Pom barking problem

lorweld

Hi just looking for advise please.

My pomeranian is a year and a half. He's male & we adore him. He's so intelligent & so easy to train, he's brilliant at doing tricks & will learn new trucks in less than an hour if I teach him new ones. The only thing I can't train him is to stop barking so much. He barks if somebody rings the doorbell, he barks when we go out the door. He barks when we're coming back in. We live in an apartment complex and barks when anyone Comes in the front door. He barks if anybody pasts on the footpath in front of our apartment. He will also bark if myself & my other half have any kind of disagreement.

I'm really worried the neighbours are going to start complaining about him as his bark is really high pitched. Has anybody any tips on how to train him to stop barking please ?

DBB

Poms are a barky breed at the best of times, but the secret to reducing the amount of barking is to try to reduce, or if possible eliminate, some of the reinforcement he's getting out of doing it.
It's because he's most likely to be receiving various reinforcements that he's barking in these scenarios.
First of all, you need to try to "visually isolate" him from passers-by outdoors, so that he's not getting so easily switched on by their passing. So, if you stick some translucent contact sheet onto the window, it'll help reduce this element of it. He's barking at passers by because when he does, they disappear, which is what he was hoping to achieve from a territorial protection viewpoint. Of course, they were going to disappear anyway, but he doesn't know that!

Secondly, how to deal with a barky dog when the doorbell rings. Firstly, what's he getting out of it? Well, the doorbell acts as a predictor that one of you is going to get up and walk quickly to the door... this is exciting! Next, it predicts that you open the door.. exciting! Next, it predicts that someone is going to be there... REALLY exciting! The arrival of people he doesn't know probably puts him on edge a little bit, whilst the arrival of people he knows is quite likely to be very exciting indeed... either way, people arriving at the door makes him go over the edge emotionally, which results in barking.
So, you need to minimise how predictable that doorbell is, and also teach him an alternative behaviour so that barking no longer "causes" the door to be answered in response to the doorbell, but the new behaviour does. this is going to take a lot of practise, but he's clever.. he'll get it!
First of all, teach him that alternative behaviour... getting them to go to sit in their bed, or on a defined area such as a mat, is a really good one. You can lure him into doing it at first, until he will do it when asked, routinely and reliably.
Next, it'd be ideal to get a remote control doorbell so that you can ring it without having to place a stooge doorbell-ringer at your doorstep! Routinely during the day, ring the doorbell using the remote, but do not react by getting up to answer it. Instead, ask him to go to his bed/mat, as you did above. Practise this until he starts to go to bed/onto the mat when he hears the doorbell ringing, of his own accord.
Now, once he's in his bed/mat, you can start to go towards the door to "answer" it. If he gets out of bed, or starts barking, put him back into his bed/mat: you may have to do this a fair few times at first, but that's okay. Make sure not to lose the rag with him. You may just find it handier to have a lead attached to him so that you can lead him back into his bad/mat without having to manhandle him.
Gradually advance onto answering the door, to having someone known to you outside it, to having strangers outside.
If the barking continues unabated, then it's Time Out time If you need this, come back to us... it's too involved to get into here right now!
Some other alternatives or add-ons to getting him to go to his bed... get him to bring a toy with him, as it's hard to bark with a toy in your gob! Alternatively, instead of going to his bed, get him to race off to find a toy when he hears the doorbell ringing.

You can also teach him to bark on cue. Behaviours that are put on reliable cue are less likely to be carried out when not asked for! Also, if you can get him barking on command, you can also get him to be quiet on command too. So, if you say "Speak", and he barks for you, you can then reinforce the inevitable break you'll get in the barking, and attach the verbal cue "quuiieettttt!".

Just make sure to practice these like mad and have them well established well before you need to be able to do it "for real". Until he has learned to do them reliably when you need him to, I'd strongly suggest you disconnect the doorbell, and get callers to ring you to let you know they're there! Otherwise, you'll be a degree into your training, when all of a sudden he's faced with a fully-fledged version of it, which is too much to ask of a student like himself.

As for you and your partner sparking off barking when you have rows... don't have rows, and insist your OH apologises to you first

lorweld

DBB thanks so much for the excellent advice. You know the toy thing might work as he knows when I say "find baby" to run to search for his teddy bear. I'll try that next time, if not I'll try the other suggestions

The contact on the window is a great idea too. We've sliding doors that look out over a balcony on to the footpath.

