Hello,
I really need some advice.
I have an almost 6 month old show strain cocker spaniel. I got her when she was 14 weeks and she has the sweetest temperatment ever, and is a very lovely little girl. However, she is quite vocal, she does not bark agressively, but she barks when she gets excited, if she sees another dog and wants to play with them she will bark at them whilst on the lead, she also barks when she plays with them, she will chase them, and her bark gets higher and higher pitched the more excited she gets when she is chasing them. We also have three Bengal cats, who have just realised that they can tease her and have the upper hand, and she barks at them when she is playing, I must stress that it is not aggressive barking, it is excited barking.
I do not know how to stop it, I don't feel it is right to tell her off because in her mind she is just excited and she is not doing anything wrong. I have tried ignoring her, but it is getting worse when she plays with the cats inside and I am worried about the neighbours. I have tried to be strict with her and show her who is boss, but it doesn't seem to work.
She also barks sometimes when I tell her to sit outside, it is like she is showing off, "look at me everyone" and she looks at me with a defiant look in her eye. She also barks sometimes when I give her her food, it really is an excited thing, like she can't control herself and keep it inside she needs to be able to express herself.
She is quite a willful little girl and I have to ensure that she knows I am boss. I have started clicker training her slowly. She has also started to do this naughty thing on walks, in that, she has taught herself to "sit and stay", when I am walking along, she will suddenly sit, and look at me, I will carry on walking, and she knows that eventually will have to call her and give her a treat when she comes to me.
Recently the barking has got worse as one of our cats has finally realised he can play with her and be in charge and he is teasing her like mad and also because she was spade last week and so i have had to keep her on the lead for 10 days and she has been very frustrated.
I can't "remove" the problem because it is not a problem like barkign at the postman, it is when she is excited.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Lexy
Hi Lexy,
I feel your pain! Barking is a tough behavior because for some dogs, it's very self-reinforcing, meaning that ignoring the behavior probably won't do you any good. Here's a great article on barking and how you can get a handle on it. http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1125
Happy clicking,
Laurie
--
Laurie Luck
For Clickertraining.com
Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner
See my profile and contact information at
http://karenpryoracademy.com/Luck_Laurie
Hi Laurie Thanks for the
Hi Laurie
Thanks for the advice, i have started doing this process, although, I am worried that she is going to start thinking that to earn a Click she needs to bark. It is quite difficult. I will see how i get on and keep you posted.
Thanks
Lexy
Let's not forget
Let's not forget what Cockers were born to do - they were bred to be excited - to dive in to bushes, barking and flush out birds into the sky. Your Cocker barks when she is excited because she was bred to do both - be excited and bark about it. Teach your Cocker to speak and to be quiet, http://www.clickertraining.com/node/237 but watch your timing - they are very smart and eager to please - if your timing is out she may start to bark more (thinking this is what you want). Start doing some good impulse control exercises (like leave it) and begin reinforcing calm behaviours - google Control Unleashed for a book with good impulse control exercises.
From a fellow Cocker Spaniel Lover...
Jen
www.doggydogma.com.au
Treat recommendations?
Hi Jen
Thanks for your advice and book recommendation which I am going to purchase. I can see how the technique for stopping unwanted barking could be very confusing and she might think that i am actually rewarding her for barking, by clicking? I am worried I am doing it wrong already, as soon as she barks, i click, then treat, i haven't had the opportunity to then tell her to bark as she stops when i give her a treat and doesn't continue barking for a consistent enough time for me to then tell her to "bark".
I am now having problems with her recall, she has got into the habit of running off and completely ignoring me! Even though i have treats, which is a very new thing, she gave me a bit of a scare this morning. I was doing some training with her last night and she was given quite a lot of treats in the process, but this morning when i took her out, she wasn't interested in them at all, and wouldn't come back to me and sit, like she normally does, only when SHE felt like it and then she just ran off in the opposite direction completely ignoring my existance and went far to close to the edge of the park near the road. She also completely ignored me when she was playing with this puppy and it was incredibly embarrassing. I have never had her not be interested in the treats before.
I have a problem, as the only treats that she absolutely adores are Thrive Cat Chicken Treats, i can't seem to find anything else that is a bit more economical and that she would love as much. I was using treats last night that were not the cat treats and this morning which is why i think she ignored me. Do you have any recommendations?
(A very Frustrated) Lexy
Hi Lexy,
I responded to this on your blog post, too, just wanted to be sure I got to you in both places.
Great questions about treats and timing. Your dog will let you know what an effective reinforcer is for him. It will be different for each dog. I've had dogs work for mini-marshmallows, and I've also had dogs who would only work for the highest valued treats like grilled salmon. It sounds like you're doing it already, but watch your dog's reaction to the food you're using as a reinforcer, they're pretty good at telegraphing their preferences! Also, be sure you're working with your dog when he's likely to be hungry. If you free feed (leave the food down all day), start picking the food bowl up between meals. I generally advise people to leave the food bowl down for 20 minutes, then pick it back up 'til next feeding time. The dog won't starve, and you know when he last ate, so you can time the training session for when he's likely to be naturally hungry.
You're always clicking when you see the behavior you want. If you want a sit, you're clicking the instant that rump hits the floor. If you want sit for 3 seconds, you're clicking when your dog has hit the 3-second mark. The shortest rule of thumb: click for what you want. You decide what you want.
For the running off, the easiest and safest way to enjoy your dog is to keep her on-leash while you're teaching the recall. A leashed dog can't run off and get hit by a car, happen upon a leashed aggressive dog, or practice the (fun!) behavior of running off. Work on your recalls completely separately and in the meantime keep her on a leash. That's the safest training plan.
Hope this helps. Happy training,
--
Laurie Luck, KPA-CTP
Smart Dog University, LLC
Faculty, Karen Pryor Academy for Animal Training and Behavior
Mount Airy, MD || (240) 394-1112
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Visit the Smart Dog Blog for information on all things dog!
Hi Laurie Thanks for the
Hi Laurie
Thanks for the advice. I am having trouble with training her to bark on command, i follow the instructions above i.e. shoving my hand in her face and saying "quiet" at the same time as she is eating the treat,, but as soon as i give her a treat she is quiet, and then she doesn't start barking again immediately, so i can't then shout "bark" so she is probably a bit confused. Then she barks later on so i am back to square one.
I have also taught her "lie down", now the problem here is, that when i tell her to do it, she barks at me and then does it, like she is shouting "this is my idea to lie down on command, not yours", she just can't seem to help it.
I think that she also thinks that she is to lie down instead of sitting sometimes i.e when i call her and she comes to me, i tell her to sit before i give her a treat and she has started to lie down straight away as well as she thinks that is what i want now. Not forgetting the defiant bark that comes with it!
Lexy
Hi Lexy,
Here are a few more ideas. When Lexy is quiet, click and treat her for being quiet. This way, you're getting more *duration* of the quiet behavior. The more quiet, the less barking! :)
For the down, ask her once. If she starts to lay down *without* barking, click and treat her. If she *does* bark, simply end the training. She'll quickly learn that the quiet down gets the click and treat!
If you're working on coming when called, click just when she comes to you -- don't ask her for the sit. Work on just one behavior at a time. If, after you click the coming when called, you can then ask her to sit and then click that as well.
As a general rule, if you've put a word with the behavior (if you've put the behavior on cue), and you don't ask for it, you don't pay (click and treat) when it happens. You can definitely tell the dog "good dog," but no click and treat if you didn't ask for the behavior.
I hope this helps clean up your dog's behaviors!
Laurie