SurvivingInfidelity.com^®

I have a seven month old Boston Terrier puppy. Overall she is doing great. BT's are known for being quiet and hardly ever barking. They also usually have a very non annoying bark. This held true for my last one but not this one.

She barks very, very loudly when she wants to play with our other dog and sometimes us. If we ignore her she will continue to bark at us and also bite something she isn't supposed to.

She is walked several times a day and we give her play time. We are home during the day so she isn't alone very much.

Walking and outdoor playtime is exhausting because she puts everything in her mouth. She does not listen to "leave it" consistently. Despite that I do walk her several times a day.

I try to ignore the barking and reward her with play time or attention but I can't always do that. I also have tried redirecting her with a toy which works if I play with her. She understands what "go get a toy" means and will stop barking and get a toy but she will put it down and bark again.

It is a very loud, ear piercing, non stop bark.

I have never had this to deal with. Is this something I can train her to lim

She is crate trained but I hate to use that for correction.

Thanks!!

Zebra, I have no solution to offer you, as we are going through the same thing, only on Max Volume with our Mink, now a 20 month old, 80 lb. male German Shepherd who discovered his manly scare bark about 6 months ago. Oh my. So far, he doesn't seem to understand that we don't appreciate his staccato serenades from wherever he gets put. We crate him in the house as he is a terror, and due to their slow maturity, we know he will want to be a wild and crazy hooligan for a few more years. Even according to our trainer! Her girl GSD is 2 now, and last night her dog "screamed" so loud during their dinnertime that our trainer had to take her out to the truck and let her bark it out!)

So I feel your frustration!

Partly, I think we unconsciously "teach" our dogs that barking is usually effective - because we cannot tolerate the noise for long, so we get up and do something - anything! - to make it STOP, right? "Dogs do what works," so they figure they got our attention this way, and next time they want something, it is more of the same. When they're tiny and so helpless, of course we need to respond to their verbalizing hunger or potty needs. Trouble is, they mostly associate that with getting every one of their many needs met. They learn we are their providers, so how else are they going to notify us, right?

I try to tune it out, but by now I think: we got us a barker. Good thing we live in the country.

Hope someone else can help. I'll be following!

"Partly, I think we unconsciously "teach" our dogs that barking is usually effective - because we cannot tolerate the noise for long, so we get up and do something - anything! - to make it STOP, right? "Dogs do what works," so they figure they got our attention this way, and next time they want something, it is more of the same"

Yes!!! I try not to reward the behavior by paying attention to her. Sometimes she resorts to nipping my feet. She will be quiet in her crate but she is so good in her crate and likes to sleep there I hate to make it a negative thing.

I feel better knowing your pup does this too. I know you are knowledgeable and put a lot into your pups!!!

I have never had a barker before. My little guy that passed away last year didn't bark for six months. He rarely barked and had a soft kind of cute bark. That is the norm for this breed. Even my terrier mix doesn't bark unless he sees someone outside and even then if you tell him it's ok he stops.

Those big boy barks can be unnerving!!

Thanks for your input!!

Honestly the quickest most effective way to stop that behavior is a bark collar. Some will spray a smell that's unpleasant for the dog some shock. I have used e collars for training my dogs for 30 years. The bark collars usually give a beep or vibration to start then escalates if they don't stop. If they stop it resets to the same process.
I have never shocked my dogs with anything I haven't done on myself. People have strong opinions on this butter is effective and works great. Usually takes a day or two to break the behavior. Also won't stop them from doing the startle/alarm bark if there's someone at the door or in the yard because it starts low and goes up.

Tushnurse, glad to hear about the success with a bark collar! I just said yesterday it may come to that. With a Schutzhund-World Champion-Bred animal like our Mink, I'm hesitant to amp him up more than he already is wired to be. I see a fight gene in him, like when he's jealous of our girl Missy getting out of the truck before His Lordship, oh my gosh. My H was pushing back at his muzzle and telling him to knock it off, and all it did was ramp up the aggression. Scares me a bit, honestly, even though our trainer keeps telling me she sees absolutely no hint of that in him. (Of course, he's usually on his best behavior for class!)

