Teething and Barking - Suggestions, Please!

[larz78]

Our wonderful, perfect little angel puppy has lost a bunch of his teeth and has decided to vocalize his teething issues with barking, A LOT. Whoever said Newfs don't bark/woof, have never met our Lukin. We live in a condo and are very sensitive of our neighbors, so we have reacted to barking more than we should, but our baby is hurting and we need him to be quiet as we respect our neighbors!

Does anyone have suggestions on how to stop barking despite the pain of teething (we're talking the last few molars here)? We've tried new toys, frozen items, petting, attention, extra walks, begging . . .basically any ideas are welcome!

 

[champagnebrkfst]

He is an angel, isn't he?

 

[charlieinnj]

Whoever said Newfs don't bark/woof, have never met our Lukin.

What moron ever said that? :shocker:

What ya might want to try is whenever Lukin starts barking, use a "marker word/phrase" like "Eh-eh! No." and immediately leave the room and go somewhere else in the house and close the door behind you. When he's been quiet for 30 seconds or so, come back out and reward him and say, "Good, Lukin!".

He won't like not being able to be around you so once he catches on that the barking makes you leave, he'll probably catch on.

And, his vocalizing likely has nothing to do with his teeth....He's entering that bratty teenager phase.

 

[mareserinitatis]

Try to ignore the barking as much as you can. Ada used to bark and bark in the mornings...and then she started doing it in the afternoon. I learned pretty quick that any response at all would egg her on. One day she was in her kennel during her normal time, but I was home for part of it. She started barking like crazy. I ignored her and went about my business, and after a long while, she quit. Since then, she's quit.

I know it's hard when you have neighbors, but a bit of short-term pain makes it better in the long run.

If you can teach shush or quiet as a command, that's good, too. I haven't had much luck with that because even saying that seems to egg her on and I've never really gotten a proper response that I can treat.

 

[NewfieMama]

Another thought, recommended in one of my classes to another dog owner who had a similar problem, was to teach the dog to bark only on command. The trainer had had this problem with his rally dog and "fixed" it by allowing him 3 barks. He did all positive reinforcement training and now the dog will give 3 woofs and stop.

Just another idea, though I like the first ones best if they work for you.

 

[Thehallk]

Gilly does exactly the same thing (still, at about 4 months) and we're in an apartment with extemely "sensitive" tenants below us. I timed her barking "fits" to see how often and long they were and realized it wasn't as much as I thought, maybe 30 seconds or a minute every few hours. As long as it's not early in the morning or late at night and not truly excessive I just ignore it because I figure it's not much worse than when the people across from me fight/slam doors or the kids above me run around for awhile during the day, or vacuum for 20 mins. When it is too much, though, leaving the room works best (usually) for us. Trying a "no" or any other verbal/physical reaction only creates more barking (or biting, which she also does). Her barking goes with itching and playing, not teething (the biting goes with teething for us) but I have noticed an improvement over the last few weeks as she has "matured". Also, we're moving, but that's coincidence and good fortune... Not an option for everyone

 

[Thehallk]

P.s. Dont know if it's a kid friendly building, but I console myself that her puppy phase is much shorter than a baby's crying phase (which DOES happen in the middle of the night) and think my complaining neighbors should be glad I didn't bring home a human baby!

 

[SheilaT]

One thing that worked for me was a little squirt of lemon juice right into the open barking maw. My Angus was (is) a very vocal boy who, as a pup, would be very demanding. When he'd go over the top with the barking, I'd tell him "no bark" and give him a squirt of Mr. Lemon. It didn't take long at all for him to catch on....maybe a few days. Now...it never made him afraid to bark, it helped me teach him "no bark" and to this day, if he doesn't stop when I tell him "no bark," all I have to do is make the hand motion of squeezing the little plastic lemon and ask him if he wants Mr. Lemon. He then sits down and licks his chops...but stops the barking.

 

[larz78]

What moron ever said that? :shocker:

What ya might want to try is whenever Lukin starts barking, use a "marker word/phrase" like "Eh-eh! No." and immediately leave the room and go somewhere else in the house and close the door behind you. When he's been quiet for 30 seconds or so, come back out and reward him and say, "Good, Lukin!".

He won't like not being able to be around you so once he catches on that the barking makes you leave, he'll probably catch on.

And, his vocalizing likely has nothing to do with his teeth....He's entering that bratty teenager phase.

