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Hi all.
My 11 week old GSP is barking when my wife and go to work, she is by herself for no more than 4 hours as we get to come home for lunch.
The second we close a door she starts crying and getting into full bark when we return.
We've had a neighbor complain already and as such have ordered a ultrasonic bark collar.
Is it just a maturity thing or depending on the dog?help!
Cheers
I have a 12 week old Labrador doing exactly the same thing and does not like being left alone.
In the mornings after his play, training and breakfast he will get into his crate 10-15min before I leave. I don’t acknowledge him at all during this period, simply ignore him even if he’s barking and just leave. I’m lucky I have understanding neighbours who also have dogs though.
At lunch and evenings when I return I will park down the road and sneak up on him (to make sure he’s not just being silent as a car pulls in the driveway) he is usually silent. I let myself in and again I ignore him if he starts barking and only let him out of his crate when he’s silent. The first few days he starting grizzling and barking as soon as he heard the key or knew someone was home and it took him along time to settle down. Now I can get 10 – 15min of complete silence from him before I let him out for being well behaved.
One thing I’ve found really useful for keeping his trap shut is a Kong. It’s a ball thing that I stuff with peanut butter and he will spend hours trying to get every last bit of peanut butter from it. Has worked wonders in the mornings as a distraction.
He still doesn’t like being left alone though and I’m slowly increasing the time I can spend away from him without him feeling anxious and starting to bark. I would appreciate any advice from the more experienced dog handlers on this forum.
Harley really didn't like being left alone in her kennel at first. It took me half a day to sort it. First thing is to make sure that they are happy and comfortable with the kennel or wherever you leave them. What I did next worked for me but I am no expert so I might have just got lucky.
I put her in the kennel and locked the door (she had water, something to chew, an old blanket and an old shirt of mine for my scent) I then went around behind the kennel and sat down where she could not see me . I put a podcast on my phone just for the sound of people talking etc. That worked too well and wasn't a realistic long-term solution so I turned the noise off and went back behind the kennel again.
As soon as she started crying I banged the roof of the kennel with a big stick and it scared the hell out of her, no more noise for a minute or two so I let her out for a quick pat and a play. Then I put her back in and repeated over and over again slowly extending the time she was in there between being let out until she did an hour happily.
For the next two or three days I would take her out at random intervals and put her in the kennel and just wait out of sight for her to bark or cry and if she did I would bang the kennel with a stick. She now spends the work day in the kennel other than being let out for lunch and has no problems.
I had the same problem with my gsp too, I got a Garmin sport pro collar, it seems to have stopped it, and I've also used it to discourage things like chasing sheep and eating cat shit out of the litter box
Have found that by containing a pup in a run from day 1 makes life easier in the long run. Another thing is as a pack animal they love company, have had 2 plus dogs for years and have never had problem with incessant barking other than neighbour's dogs.