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Barking

3K views 34 replies 9 participants last post by  Melissa Brill 
#1 ·
After reading another thread, I decided to ask this question. I have a yappy Yorkie. My Bichon only barked when necessary. Please tell me about the Havanese. Should I expect a lot of yapping or just the normal barking?
 
#2 ·
I think it just depends. From what I read, Havanese are "alarm barkers" but otherwise quiet. But what do I know! Ricky only barks to notify us when strangers enter our yard or when someone is at the front door. I think he is pretty typical.

Ricky's Popi
 
#23 ·
barking



If you ask my husband he will say that they bark waaaaaaay too much, however, Perry doesn't bark just for the sake of barking (most of the time) He is definitely an alert barker - most of the time I know what he's alerting me too... but sometimes it's something further down the road. It's much less now that my neighbors have moved out and their dog isn't there any more. Perry will stop if I tell him to - but only if I get up and go to him and tell him - I think he doesn't believe me (that I heard him and am aware) if I tell him while I stay seated on the couch :)

His most annoying "alert" barking is when he's in the yard - he'll go down the steps from our yard to the gate and stand there and bark at the guards (even if the guards aren't in visual range). He doesn't do it every single time, but often enough that it's annoying. We have to work more on training - both the barking and things like "come" because when he's fixated and barking like that, any possibility of him listening to any commands goes out the window.
 
#4 ·
Mia loves barking at certain things especially deer in our yard or when delivery people come. We have tons of deer around here so she gets to bark at deer a lot. She never barks for no reason and I have never found it to be excessive. In fact, the few times she has been under the weather and didn’t bark my husband and I both missed her barking and thought the house seemed so empty! I could not wait to hear that beautiful bark again!
 
#5 ·
We have a lot of deer as well. Actually she doesn't bark at the deer (go figure). My vet's office thinks she is so sweet because she never barks when we go there. They can't believe she barks so much. I call her Yappy Yorkie. The older we both get the more she seems to bark.
 
#7 ·
Mine barks at the window. Often, haha. He doesn’t bark other than that. He does cry or make little whining sounds sometimes to get our attention. But, this is communication, and i feel lucky he does that instead of barking. I have wondered how it might change with a second dog. One of the pet sitters we used had a dog that did not bark out the window at all. I noticed he barked less out of the window when he was there often. But, he definitely barks more after daycare.

I set the expectation that he can bark to alert, so he should stop at my cue, but more than that and I take him out of the window. I don’t mind if he grumbles, which he does quietly. It doesn’t feel like growling, it’s more like a grumble because he wants to bark but is obeying. I feel like we could really get this skill polished up because he figured out the gist of what I wanted really fast, but I haven’t pressed because it’s reasonable right now.
 
#8 ·
How can anything so important to our relationship with our dogs get such a bad wrap? On the Richter scale of annoying behaviours by dogs it can be a ten. Barking is one of our dog's most important means of communication. If we try to curtail much of his barking we are isolating his attempts to talk to us. Barking ,like growling is something that we need to pay attention to ,and not sublimate like many people do. When we look at barking we need to look at the whole situation and try to discern what our dog is trying to convey to us. First listen to your dog and then try to determine what he is saying and then and only then can we ask for a cessation or an alternate behaviour. . Barking is sometimes a symptom of a problem—for example, fear, boredom, or stress. If you fix the problem, the symptom will likely go away. However, if you simply treat the symptom, the problem will just show up in a different form which may be even worse. Treat the problem not the symptom. We have undoubtedly selectively bred guard dogs to enhance their tendency to bark, but perhaps we’ve unconsciously bred all dogs to use barking as a method of drawing attention to their body language, If dogs didn’t live with us they wouldn’t have developed the paedomorphic tendency to bark. If we hadn’t impoverished their body language they wouldn’t need to bark to tell other dogs that they are excited or angry. If we paid their real communication more attention, they wouldn’t need to shout to make themselves understood. "Previously, other researchers thought domesticated dogs barked primarily for our benefit, since neither adult wolves nor feral dogs bark."We think barking existed in the ancestor of the dogs, but the present form of variability and abundance of barking is the product of domestication in dogs," Pongrácz says that domesticated dogs must have learned how to bark to other domesticated dogs later, as a form of communication additional to visual and scent cues."



