Jack's newly found voice: What can I do?

[Mykl]

I have a 7 month old pit/pyreneese mix named Jack. He is so incredibly playful and his energy seems limitless. Being part pyreenese he has grown quite big for a pup. So has his bombastic bark. Following the advice I have read, I've been trying to ignore him when he barks in protest or for attention. The problem I'm having is that I live in an apartment complex. Jack has a really deep and loud bark and can be very persistent. I have let him bark for almost 10 minutes straight before I give in out of anxiety over whether or not it is bothering the neighbors. My girlfriend and I just moved into a new place, and I want Jack to start off on the right paw. We play with him a lot and he always gets his daily walks, but if we are not engaging with him for even a short amount of time, (ie eating, talking on the phone, etc) he barks, and barks. I would greatly appreciate some advise, I don't think the ignoring method is going to work unless I modify it somehow.

 

[ihartgonzo]

I would start teaching him a really solid "quiet". You need to convince him that the instant he quiets down, he gets huge rewards; lots of praise, play, treats, and fun. ; )

Here are a few methods for teaching "quiet": http://www.animalbehavior.net/idealdog/285.htm

I don't recommend 4 or 5!

...Jack pictures, pls? He must be super adorable, with that mix.

 

[houndlove]

I know that Trish King talks about being aware that sometimes you're fighting genetics, just so your expectations are realistic. Pyrs are barkers. It was part of their original job, to frequently make their presence known to any "invaders" on the area they were guarding. I have a friend who had a pyr who's favorite thing to do was to go out in to the back yard and at night and "woof!....woof!....woof!....woof!" just to let the neighborhood know that he was on top of things.

 

[inspector16]

I've found a great way to teach a dog to stop barking, is to teach him the speak command. The idea is that by attaching a command to what he already knows how to do, which in this case is the barking, you can then teach him "quiet", once he knows the "speak".

So as soon as he starts to bark, say "Speak", in a welcoming, happy tone. Then give him praise, and maybe even a reward. Do this a bunch of times until he knows what "speak" means.

Then, once he knows that, starting incorporating the "Quiet", or "Shush" command into the routine. Then as soon as you say "quiet", wave a treat in front of his nose to get his attention. He won't bark now because he can't sniff and bark at the same time. Praise him as he sniffs it quietly, then offer him the treat. He'll soon figure out that quiet means no barking.

So give it a shot. You can speed up the process by having a friend or neighbor stand outside the front door and ring the doorbell or knock on the door. That way you have the chance to repeat the exercise many more times. If you just wait for random opportunities, you'll get there too, but it will just take longer and be a bit harder to teach. So if you can set up a few training sessions using this method, it should help him learn to only bark when asked, or when appropriate.

And it is true that you might be fighting genetics. But hopefully this will help you at least control his barking to keep it to a minimum.

Good luck

 

[lizzybeth727]

That was pretty bold bringing a pit/pyr mix puppy into an apartment! You ARE fighting a lot of genetics. Good advice above, though, good luck!

 

[Kayla]

One last little thing I wanted to mention as I think there's sound advice on this thread is the energy you mentioned. Duke used to be and still is to a degree a loud easily excitable barker. Even though I was walking him on average an hour a day sometimes two plus play time and training I found he was still bouncing off every single wall ( having border collie in his mix probably accounted for most of this).

I read an article somewhere about combining both walking and aerobic excersise a day, 20 to 30 miniutes prefereably in the morning or early afternoon if your home/ on days off can create a drastic effect through out the day. Obviously as you have mentioned your pup is still young so the lower impact the better. Duke and I started with short jogging ( grass is prefered to concrete especially for younger dogs but up here everything is frozen so we didnt have much of a choice). Today was the first day I've started bike riding with him.

The reasons the aerobic excersise can produce such a drastic decrease in besides just ramboncous behaviour is because of the higher levels of chemicals release during this type of excersice which usually combats things like anxiety, aggression, and excitability all factors which go into a loud barking dog.

Try it once a day starting with prehaps just five miniutes of rollerblading, bike riding or jogging ( jogging being the safest and requires less training as you are not on wheels) and increase as your dog builds stamina, especially with the pit in their, he should love it.

Cheers
Kayla

 

[Mykl]

Thanks for the advice !!!

Thank you so much for the helpful and informative replies. There are some great ideas to incorporate into Jack's training in all of them. Tammy and I have set time a side this weekend to sit down and formalize our approach. We are going to write everything out and post it on the fridge so we both are clear and consistent. It is really becoming apparent that we have to train "us" as well to be good parents, not just fun parents. Having just moved into a big aparment is an invaluable opportunity to reorient our approach as well. I am in certain agreement that he needs plenty of cardio. I got him a harness for when we jog, and just registered him for the forest preserve's off-leash run program. Genetics is also a big factor. I don't want to supress his nature or spirit for that matter. My intention is more to redirect it in appropriate ways. He neads to be heard, that's important to him and I could tell that from the first time he wanted to show me how well he talks. I'm hoping that in his training, he'll reach the point when I can communicate to him when I need him to settle down. Having him know it's circumstantial and barking isn't bad. The "speak" command seems like a great way to start. I'll let you know how he's doing. I'll put some pics up to, after my friend shows me how to do it ( oi, technology these days) Thanks again

 

[Mykl]

All About Jack

W'ell It's Been An Adventure Trying To Find Something That Works Well. For A While I Would Bring Him Away From Sight, Have Him Sit And Say Shhusshh!, Then Reward Him Of Course. Then Jack Would Merilly Follow Me Back And Wolf Away. This Is What I Found Works The Best: I Put A Bunch Of Loose Change In A Tupper-ware Box And Keep It Off To The Side, Kinda Out Of Sight. He Mostly Barks When We Are Eating, So I Gave It A Few Hard Shakes And Boy Did He Startle. I Felt Bad, He Just Turned And Took Off. I Waited A Few Moments And Went Over To Him To Make Sure He Wasn't Scared And I Wasn't Mad, Then Gave Him A Cookie And Lots Of Praise. He Followed Me Back, But This Time He Just Layed Down And Gave His Best "look How Adorable I Am, I Can't Believe You're Ignoring Me." Look. I Was So Proud Of Him. Afterwards We Played A Big Game Of Tug-a-war. I've Only Had To Do It One Other Time Since. Now That We Have Really Started To Form A Routine At Our New Place He Seems A Lot Happier. This May Seem Like The Typical Tricks To Some That Are Reading This, But I'm Really Excited. I Grew Up With Dogs All My Life But He Is My First To Have On My Own, We've Gotten Very Close. Thanks For All Your Help

 

[lizzybeth727]

The Only Thing I Would Add Is After He Comes Back And Lays Down While You Are Eating, Give Him Rewards For That - You Can Keep Some Treats At The Dinner Table And Toss Them To Him While He's Being Calm.

 

[Mykl]

The Only Thing I Would Add Is After He Comes Back And Lays Down While You Are Eating, Give Him Rewards For That - You Can Keep Some Treats At The Dinner Table And Toss Them To Him While He's Being Calm.

That's a great idea, he is catching on very well. I always want him to know how happy I am with him and that it's the behavior that it's just the behavior I'm trying to correct. At the table is where I'm seeing food treats to be the best because I also noticed that he seems to really enjoy various attention rewards besides food, especially when were outside.