# Barking out the window at animals and neighbors



## jessegirl (May 13, 2011)

Hi All,

I'm trying to figure out the best strategy to keep Rollie from barking out the window at animals and our neighbors. He's not barking out of fear or boredom, but seems just to want to shout "Hey, birds!" or "Hey, those people are back and they're moving around out there." Only problem, if these stimuli are present, he'll keep doing it. 

Here's what I've tried. I've been using negative reinforcement by removing the pleasant experience of looking out the window by taking him away when the barking starts (repeatedly) and then putting him back. So, it goes like this: 1) bark, 2) mom swoops in and picks him up and steps away and says "no bark," 3) put Rollie back in area, 4) wait, 5) bark (Rollie that is, not me - I don't bark :laugh, 6) repeat.

Note, I do not believe my holding him during this process as he is still in that puppy phase where he really doesn't like to be held for more than a second or two (still quite squirmy). 

I can keep doing this, but I'm not sure if there are better options. Also, the location of the barking is primarily one window and our back slider.

Thanks all!


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## Pipersmom (Jul 27, 2009)

Haha, I have been trying the exact same method with the exact same results.

I'll be watching this thread, I'm sure someone knows a method that works.


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## Lizzie'sMom (Oct 13, 2010)

Sounds like our house. The neighbors across the street moved a few years ago and their house did not sell until last winter. The new neighbors have little kids that she barks at-she wants to play with them. The owners of the house next to them lived in CA 9 months out of the year so there was not much activity. The CA house sold and there has been a flurry of activity and Lizzie feels the need to bark at every worker going in and out. I am hoping that soon seeing people around will become the norm for her and she will stop. 

I've tried "shhh", "stop barking", "no bark", removing her from the dining room and putting her in the family room to have her run back to the window. I am hoping someone has a method, too.


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## misstray (Feb 6, 2011)

I'm in a basement apartment so Brody can't see out the windows, but he started barking at every noise in the hallway, people walking outside, etc. He started around 7 months. I put him in his crate for a time out. He's better at home than at work. At work he wants to bark and/or growl at every person who walks in. Because this could make him unwelcome at work I did get him a citronella bark collar (unscented) to wear at work. That does help, but he tests it to see what volume he can still do and if his collar isn't on he forgets and will bark. Oddly enough, he seems to like the collar and doesn't want me to take it off!


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## jessegirl (May 13, 2011)

So I guess these guys like to bark at stuff around their territory. It's a bit windy today in CT and I'm realizing that Rollie's barking at our flag too. Sigh.

I decided to try to teach "speak" today to get barking on command. He's making a bit of progress already, but at first when I was waiting for him to offer the behavior to reward it, he was trying to figure out what I wanted and ran through every behavior in his repertoire. So cute! I have to use all my willpower not to laugh at him all throughout training cause he's so frickin cute!


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## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

Rosie barks at my renter when she takes the labradoodle out to potty. In fact she growls and paws at the window. That is the reason I moved the sofa so she couldn't sleep in the window sill anymore. But, she doesn't do it when her daddy is home. He got tired of it--so loud--and slapped his hands together and in a really mad voice told her no. It took a few times, but now she jumps up in the chair and lets out a little bark. Otherwise she doesn't bark at anything unless someone knocks on the door. then she barks and comes to get me. Sometimes she thinks she hears someone trying to break into the house in the middle of the night and wakes me barking and runs downstairs to check. The first time or two, it scared the daylights out of me, but now I just let her go and check and then she comes back to bed. That only happens when her daddy is not home. Otherwise she lets him be the guardian of the house.


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## Cindi (Sep 5, 2011)

Jessica,

Don't know if it'll work for you, but somehow it did over here. Mojo would sit in the front window and bark at ..... well, anything he found interesting. I'd go sit next to him with a pocket of treats. As soon as he looked at me, "yes! Good quiet". Of course, as soon as he swallowed, back to barking. I'd say something like "Wow, look at that!" Got my voice to a level that interested him. He'd look at me. "Yes! Good, quiet". This took some time. Gradually, I paused longer between his look and his getting the treat. He got to the point where as soon as I walked in, he'd stop barking. And he got a treat. Now, he still barks if he sees something, but I can usually holler "Hey, what's up?" from a different room and he'll stop. Not 100%, but probably close to 90% of the time.

Cindi


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## jessegirl (May 13, 2011)

Cindi said:


> Jessica,
> 
> Don't know if it'll work for you, but somehow it did over here. Mojo would sit in the front window and bark at ..... well, anything he found interesting. I'd go sit next to him with a pocket of treats. As soon as he looked at me, "yes! Good quiet". Of course, as soon as he swallowed, back to barking. I'd say something like "Wow, look at that!" Got my voice to a level that interested him. He'd look at me. "Yes! Good, quiet". This took some time. Gradually, I paused longer between his look and his getting the treat. He got to the point where as soon as I walked in, he'd stop barking. And he got a treat. Now, he still barks if he sees something, but I can usually holler "Hey, what's up?" from a different room and he'll stop. Not 100%, but probably close to 90% of the time.
> 
> Cindi


Wow, Cindi. That sounds highly promising! The phrase you use from a different room now - is that the same kind of phrase you'd use to pull Mojo's attention when he resumed barking? The phrase becomes a cue for quiet, which is associated with food. I like it!