Not all barking is indicative of an underlying problem. Sometimes they are simply saying hello , who's that outside, let me in the door ,or it's time to eat. First,we have to listen to our dog. then determine whether barking was an appropriate response. Perhaps limited barking is all right under certain circumstances. It's your responsibility to define an appropriate response in each situation. So why do dogs bark? Dogs bark to ALERT us, to REQUEST things from us, because they are AFRAID, or because they are BORED.

REQUEST BARKING is the result of our intentionally or unintentionally reinforcing one of our dog's other types of barking. It is usually just one bark ,followed by a pause and then he waits for your reaction. I think you've all seen this. They all do it, or they wouldn't be dogs. If they get no reaction ,they will repeat their plea. This can really escalate into nuisance barking. ANY sort of attention, ie. looking at, talking to, yelling at, is still reinforcing. Most often it is attention seeking. And punishment is certainly not an option because in most cases what we consider as punishment , actually is reinforcing for a dog ,in the way of attention.
Examples include door opening ,begging for food, wanting to play etc, etc, etc. A dog would have to be pretty stupid not to have discovered that this experiment usually works. We are WEAK . How many of you have had company pay attention to your dog when he barks. I think all of us. The best way to keep this from becoming a real problem is simple. Ignore them when you know it's one of these request type pleas. Another type of learned barking can be from previous experiences. A dog may get excited with car rides. He's learned that getting into the car can mean good things or sometimes bad things. This can lead to a learned form of barking that is even more irritating as this is usually an excited form of barking with much more vocalization. Remedies for this are more complicated. But I know we've all seen this in our dogs many times and yet we somehow are overpowered by our desire to love and acknowledge our dogs. With their requests for attention we need to realize that too much of anything is not good. Pay attention but watch out ,attending to every cry for our attention can lead to a very demanding and annoying dog. Even the Havanese. Never let a barking dog out of his crate. Always wait for a lull of at least ten seconds. Ignore any dog who barks at you to get what he wants. If you have been reinforcing it for a while, the barking will get worse before it goes away. The dog will be frustrated at first. The behaviour will go away by stopping reinforcement. This is called "extinction" and the ramping up of the behaviour before it goes away is called an extinction burst. Pay attention to your dog when he's quiet. Failing to do so is also using extinction, but this time to get rid of our favorite behavior lying quietly at our feet. Teach your dog that this can bring out the treats.

ALERT BARKING Wake up mom and dad I hear someone outside at the door. And hey there stranger I'm on to you. Alert barking serves two purposes ,one to notify members of the pack that there is potential danger and two ,to let the invader know that they have been detected. This tends to be a mid-to-high pitched bark, delivered in bursts of short barks. It indicates something new or interesting, but not necessarily threatening. We've bred dogs to do this over the generations and an example of this is The German Shepherd dog. Most people don't mind this eary warning signal from their dog. The problem arises when your dog does not stop barking. You can’t teach the dog to stop barking unless he is barking. How do you do this? You will need someone to help you.
1. Ask your friend to stand outside your front door.
2. Say, “Sparkey, speak!”
3. Your accomplice rings the door bell.
4. Your dog barks.
5. You say “Good boy!”

After about six to eight repetitions, your dog’s going to anticipate the door bell ringing after you say, “Sparkey, speak.” So now when you say “Sparkey, speak,” your dog barks on cue. Now you can teach him to shush on cue:
1. First, cue your dog to bark: “Sparkey speak"
2. Say, “Sparkey, shush!”
3. Put a delicious food treat in front of his nose. (He’ll sniff the food treat and stop barking because he can’t sniff and bark at the same time.)
4. The dog shushes.
5. You say, “Good shush!” but don’t give the treat. The longer you hold on to the treat and the dog sniffs it, the longer he will be quiet. Repeat the speak-shush sequence over and over so that the dog learns to speak on cue and to shush on cue.


FEARFUL BARKING Barking occurs when the dog is fearful or unsure about something that is happening. It's the dog's way of saying: "Back off—don't come any closer." This is much more serious than alert barking because the dog is saying that he is afraid and therefore potentially dangerous if approached. This type of barking can last until the perceived threat has left. Here is where your dog may need to be socialized more. Expose him to lots of places, experiences, sights and sounds and make it all fun. If he's afraid about traffic, hand feed him his meals on the sidewalk. Start on quieter streets and progress to busier streets as he improves. It takes a while to improve fearful adults so be patient. This type of barking can
be self reinforcing. He barks at a dog walking down the street and the dog goes away. MAGIC.