But enough is ENOUGH of this nonsense. We use horse spray for gnats, mosquitos and flies during the warm months when he's turned out in his paddock (also baby spray sunscreen for his big long black nose!) He knows the smell of Coppertone means "play time coming" and he loves getting it smeared on his nose. Also the citronella smell for his ears (I spray a paper towel and wipe it around his face and ears.) So I'd not want to use the smell type bark collars, I guess.

Hard to picture a cute little baby BT wearing a big clunky bark collar.... :(

I have a neurotic heeler who loves to hear himself talk and has an absolute PARTY every time someone walks in the front door, even if we've just been to the mailbox and back. lol We've tried everything. Multiple bark collars on every setting, sonic bark boxes, trazadone... nothing helps. He's about 6-7 now, and he's improved so much since we first got him after two fails at the shelter, so we're just going to ride it out and put him in "time out" (the laundry room or our walk-in closet) when we've had enough or when company is coming. Once everyone has arrived, he's just fine, but that greeting stage is a LOT.

I'm interested to hear what others suggest for your pup!

Clear messaging. You say you reward with a toy/playtime, but also say when he barks you try and redirect with a toy, that's mixed messaging. Seems like it's attention he wants - and that appears to be working for him! Is the barking constant, or specific times/locations? There needs to be a clear lesson for him when he barks, and a clear reward when he is quiet. If he wants attention, being clearly ignored/turning away, or being removed to another room whilst he barks, being brought back to you and a toy when he is quiet, might work but consistency and repetition is hard work! Good luck with your gorgeous pup x

The collar is a thought.

Bostons are very sensitive and big babies so I don't know if it will upset her. We tried one on our last Boston and when it vibrated he stood still and shook. He would not move. I felt so bad!!

I don't mind the barking when they see somebody outside.

Superesse, sounds like you have your hands full!!

I try to ignore her but she will then bite my feet or the furniture. If I put her in another room she will chew/eat something.

She seems to do it before she naps.

I see what you're saying about mixed signals. When I redirect her, I have her sit and be quiet and then throw A toy for her. Maybe I shouldn't do that. I'm not sure what to do when I ignore her and she then continues to bark and bites and chews? I can't let her do that.

This breed can be exceptionally mouthy until they learn.

The jokes on us. One of the things we love about this breed is how quiet they are.

Your puppy is only 7 months old. I would do what our trainer suggested (which didn't stop all the barking but it helps manage the boy): have a second crate in your time out room. She goes into that crate when she is being troublesome. Have chewy toys in there. We found that just transferring the dog from his "sleeping/eating" crate - his primary den in my bedroom - down the hall to his identical living room crate and beyond a set of closed glass doors, is somehow helping him. Just being moved around is a form of attending to him. We get a little more peace and he settles in there fine for the most part. When he tries to do the barking serenades during our dinner, on his full stomach, it is hard but we don't go back in there to tell him to hush. (After a few sopping wet crate accidents we learned to take him outside to pee, first!) My H calls it Mink's "smoking parlour." Where the gentlemen congregate after dinner in his fav Downton Abbey shows.

Sometimes when he starts up all I have to do is say "Wanna go Down The HALL?" But the trainer criticized that, said it was a threat. She is a purely positive devotee. Some say dogs like ours need "balanced" training with aversive consequences. I don't think I want to go that route....especially with this warrior pup!

Somenof the collars can he set to just beep or vibrate and not actually shock.
I get the hesitancy with a smaller dog but they make them for all sizes and shapes of dogs. My MIL got one for her female Westie which is an alpha to the point of ruling my big labs. She is quite the queen but sharp ear piercing barks. She is very smart so will be excessively vocal, but out the collar on and she knows. This is actually a very common thing that happens with smart dogs. My older Male lab loves to go next door when I let him out first thing in the am. All I have to do is put the collar on him not even turn it on. He knows not to leave the yard.
I would recommend increasing the pups exercise and training. Work the mind and body and you will have a calmer happier dog.

SS33 those heelers are bred to work like my labs. They have to be worked to not be neurotic.
My younger lab is 1.5 and he is nuts about exercise playing fetch doing his drills for duck hunting etc. He will bug me incessantly but if I run him hard for 10 min in the am and pm he is perfect.

We have a saying in our house a tired Lab is a good lab.