As for rows with the oh, him apologising first is a great idea, will have to train him too

One other thing, sorry for another question, but what are the advantages of having him neutered. My oh is dead against it, think it's because he's emphasising as a male lol but I'm just wondering should I get him neutered?

Thanks so much again.

DBB

lorweld wrote: »

DBB thanks so much for the excellent advice. You know the toy thing might work as he knows when I say "find baby" to run to search for his teddy bear. I'll try that next time, if not I'll try the other suggestions

Excellent! Half the work is done so! But I will say that you must, must, must practise this before you have to do it for real, so that by the time it happens in real-life, your pooch is well-versed in what to do

As for rows with the oh, him apologising first is a great idea, will have to train him too

He must also buy you something lovely by way of apology :P

One other thing, sorry for another question, but what are the advantages of having him neutered. My oh is dead against it, think it's because he's emphasising as a male lol but I'm just wondering should I get him neutered?

I know you have disagreements with your OH, but isn't getting him neutered a bit extreme?:eek:
Oh! You meant the dog!:o
Hmmm, a loaded question indeed! Honestly, I think it's such a personal decision, and I'm inclined to say to owners whose dogs stand no chance of ever running off to inseminate a female, and whose dogs are not showing any problem behaviours associated with testosterone, then the urgency is not as huge. However, having them neutered does reduce or eliminate indoor leg-cocking, humping, roaming, some forms of aggression (not across the board though), and probably does help to have a general calming effect on many dogs.

Whispered

Just wondering DBB, if a dog is barking through excitement is it preferable to teach them a calm behaviour instead (lie on your mat) or try to give them something equally exciting to do (go get your you) or does it depend totally on the dog.

Op fair play for getting advice on this. A dog in our estate barked non stop from 9am to 6pm today. I've been unwell for a while and spending a fair bit of time stuck in the house, so I know it's a regular occurance. I wish they would be good enough to get advice on their little fella too, he's probably bored stiff out the back all day, poor thing. (Although in your case it sounds like occasional outbursts rather than prolonged barking)

DBB

Whispered wrote: »

Just wondering DBB, if a dog is barking through excitement is it preferable to teach them a calm behaviour instead (lie on your mat) or try to give them something equally exciting to do (go get your you) or does it depend totally on the dog.

I think you just answered your own question :pac:
Some dogs find it really hard to sit still at the best of times, and it can be a tall order for owners to teach such dogs to be calm in very exciting situations! Substituting the response for another, active, but more appropriate response can work well for these sorts of dogs, particularly dogs who are likely to lie on their mat when requested... and bark whilst there!

angeldaisy

DBB can I ask you a question about the method you outlined for stopping barking. I'm going to try it on her ladyship now I'm finished college and have more time with her.

The only thing is she is rather stubborn (JRTx!!) and not that easy to train, do I just persist the way you suggested. Or is there another way??

DBB

angeldaisy wrote: »

DBB can I ask you a question about the method you outlined for stopping barking. I'm going to try it on her ladyship now I'm finished college and have more time with her.

The only thing is she is rather stubborn (JRTx!!) and not that easy to train, do I just persist the way you suggested. Or is there another way??

Yes, absolutely!
Terriers, once you've found their motivation, can be great fun to train, so experiment with different types of food reward, or she might be switched on by a little furry toy? Avoid a squeaky toy for now as it might rev her up too much.
You may need to practise a lot with her, but the bottom line is: "I'm NOT answering the door while you're barking"
Some people also find it easier to target the dog into a crate, as it makes controlling the dog around the door a lot easier.

angeldaisy

DBB wrote: »

Yes, absolutely!
Terriers, once you've found their motivation, can be great fun to train, so experiment with different types of food reward, or she might be switched on by a little furry toy? Avoid a squeaky toy for now as it might rev her up too much.
You may need to practise a lot with her, but the bottom line is: "I'm NOT answering the door while you're barking"
Some people also find it easier to target the dog into a crate, as it makes controlling the dog around the door a lot easier.

Brilliant - thank you. Just have to wait for Friday now so that the doorbell won't be ringing as much!!

DBB

angeldaisy wrote: »

Brilliant - thank you. Just have to wait for Friday now so that the doorbell won't be ringing as much!!

If you're going to do this properly and effectively, your dog's exposure to the doorbell must always, 100% of the time be a controlled exposure. In the early stages, this means disconnecting the bell.
If you don't, and the bell keeps ringing before your dog has really been taught what to do when it rings, chances are you'll never really achieve what you want.