BOREDOM BARKING can result when your dog is not being mentally stimulated. The dog barks compulsively.To control this take your dog for a good walk in the morning and they will be more likely to rest until you come home. You should also make sure that your house is sufficiently enriched with fun toys and puzzles to keep them entertained when you are not home. Try putting some of your dog’s daily food allowance into a Kong toy or treat ball so they have to work to retrieve their snacks. Keep their toys in a toy box and alternate the toys they have access to each day. Hide their toys and some treats around the yard to encourage them to forage. If your dog has any play mates in the neighbourhood you might alleviate boredom by inviting them over for the day.You may also consider organising a 'dog walker' to walk your dog in the middle of the day while you are at work or a 'dog minder' to keep your dog company when you are away for long periods. You may also consider utilising your local 'doggy day care' services.


Take the time to characterise your dog’s barking habits – does he bark at people passing by? Ask your neighbours whether he barks while you are away from home – does he bark all day or only some of the time? If necessary, manage the problem with help from a behavioural specialist. It is also a good idea to take your dog to the vet for a full health check to make sure there are no medical reasons for his behaviour. Never try and modify your dog’s behaviour by punishing him.
Anti-barking collars constitute a form of punishment and are an unreliable remedy – they do not address the cause of the problem and are easy to abuse. Your dog will be punished for every bark, some of which will be appropriate, and he will not learn an alternative, acceptable behaviour.


You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.” ? Winston S. Churchill
 
#9 ·
i agree that barking is a natural thing that dogs do. I would never ever punish a dog for barking. I also think digging is a natural dog thing too and I will never punish my dogs for that either although some people do. I encourage my dogs to dig is certain places but that’s about it. Wonder what the experts say about that.
 
#10 ·
as far as inappropriate digging it comes down to management and or redirection to an appropriate location if you want to create one.
 
#11 ·
Mine doesn’t dig, I’m just curious. If digging became a problem because of mud and Havanese coats, would it be possible to find a way of changing the material the dog digs in? Sort of like a sandbox, to create an appropriate place to dig with some kind of material that’s easier to clean up than mud? Or would this be too confusing?
 
#13 ·
Mine doesn't dig, I'm just curious. If digging became a problem because of mud and Havanese coats, would it be possible to find a way of changing the material the dog digs in? Sort of like a sandbox, to create an appropriate place to dig with some kind of material that's easier to clean up than mud? Or would this be too confusing?
I think this gets down to why the dog is digging. Mine have one and only one purpose...to get moles! In other words, I do not think they dig just for the sheer joy of digging. We have had a super rainy spring and more mole activity this year. We also have very yucky clay soil. Anyway, this leads to mud clump feet. And when they dig they fling the dirt backwards so it gets on the back of front leg and front of back legs as well. If it is dry, you can a lot of the dirt out by brushing. Otherwise, I set Mia in a few inches of water and soak her to get it out. This problem is probably unique to me since I have a yorkie who is a born mole digger and Mia has learned this from him.

I guess my point was that some animals have been bred to dig for moles and this is in their nature. So it does not seem right to punish them for this. However, in spite of them getting plenty of exercise, they still want to dig and I just let them. It is actually fun to watch them. The only thing that might help is getting them involved in barn hunt or something like that. However, once they hunt the real thing I am not sure that will suffice!
 
#12 ·
Kodi is a demand batker. If he wants something, he barks at you. Our fault, spoiled, first-puppy-syndrome. We knew better and were more careful with the girls and they don’t do it. We’ve never beaten it out if Kodi. (Just kidding anout the “beating”, but it’s true that we’ve never been able to TRAIN it out of him!)

They ALL alarm bark. I think the more dogs you have, and the more comings and goings, (we have a lot in a multi-generational, 5 dog house) the more of this you have. It’s hard to stop, and and hard to control. We are happy whenthey respond to a “THAT’s ENOUGH!!!” When we tell them that _WE_ have answered the door, and it is, indeed, NOT robbers. 😉

Our dogs are not “general barkers”, thouh. They don’t tend to bark for no reason. Except Kodi. He barks when ANY of the others do... Just BECAUSE they are are barking. He has no idea why they are barking. And when I tell him to stop, he woofs one more time, just to have the last word. brat! LOL!
 
