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Barking - how much is too much?

3K views 14 replies 13 participants last post by  MMM18 
#1 ·
Hi everyone,

I just wanted to ask what your thoughts are regarding barking. How much barking constitutes excessive? I think I maybe worry about Cooper's barking too much lol. He loves to look out of the window but was barking or 'murphing' (as we like to call it 😂) when people or dogs passed by. To be clear, it would only be one to two barks at the most. I didn't want him to get into the habit of barking at the window so I tried to train him that if he barks then he has to come away from the window. I would reinforce him being quiet, telling him what a good boy he is each time he is quiet for a a couple of minutes. He now corrects himself and will sometimes give a low short growl instead of a bark and if he does bark, he brings himself down from the window. I think my biggest challenge is him reacting to noises.

We live in a really busy dog area. There are at least 20 dogs on our street and there are around 50 houses on the street. There is one dog who is let out around midnight, they live in a block of flats and the dog barks continuously for 10 minutes until it is allowed back in. The barking always wakes Cooper up and he gives a little bark. I don't want him to react this way each time he hears it. I am lucky that my direct neighbours are elderly and hard of hearing but I still worry about them complaining. My neighbour Tom, who is lovely has his daughter's golden retriever over once per week and he spends around 5 hours bouncing along the fence in the garden and barking for more or less the full time. We hear him before we see him.

I would say that Cooper barks around 5-10 times a day at the most and by that I mean individual barks. He doesn't tend to do the run of barks that I have heard other poodles do. Would you say he is barking too much? Any ideas to reinforce quiet, especially when he hears noises at night?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
 
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#3 ·
Before my current puppy and moving house I would have said "Any"! 😂

I'd say a couple of woofs are fine as far as alert barking goes as long as it doesn't start ramping up and become persistent. And I'm zero tolerance when it comes to demand barking. My puppy occasionally tries my patience when he thinks it's mealtime (it isn't) and sometimes gets too vocal for me when playing. But honestly he's not too bad, and Evelyn has stopped booking at shadows since I got Ranna.
 
#5 ·
For me, with Elroy, what I don't want is him barking for NO GOOD REASON. And he doesn't. Barking for a reason is OK (not DEMAND barking though). When he hears something and runs to the door or window with a couple barks (2-5, I'd say is typical), that's OK with me as long as he doesn't keep at it. I go to him and ask him what he's barking at, look out the door or window with him, and then reassure him everything is OK. When he's outside, he has 3 "stations" where he can see people/dogs walk by. If he spots them, he'll bark at passers-by while they're in his view. Fortunately, with my landscaping, 2 of the "stations" only provide a couple of seconds of viewing, and the 3rd probably about 20-30 seconds of viewing. If I am outside, I can usually call him off off his barking at them. Sometimes he barks when we're playing. Sometimes he barks when he's playing without me too. I figure if you get a dog, you've got to be somewhat tolerant of 3 things dogs do. Bark, Dig, and Pee/Poop.
 
#6 ·
Yeah, X2 on what your tolerance is.

We (I) want Basil bark when someone's approaching at my parents house.

My parents didn't want Basil to bark at all, because "we have the ring app". Well, they can't hear the ring app when they're gardening outside. So, what's better then the ring app? A poodle.

They eventually came around and are now grateful for the poodle alarm.

Anything else isnt allowed... With exception, like fear barking, which we can't always 100% control.
 
#7 ·
I don't like barking and Winnie might bark (not always) if she recognises someone through the window like our neighbour walking the dog (maybe a couple of woofs) but in general doesn't bother. What annoys me is if a bird sits on the fence in the garden and Winnie is in the garden she will bark at it constantly until either I go out and shoo it away or I make her come inside. I'm all for an alarm if there is an intruder in the garden but not every bird that sits on the fence. That's just too much.
 
#10 ·
I don't like barking and Winnie might bark (not always) if she recognises someone through the window like our neighbour walking the dog (maybe a couple of woofs) but in general doesn't bother. What annoys me is if a bird sits on the fence in the garden and Winnie is in the garden she will bark at it constantly until either I go out and shoo it away or I make her come inside. I'm all for an alarm if there is an intruder in the garden but not every bird that sits on the fence. That's just too much.
I wouldn't like that either. Elroy watches them a little, but doesn't get fixated or bark at them. He's starting to notice birds of prey soaring overhead too. Just looking though [emoji102]!
 
#8 ·
Rusty is foing through a phase of barking at anything unusual. A man in a hoodie with the hood up on a walk today. Dogs barking in the distance.

I like him to stop when I tell him 'everythings ok' but he doesnt always stop ... He may do a few muffled barks which I am ok with I just dont like the persistant ones.
 
#9 ·
Thank you for your replies. I am fortunate that Cooper has never done any demand barking and I definitely wouldn't entertain it if he did. He does like to bark when playing but only with other dogs not with us or by himself. My sister's bulldog growls as if he is murdering someone when he plays tug. Cooper will bark at him outside when he wants him to chase him. Not over the top barking, just a few excited play barks ( these are the ones I hate the most, they are so high pitched lol). As far as birds on the fence are concerned, Cooper doesn't bark at them, he stalks them then runs fast towards them so they fly away then cries because they are gone 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️.

His groomer works from home and she has 2 south African Boerbels which are used as guard dogs for her horses. They don't stop barking the whole time we are there. On top of this, she has 5 poodles, 4 toys and 1 standard. A couple of her toys bark constantly too. It's an extremely noisy environment to be groomed in. Big deep barks and small yappy barks all at once. I don't know how she copes lol.
 
#13 ·
I teach my dogs the command "Quiet". I do want them to announce vehicles/people showing up at the end of our driveway, but I don't want them to keep barking and barking once I have acknowledged their alert. I taught it by gently grasping the muzzle as I said "quiet". They learned pretty quickly.
 
#14 ·
Every time I see this thread, I misread barking as baking. And every time, I think ‘never’!!

aaaaanyways. I have always taught my dogs “hush”. Bark all you want, but if I say to hush, it’s time to hush. I also encourage growling during tugs and quiet barking during play. One of my dogs learned to “whisper” on command.
 
#15 ·
Does anyone have recommendations on how to stop problem barking? I live in an apartment building with thin walls. For the first several months, my dog didn't react to any of the sounds but within the past week or two, he barks very loudly at every single noise (when neighbors are speaking in the hallways, when the elevator doors open and close, when the doorbell rings, etc.) and it takes him quite a while to quiet down. He is also will start barking /howling in the middle of the night if he hears the tiniest noise in the hallway which wakes me up and I'm concerned is waking my neighbors up. I've been trying to re-direct his attention to something else to get him to quiet down which helps but I would like the initial barking to stop.
 
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