You're so right. We had no idea what we were getting into when we adopted him. We've always been Aussie people, and thought "How much different could a heeler be? They're both herding dogs." VERY different, evidently! We're really not active enough to be heeler people, but we try to do our best by him. I wish he'd play fetch so I could run him like you run your lab. He'll fetch once, and then he's done.

We call him the assistant manager because he has to run our other dog's life on a tight schedule. If we don't feed them on time, we HEAR about it. I also tell him "Thank you for your service, now stand down" every time he barks at passing cars. He's a lot, but we love him.

[This message edited by SacredSoul33 at 10:10 PM, Tuesday, November 5th]

"I would recommend increasing the pups exercise and training. Work the mind and body and you will have a calmer happier dog."

I honestly try to do this but she is exhausting to walk. For a small dog she is strong and lunges and pulls on the leash. If she is not doing that she is putting EVERYTHING in her mouth. If I take her to the fenced area to play, she gets bored after a couple of toy tosses and digs and eats stuff.

We came in from a forty minute walk and soon after she was barking at me and our terrier mix. She gets one good walk and three to four short ones a day.

Any suggestions what to do with her to tire her out?

I'm not complaining, just trying to do a good job training her and giving her what she needs. She is doing great for seven months and is a sweetie. She has been good for our other little guy who was really missing his buddy. They play and snuggle but he can't keep up with her energy level.

"Thank you for your service, now stand down" every time he barks at passing cars."

Well, your girl sounds like she maybe "feeling her oats" and that saying comes from the horse-drawn era. When I had a horse, it sure was noticeable when I gave him a higher protein grain mixture to put weight on him. He'd be prancing around, bucking, rearing out in the field, just blowing off his extra feed energy. I think dogs can do that, too. It may be time to look at her rations, if she has attained her growth?

We have kept Mink on his puppy lamb and brown rice ration since he may have had a chicken allergy as a baby pup. We still feed 3 times a day, out of habit and just to keep him feeling the love, but we had to cut way back on his quantities several months ago. He'd eat half the bag, in any case! But some feeds just have too much fat or too much protein for a dog at her stage.

Or...she is just a flat out high-energy pup. Sounds a lot like our life, tbh. Trainer tells us we are almost through the worst of it, the terrible twos of puppies.

"your girl sounds like she maybe "feeling her oats"

Yes!! Tonight she was starting to chew something she shouldn't. I told her no and she stood there barking at me. That's what she does.

I think she will be full grown at 12 months. Is that when they switch to adult food? I have to look that up. She is not a great eater. Sometimes she will skip a meal or just eat a little. I go by approximately what the bag of food recommends. Her weight is good.

My last Boston didn't calm down until he was three. She has a lot of energy but he had more and was a little stubborn. Every single time I got his harness out he would run under the table or behind a chair.

She is currently curled up on my lap like a little angel.

I know zip about small breed dogs, but sure sounds like she is approaching the dreaded teenage brat stage, maybe a bit early?
Also she could have been the alpha pup in her litter. Did the breeder clue you in about her personality as a baby? They say every litter has one bossy puppy! We sure as H### got one! Enjoy the precious moments and try not to take it too personally (hard, isn't it?!)

Maybe treadmill train her?
Work on training to do tricks and use puzzle feeders etc.
If she's being bad on leash that's on yiu sorry. Got to be consistent and not allow pulling stopping etc. Head up, and turning when they pull. That stops the pulling. There are plenty of on li e videos on leash training using a slip lead to keep head up is huge.
Has she had a heat yet? Sometimes females can get really fussy before their heat and during.

Knowing the personality, temperament and drive of the dog is important in training. Then you use her strengths as training aids to move her into acceptable behavior. For barking teaching them to 'speak' on command and then getting them in a clam place afterward (sit or down) has worked for me for all but the most stubborn dogs. In those cases paying close attention to the body language of the dog while in the unwanted behavior was my key in understanding them in training.

As far as lunging on the leash have you considered leash training with a prong collar? No pulling from you -- let the dog dictate the pressure.

Another idea: Send her to puppy boot camp.

We sent our heeler to training for a month and it was worth every penny. He went in as an insecure, loose-cannon pup, and came back more confident and much less aggressive. They taught us how to manage him. Our place also offers a little refresher course when we board him there. It's cool.