I like this idea. I have been working on the "Talk" and "Quiet" commands with Lukin, but I don't like praising him with treats when he is in mid-rant. I think we may try combining the two efforts. Leave the room when he barks without the command to Talk. . . and then practice it when we're outside! I'll let you know how it goes.

And can we keep believing that the barking has everything to do with teething and nothing to do with a bratty teenager for just a few more days at least? The denial was somewhat comforting!

 

[larz78]

Gilly does exactly the same thing (still, at about 4 months) and we're in an apartment with extemely "sensitive" tenants below us. I timed her barking "fits" to see how often and long they were and realized it wasn't as much as I thought, maybe 30 seconds or a minute every few hours. As long as it's not early in the morning or late at night and not truly excessive I just ignore it because I figure it's not much worse than when the people across from me fight/slam doors or the kids above me run around for awhile during the day, or vacuum for 20 mins. When it is too much, though, leaving the room works best (usually) for us. Trying a "no" or any other verbal/physical reaction only creates more barking (or biting, which she also does). Her barking goes with itching and playing, not teething (the biting goes with teething for us) but I have noticed an improvement over the last few weeks as she has "matured". Also, we're moving, but that's coincidence and good fortune... Not an option for everyone

I love the name Gilly, in fact we use the "Gilly voice" with our cats when they are ignoring us. Too Funny!

Thank you for the suggestions - we are lucky that most of our neighbors are also "dog people" and Lukin is really good at night, but who wants to be that neighbor, right? And so true about those loud human children! HA HA

Good luck with your move!

 

[mareserinitatis]

P.s. Dont know if it's a kid friendly building, but I console myself that her puppy phase is much shorter than a baby's crying phase (which DOES happen in the middle of the night) and think my complaining neighbors should be glad I didn't bring home a human baby!

Slightly off topic, but the first night I was home with my older boy, my neighbors came over and yelled at me because my crying baby was keeping them up. (Turned out my bathroom, where I was changing him, was right next to their bedroom.) I still think that was horrid of them because it was my first night home with a new baby and I was already stressed out!

The barking is definitely easier to deal with.

 

[Erika]

we use a small air horn for bark training........or a can of pennies will work......Any quick noise distracts the behavior, doesnt scare them and when they stop a reward is in order. It worked for Gigis howling and the pyrs barking too.

 

[RiverTheNewf]

Ok, here's what I would do. Go knock on your neighbor's doors with a plate of cookies, let them know that you will be training your dog not to bark so for the next week or two they may hear excessive barking. (We honestly did that) Every time your dog barks and you ask it to be quiet, you are giving it attention. It will bark for your attention, good or bad. Dogs don't do things that aren't rewarding in some way (people either).

River is an attention barker, and by the time we finally got a behaviorist involved, River started barking when the behaviorist came over so we put her in the bedroom and she barked for the next half hour solid. Not even a 3 second break where we could let her out. Also, see my thread The Breed Books are True...Newfs Don't Bark. Newfs bark. The only thing that worked for my dogs is to ignore, ignore, ignore. Leave the room, if I have to remove the dog instead, I just calmly lead them from the room and close the door. I do this if we are visiting someone, camping, in the pet store, at home, in the backyard. Barking stops everything.

Anyway, he's young, you'll get it, he'll get it. Patience and persistence is the key at this point! Mal still has double canines on the bottom where he still hasn't lost his baby teeth, but otherwise he's all done teething, I think. I didn't find a single tooth! Baby's drive me way more crazy than dogs barking, but I can't imagine knocking on someone's door the first night or two they have the baby home!?! We had loud neighbor's at our apartment but it was fighting, kids running, gospel music and....adult activities. Now I'm just rambling. Good luck, keep us posted!

 

[sara722003]

...........I ask the dog if he wants a visit from Mr. Lemon......

Thanks for the laugh! But it appears to be a good strategy. Also, directly above this post is some VERY good advice. This is going to take some time, so appease those neighbors and just be upfront that you are working on this. The dog is not just allowed to bark non-stop without some resulting punishment or attention-withdrawl, but it will take some time. The mouthiness comes with adolescence. He'll get over it in time. EVERYONE longs for the 3 year mark, when their dogs become their dream dogs!

 

[BoundlessNewfs]

Teething: Soak a kitchen dish towel in water, wring it out, and put it in a plastic bag in the freezer. When the pup needs something to chew on, give this to it. The cold will sooth those sore gums.

Barking: I started putting my thumb and forefinger like a bridge over our dogs' snouts, while quietly telling them "shhh...no bark". Treat when they quiet down. Maggie has always been "vocal", but she quiets right down when I tell her "no bark".