Help! Barking,Barking, Barking!

[Sunseeker32]

I swear I have the loudest newf on the planet! Koko barks all the time. I know she is trying to communicate "I want in, I want out, I'm hungry, pet me, I want to play..." and on and on. I guess what bothers me is that she will sit in front of Scout and continuously bark even when he doesn't want to play. She will not leave him alone. I have separated them, but she continues to bark. Scout is so laid back that he will not assert himself to silence her. Oh, and not only will she bark at him, she will throw her body into him to get him to play or jump right on top of him. He just looks at me like,"really mom? why is she here?" Any suggestions, advice?! It is exhausting! Thanks.

Megan, Scout, and Koko

 

[wrknnwf]

More exercise and mental stimulation. She is bored and needs something to do. There is a recent thread on mental challenging toys and ideas.

Make sure you are not rewarding her by reacting to her barking.

 

[charlieinnj]

How old is Koko?

 

[Sunseeker32]

She is 9 months old. I know she is still a baby, but she seems much more hyper and vocal than Scout was. It is just something we are
Not used to. The next basic obedience class begins early July.

Megan, Scout and Koko

 

[charlieinnj]

She is 9 months old. I know she is still a baby, but she seems much more hyper and vocal than Scout was. It is just something we are
Not used to. The next basic obedience class begins early July.

Megan, Scout and Koko

I tend to think you have a loud, bossy female.....Just like I have (pictured in my avatar). By any chance, since she's named 'Koko', is she brown?

 

[R Taft]

I think different dogs have different amount of barking....katy is the noisiest newfie i have ever owned. when she barks I go out and look...I let her know I have seen whatever, if she goes on, I just take her to time-out. She has gotten a lot less. She was at her worst between 7-12months.

I am also a great believer in teaching them to bark on command and also shush on command. it works for Katy and Tessa...They love to chat when I ask and shush when I ask..Even if they started by themselves. Shush is a big reward moment

 

[charlieinnj]

Check out this video where fellow NN'r DAWNMERIE taught her Newf how to 'whisper'. Perhaps it's something you could try? And maybe you'll find some helpful advice in the discussion thread, also.

 

[Jager's Mom]

Exercise always seems to help...

 

[lmfoltyn]

Jake just started barking at 18 months believe it or not. Now he barks all the time at his brother to play with him. He doesn't bark at all for any other reason. Drives me crazy but he learned this behavior FROM his brother (a lab). When I tell him quiet, he stops. He listens very well but it is a minute to minute teaching moment. He is really funny he surprises himself with his deep bark.

 

[Thehallk]

Gilly is 16 months (when do we stop saying months?) and I've just resigned to the fact that she's a "chatty Cathy". She was realllly barky too. It drove me crazy! She's our only pet an she would bark at us when she wanted to play or was bored (and exercise did help with that) but sometimes shed have been on a long walk an was still barking, and she would do te same thing where she barks non stop at her choc lab cousin and harass him. The harassment hasn't stopped but we eliminated the barking inside with time outs. Problem was *mostly* solved in one intensive day! Every single bark got her about a 5 minute time out in the bathroom. If she barked while in the bathroom we gave her an extra few minutes until she was quiet. I think she was in time out for a few hours total that day. The next day she gave a bark, went in time out, and the barking has pretty well stopped! I think she's converted to whining which is annoying as well but less obtrusive and more easily ignored, depending on why she is whining (pee breaks or clean water requests don't get ignored, whining to go lie outside at 5 am does get ignored and she quits after a few irritating sleepy minutes). We also haven't been able to fix her outside play barking (like when she is barking at her dog playmates, trying to force them to play with her), but if it's bad an we think its offending the neighbors we'll bring her inside to calm down. Every once in awhile she will still bark but I'll put her in a time out again for a short time, even 45 seconds, and she gets back on track. I don't know if it matters, but someone told me when we do the time out, not to be angry or show any emotion, not to say anything, and just to grab her (often dragging her on the floor since she would flop down) and put her in, and not to say anything when we let her out - just open the door and let her out. We DID say calmly and quietly "time out" as soon as she barked hoping it would work as a threat but she never caught on to that. And I can't figure out the whisper command, but I'd love to!

 

[jane]

Shannon drive's me nut's with all her barking. My boy's never bark unless there is a good reason to. Shannon bark's for everything!!!! She's like a ticking clock! She know's what time it is and is very demanding verbally. I don't tolerate it. I taught her the command "enough". When she is barking for no reason I say the command and she usually stops. If not, I put her in a down. My newfs are very well excercised physically & mentally, so I know it's just Shannon being that bossy, loud woman she is

 

[Brandie&Maggie]

Maggie also barks to ask for stuff. She used to do this only when she needed to go out for potty, then it escalated to when she just wanted to be played with. We started to make sure we were not rewarding her barking for attention but ignoring her did NOT work. In order to get her to stop the behavior, I trained her on "quiet" (lots of reward when she stopped the barking). She picked it up fairly quickly. When she doesn't listen to this, however, working her brain stops it immediately. I make her do a sit-stay or down-stay and the barking stops immediately. After a few minutes of nice behavior I get up and play with her.

I do not ignore barks for "potty" as that is something I certainly want her to alert me to.

Time-Out has also worked for other bad habits. I think its about finding what works and sticking with it!

 

[YorkvilleNewfie]

Gilly is 16 months (when do we stop saying months?)

2 years, I think. Same goes for human kids; I'll be giving up the "months" on Rowan once he hits 2 in September. I think people will just think you're annoying if you say something like "My dog is 27 months old."

 

[Sunseeker32]

Well the barking continues, but I have managed to teach her a game that I call which hand. It is like the shell game, but I hide the treat in my hand behind my back. Then I hold out my hands and ask "which one?" and then "paw it." After she puts her paw on the correct one she gets the treat! Her attention span is not long so it amuses her for a little bit anyway! We also have been saying "enough" while closing our fingers together. I guess the sound plus the movement of our hand makes her quiet long enough to begin to reward her. Thanks for all the comments!

Megan, Scout, and Koko

 

[Gigi M Knier]

Hobbes is a barker and barks to get Calvin going. It is driving us nuts. We have tried time out, and even went to shock collars. ( I know, I know, but I don't want any nasty responses)We are desparate. I don't know what to do about it. HE will literally be laying down and jump up and run to the door barking and there is nothing there. Sometimes he barks when he hears a certain bird. I even tried spritzing him in the face with water. Now he looks to see if I have the water bottle!!!!!