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#14 ·
Kodi is a demand batker. If he wants something, he barks at you. Our fault, spoiled, first-puppy-syndrome. We knew better and were more careful with the girls and they don't do it. We've never beaten it out if Kodi. (Just kidding anout the "beating", but it's true that we've never been able to TRAIN it out of him!)

They ALL alarm bark. I think the more dogs you have, and the more comings and goings, (we have a lot in a multi-generational, 5 dog house) the more of this you have. It's hard to stop, and and hard to control. We are happy whenthey respond to a "THAT's ENOUGH!!!" When we tell them that _WE_ have answered the door, and it is, indeed, NOT robbers. 😉

Our dogs are not "general barkers", thouh. They don't tend to bark for no reason. Except Kodi. He barks when ANY of the others do... Just BECAUSE they are are barking. He has no idea why they are barking. And when I tell him to stop, he woofs one more time, just to have the last word. brat! LOL!
My yorkie also barks whenever Mia starts barking and he seems clueless about what he is barking at. Mia always starts it. I keep thinking as she gets older her hearing will go. Well not yet...she can hear the UPS truck a mile away...long before my yorkie ever does!
 
#19 ·
This article mentions that terriers may think their very reason to live is to dig. This is so true of my yorkie. It is strange that Mia caught this from him. She watched him dig for 11 years before she decided to get in on the action!

I like the idea of burying something for them to find in a certain area. I do not think mine would be interested in simply digging in a certain place but if they find something special there this may entice them.
 
#22 ·
One reason we were excited about getting a Havanese is that they are reputed to bark less than other small dogs. We blame the small yappy dogs in the neighborhood for the fact that Shama barks A LOT! It is something we keep meaning to work on. I need to read Dave's post more carefully then consider why Shama barks when. I think when she barks at other dogs at a distance, she's saying, "COME OVER HERE TO SEE ME! I WANT TO MEET YOU! WHY ARE YOU OVER THERE?" I think when she barks at people/dogs out the front window, she's saying, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY TERRITORY? GET OUT OF HERE! OR ... BETTER YET ... COME OVER HERE TO SEE ME! I WANT TO MEET YOU!" I think when she barks at border collies running agility, she just really wishes she could be out there running too ...

And then there's the TV ... What we would give to have a dog who ignored the TV! Shama barks at the sound Netflix makes every time it comes on. Shama barks at any animal on TV. She barked during the entire Beverly Hills dog show the other night, except when she was paying attention to DH and getting tiny bits of apple instead.

We don't mind it most of the time when Shama barks. Sometimes it is something I still want to work on, however.

A great trainer we had for a puppy class did advise acknowledging what the dog is barking at: "Yes, there is a dog walking by, and you spotted it. Good girl! Thank you for telling me. Now you can stop barking ..."
 
#30 · (Edited)
TV

And then there's the TV ... What we would give to have a dog who ignored the TV! Shama barks at the sound Netflix makes every time it comes on. Shama barks at any animal on TV. She barked during the entire Beverly Hills dog show the other night, except when she was paying attention to DH and getting tiny bits of apple instead.
Oh yes, the TV. People who say that their dogs don't watch TV don't realize how lucky they are! Dogs on TV upset Perry very much. He generally doesn't bark at other sounds on the TV, just the dogs (and they don't even have to be making any noise - he doesn't seem like he's watching but HE KNOWS!!!) - sometimes an occasional strange animal like a capabara. We also realized that animated dogs seem enough like real dogs that those bother him too (can't watch the secret life of pets with him around!)

If I know there are going to be some I will clip his leash on him and then either sit with him, just touching his back, OR if they really upset him I'll pull him to my side and put my arm around him. That works a lot of the time - and we'll only get whines because of the dogs... but sometimes that doesn't even work.

We don't mind it most of the time when Shama barks. Sometimes it is something I still want to work on, however.

