phoebejo Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Zara has always been gobby. She barks and squeels when she's happy or excited, so that means she's rather noisy a lot of the time because life is so wonderful I'm happy that she's happy, but would be even more delighted if she could find other ways of expressing her joy. I don't often play games in the back garden with the dogs because she barks so much and it's bound to pizz the neighbours off. She barks at me to tell me to throw the ball. I don't do as she asks, I wait until she's quiet and then I'll throw it. After we've repeated this a few times either the game has to end because of the noise or Lizzie will lose her temper and she'll tell Zara off. Zara takes no notice of Lizzie and will immediately start barking again. The games have to end then otherwise Lizzie will tell her off again, this time more aggressively Ella ignores them both, just bounces around like Tigger on speed For the past two days Zara has excelled herself in the annoying barking stakes when on walks. She's decided it'd be great fun to run around me in circles barking She's never been this bad. I take an air kong out with us and she's barking to tell me to throw it. It's like she's saying "come on mum, come on come on come on come on, throw it throw it throw it throw it, woooooohoooooo!". I've tried putting her back on her lead when she starts circling but she just walks by the side of me whinging. In all other respects she is a joy to walk with. She has perfect recall, she walks beautifully on a lead and can walk just as well beside me without it. When we get to the woods they all sit and wait for me to take their leads off, they wait for the 'go play' command before running off like lunatics. Zara will run around for a minute or two but then for the rest of the walk she wants to be as close to me as possible. I've tried in the past to teach her the 'quiet' command but obviously with little or no success. Zara might act like a collie at times but she hasn't been blessed with a collie brain She's done clicker training previously and is food orientated but this is the one thing we've failed on. If I tell her to be quiet, she will be for a few seconds before thinking "well I've done that now" and barking again Help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocoa Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 sorry what breed is she and how old ? dee x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted June 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 Zara is a 100% mongrel Spaniel ears, her head is the same shape as my Springer so I'd say there is probably some Springer in there somewhere. Maybe collie, maybe GSD, maybe anything else Everyone who meets her has a different opinion as to what breeds are hidden in her. She's three and a half years old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allie No Dots Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 Dunno if this will work but... How about getting a soft toy or tugger that goes out on walks only. When you let her offlead (ideally before she starts barking ect, you get her attention on the toy. REALLY make it fun lots of squealing (from you!lol) and oooo lookie what ive got and I KNOW you want it " kinda thing. When shes really wound up and really wants it, give it to her. The idea being she will run off with the toy and not bark cos its in her mouth?! If she runs back to you with the toy and drops it for you to throw tell her to sit (before you pick it up) and then reapet the whole thing. Might work? (no not!lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted June 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 The airkong is a very high value toy and it only comes on walks with us. She'll circle me and almost constantly bark & whine until I throw it. She enjoys chasing after it but she's not interested in carrying it. Lizzie is top dog and she is allowed to carry it, Zara & Ella like to chase her with it. If Lizzie gets bored, drops it and wanders off, Zara will just stand still with it in her mouth or will stare at it waiting for someone to run off with it. Zara doesn't do retrieving To her, the whole point or games or the airkong is to have a fab round of chase me chase you The airkong is part of doing her favourite thing. If I want her attention all I have to do is say "what's this" and look as if I'm about to throw it. I didn't take the airkong out yesterday or today. Lizzie is picking up sticks for me to throw instead, which I'll not, and Zara is focusing her barking on that instead I can't win Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K9Fran Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 I know you've got your handsful (is she REALLY three and a half?) I think it's the collie in her struggling to deal with the frustrations of wanting it now! What's she like at stuff like 'wait'? Will she wait for her dinner for example? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted June 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 She's very good at waiting. She sits and waits for her dinner, sits for her lead to be put on, waits to get out the car, sits and waits while her lead is removed and will wait for the command to go play. She'll even stand still and wait at a distance. She'll sit and wait for me to throw toys if I ask her too. But while waiting for all these things she's barking and whinging If she could be a bit more quiet and less exhuberant she'd be perfect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reds Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 I have the same problems!!!!! Needless to say no answer yet either! Luckily on walks he's not so bad but I don't take toys other than for swimming or for rewards. Maybe the toy is making the walk too exciting and she's getting so hyped up because she knows it's coming? If Annie is playing with something when out then the only way I can get Ted. to stop barking if he hasn't got it is to distract him by doing heelwork or some other exercise that he has to put his mind too. By the time we've finished that Annie will normally have finished what she was doing and we can carry on in peace. There's no way I could always have a toy for the main stay of the walk and Ted. not bark - I just know it wouldn't happen Maybe you could teach her tricks or exercises to do whilst out and then reward her with the toy for that (great for distraction) but then put the toy away and get her used to carrying on the walk without it? I would think that the toy will be a constant source of exciting stimulation to her and she will therefore be extra wound up thinking about it? Don't know if it's the same for you but everything with Ted. has to be very low key and quiet, he needs no hyping up as he does it all himself! When I release him I just say 'ok' and off he goes, there's no big excitement from me and there's no immediate play times. I do sometimes take him out for half an hours 'bally' and if I've done that a lot or on the previous walk then as soon as I start the next walk he's barking at me and looking for the ball expecting me to throw it. He also knows well the 'game over' signal. I say "all gone" or "no more" and the ball goes in the pocket and he knows that that's the end of that and to just carry on with the normal walk. Obviously sometimes he will bark and try to demand that we continue playing for longer but I just repeat the "all gone" and "go on" and we carry on without it until I choose to take it out to reward or distract again etc. How about a tugger, a ball on a loop? That's a great way to get their energy and excitement out without having to throw anything (and thus then have the barking at you to go and pick up it up and throw it again!). They also of course can't bark whilst tugging (no doubt there are exceptions to that I'm sure!). I guess it's basically about keeping their brain engaged and toning down the actions that send off 'woohoo, this is so exciting' signals and the predictability as to what comes next? Just random thoughts, as I said - I don't know the answer myself!! I so know what you mean about games in the garden... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted June 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 It's nice to hear others suffer in the same way I think half the problem is that Zara is just incredibly stupid. She doesn't understand some really simple things and she loves routine. If two days in a row I took a ball out and threw it in exactly the same spot, forevermore Zara would expect me to throw that ball in that place day after day and would bark to tell me to do it! She knows the spots in the woods where we've previously played games so will bark regardless when we get to those spots. I've varied the route, taken different paths but as soon as we go back to the place where once in 2005 we threw a ball she'll bark (ok I've exaggerated a bit) As focused as she is on balls/airkongs, she doesn't really do toys. She doesn't chose to play with them at home. Toys only become interesting if I throw them and a chase ensues. She doesn't play tug so I couldn't keep her amused with a rope toy on a walk because she'd just expect me to throw it and would bark at it & me. Her heelwork is fab, but she can't do it without whinging. I'm going to try to record her on my mobile phone and attempt uploading it to photobucket. It's such a strange sound she makes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts