is :rofl1:
I've tried leashing her to me, but that doesn't stop the charging(tugging at the leash) and barking. I've been working on "watch me" with the clicker outside and with more and more distractions, and higher value treats but I still can't get her to watch me while charging and barking.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated -- and I will let you guys know how she's doing and progressing, I will work with her as much(often) as I can. I've been sick, and her barking has made me feel sicker on somedays, its that bad. No joke. A lot of the time its as if she's barking at nothing because most of the time we don't hear it. We have amazing neighbors who love animals and have never complained -- but the one neighbor mentioned in passing about Goldie's barking and so the family has discussed a no-bark collar because we are getting desperate.
TIA