A great trainer we had for a puppy class did advise acknowledging what the dog is barking at: "Yes, there is a dog walking by, and you spotted it. Good girl! Thank you for telling me. Now you can stop barking ..."
Sometimes I mind and sometimes I don't, but hubby does almost all the time. It's funny though because I do talk to Perry like that all the time too - when he's at the window barking I'll get up "thank you, that's enough"... or "thank you, enough Perry. that's only Sam, you know Sam" :) or "that's enough, look there's not even anyone out there, see, nothing"
 
#24 ·
In the last 2 years, I've heard maybe 20 woofs from Shadow. So my Hav is not a barker. He will let out a woof when he gets overly excited about seeing a good friend and he has to be pretty wound up to woof. But when I first got him at 10 months, he had severe separation anxiety and would bark and howl if he was ever alone. And it would stop when I returned. He had never been alone (without a dog or human) ever. But we are long over that.

My only annoying barker was one of my Bichons that my ex-husband fed at the table constantly. He was conditioned to demand food. This continued for 10 years after the divorce. I hated having people over because he would bark non-stop demanding food if he even thought the humans "might" eat something. I have never given any of my dogs people food since him.
 
#25 ·
I certainly don't want my Yappy Khloe to teach any of her bad habits when the new pup joins the family. However, I guess this working from home is stressing the dogs out as well. I know Khloe is wondering when am I going back to work so I can stop telling her to be quiet.
 
#26 ·
When Shadow barked during his separation anxiety phase, I did lots of training. He would become so anxious that he would soil his crate. It seemed like he barked himself into a panic. Nothing helped after 3 months.
The trainer suggested an ultrasonic barking deterrent. Since he only barked in his crate, I set it up about 10 feet away. It worked from the first day. He started barking and stopped after a couple woofs. He has not had any issues in over 2 years.

It was about $25. made by Pet Safe from Chewy. Not a collar, not a shock, just an undetectable sound. I still have it by his crate but don't turn it on.
 
#33 ·
Mine believes every sound on TV is real. Even the faintest of sirens outside or on tv means jump to the window to look for a fire truck. He alerts to babies crying but doesn’t bark, he’s just concerned; children laughing he jumps up and wags his tail; birds or animal sounds he looks curiously out the window. Doorbells or knocks, it depends how sharp it is. If it’s an aggressive knock he’ll bark even if no one is there, but if it’s a doorbell he won’t bark, he’ll just try to see where the person went. He doesn’t understand or acknowledge the tv itself at all. I’ve seen him stare at the TV one time, during a movie with a large closeup of a dog, and it was shocking. He just watched it, no reaction, and I’m sure he knew the dog wasn’t real or he would have gone crazy with excitement. He’s never acknowledged the tv before or since. He thinks every single tv sound is real. If the fake tv bark is friendly, his tail will wag and he’ll sit hopefully in the window. If it’s not friendly, he’ll grumble and pace a bit in the window for a minute. Every once in a while I can catch dog sounds are coming and mute for a moment. I wish someone would invent a “dog mute” program for tv!
 
#35 ·
dogs on tv

Mine believes every sound on TV is real. Even the faintest of sirens outside or on tv means jump to the window to look for a fire truck. He alerts to babies crying but doesn't bark, he's just concerned; children laughing he jumps up and wags his tail; birds or animal sounds he looks curiously out the window. Doorbells or knocks, it depends how sharp it is. If it's an aggressive knock he'll bark even if no one is there, but if it's a doorbell he won't bark, he'll just try to see where the person went. He doesn't understand or acknowledge the tv itself at all. I've seen him stare at the TV one time, during a movie with a large closeup of a dog, and it was shocking. He just watched it, no reaction, and I'm sure he knew the dog wasn't real or he would have gone crazy with excitement. He's never acknowledged the tv before or since. He thinks every single tv sound is real. If the fake tv bark is friendly, his tail will wag and he'll sit hopefully in the window. If it's not friendly, he'll grumble and pace a bit in the window for a minute. Every once in a while I can catch dog sounds are coming and mute for a moment. I wish someone would invent a "dog mute" program for tv!
Perry has reacted to sounds, but he's much more concerned about the dogs (real or animated). I really think he does believe they're real - he has no interest in dogs on my computer screen, but the ones on the TV are, in his mind I think, either outside a window OR invading his house. He either runs up to the TV area (it's high on the wall so he can't actually reach the tv) and jump/ bark at them or, if I make him stay on the couch, he'll whine and get very upset.
 
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