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## luv3havs (Jul 27, 2007)

We live on a street with lots of foot traffic-people, kids and dogs. It is only normal for the dogs to bark at things going by. We have a huge bay window. After dealing with the barking, and trying hard to train our 3 dogs to " quiet", we decided to manage the issue. (At the suggestion of a trainer). Sometimes management is easier than training. Our dogs range from 3 to 7 years of age and can really get each other barking! And my training hasn't worked.
We turn down the wood blinds from the middle of the window to the floor, blocking their view. It works very well. I have decided that my next purchase will be plantation shutters, which should work even better and allow more light into the room via the upper part of the window, which I can leave uncovered.


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## Lsprick (Jul 8, 2010)

My neighbor adopted a teacup poodle who barked all the time at anything outside their window. She put a handful of coins in a small coffee can and shook it anytime the barking started. It sure seemed to work. 

Myself, when my dogs are barking at the window, I move into their space, claiming it, and tell them "No bark!", then lots of praise when they stop. Good luck!


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

jessegirl said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I'm trying to figure out the best strategy to keep Rollie from barking out the window at animals and our neighbors. He's not barking out of fear or boredom, but seems just to want to shout "Hey, birds!" or "Hey, those people are back and they're moving around out there." Only problem, if these stimuli are present, he'll keep doing it.
> 
> ...


Hi Jessica, what you were trying initiallly is called negative punishment actually. Punisment in operant terms means decreasing behavior , reinforcement increases behavior. Anyway what you tried doesn't really solve the problem other than temporarily. The best article I have on this is too long to post here. The forum only accepts so many characters in one post. First email me privately on the forum here and then I will give you my personal email address. Last time I put my private email right here and I had someone use it calling themselves someone else on here. Won't do that again. LOL You're on the right track though. You have to teach shush first. And then proof it.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

Lizzie'sMom said:


> Sounds like our house. The neighbors across the street moved a few years ago and their house did not sell until last winter. The new neighbors have little kids that she barks at-she wants to play with them. The owners of the house next to them lived in CA 9 months out of the year so there was not much activity. The CA house sold and there has been a flurry of activity and Lizzie feels the need to bark at every worker going in and out. I am hoping that soon seeing people around will become the norm for her and she will stop.
> 
> I've tried "shhh", "stop barking", "no bark", removing her from the dining room and putting her in the family room to have her run back to the window. I am hoping someone has a method, too.


 Lynn the problem is that she probably doesn' t know what :"sshhh " means unless you teach her.


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## ShirleyH (Sep 13, 2009)

*Exactly Our Problem*

I thought Rollie's story was written for us and note that lots of Havs exhibit this behavior. Keeper's favorite spot is on a bed looking out the low front window and keeping track of the traffic.

He is thoroughly interested in barking at any dog. Barking at those he knows and likes seems to be frustration that he isn't out there with them. He will also bark at any 'strange' movement by a person he doesn't know--someone jogging or running for instance.

We've never been able to stop him from initiating the behavior, but have succeeded in stopping the barking by coming into the room and saying 'ach'.
He will stop and then we praise with 'good boy, no bark'. He certainly knows that the barking is unwanted.

If anyone has been successful in stopping the behavior before it starts, I'd surely like to hear about it.

Shirley H.


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## jessegirl (May 13, 2011)

Lsprick said:


> My neighbor adopted a teacup poodle who barked all the time at anything outside their window. She put a handful of coins in a small coffee can and shook it anytime the barking started. It sure seemed to work.
> 
> Myself, when my dogs are barking at the window, I move into their space, claiming it, and tell them "No bark!", then lots of praise when they stop. Good luck!


Sigh - yes, that's part of what I've been trying, but unfortunately, as soon as I leave the room, he's at it again. I need to work on a method that helps when I'm busy in another room (e.g., making dinner, etc.).


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## Carefulove (Mar 20, 2009)

Bumi does the exact same thing. Of course, the minute my husband sees or hears him, he'll start saying... Biiiiiiiiird? Where is the biiiiiiiird? (in a funny voice). I want to smack him upside the head with a kitchen utensil (my husband, not the dog) ound:

Bumi will go nuts when my husband asks him for a Biiiiiiiird. But will stop as soon as I step in with my Ssssshhhh (yes Dave, Bumi knows what it means) ound:


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## jessegirl (May 13, 2011)

davetgabby said:


> Hi Jessica, what you were trying initiallly is called negative punishment actually. Punisment in operant terms means decreasing behavior , reinforcement increases behavior.


OMG, of course! :doh:


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## narci (Sep 6, 2011)

Oreo does the same thing. He only barks at things/people when they are walking by the house.

One thing I tried and seems to be working ok is using distraction. You have to try to catch him before he barks and use a distraction to distract his attention. Tryt o find a way for him to look at you instead of the person walking by.


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## jessegirl (May 13, 2011)

Now I'm working on teaching "speak," but my only dilemma is that Rollie actually doesn't bark at much at home. He DOES get excited about what he sees out the window, but he doesn't really bark at the doorbell. It was snowing last night so I was using midi sounds and he ignored the doorbell. He will sometimes bark at dog sounds, but that's getting less and less. Plus, he doesn't hear the sound and immediately bark. He will run to the door, look outside, go to a window, run to me, and at some point he MAY bark. I reinforce the barking when it happens, but the frequency of the behavior is kind of low. 

To think, I'm having a hard time getting my dog to bark so I can teach him not to bark.

Sigh.


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