Barking at other dogs in Day Care

[nicmicwil]

Willie loves to go to Daycare - I know this b/c when I say the words Day Care he gets so excited and runs to the front door. He'll just sit in front of it until I am ready to leave.

So I hope that I can solve this problem...

When Willie is at Day Care he barks at other dogs. So much so that he has to have time outs away from the other dogs b/c he is getting on their nerves. Actually, at the first Day Care that he went to, he had a small piece of his ear torn and had to get stitches. Needless to say he doesn't go there anymore. I've since found a more responsible place, where they watch all of the dogs very carefully, plus there aren't that many dogs there so there's less chaos.

My dilemma is how can I get Willie to stop barking at other dogs? I would hate for him to have to give up daycare. He really loves it!

P.S. He plays with a ball at home and he constantly barks at it as he rolls it aroung the yard running at full speed like a soccer player! Maybe there's a some kind of correlation between the 2?

 

[curb_pks]

Does he bark at you to get you to play with him? Or is he actually barking at the ball?

 

[nicmicwil]

I think he was barking at the ball. Usually, he'll run around the yard with it and as he is nudging it along, he barks. I am usually at the other end of the yard yelling, Quiet! or Enough! Needless to say it hasn't worked.

Also, if the ball gets stuck behind a tree or under the table he'll look at it and bark, then look at me (but not barking) until I go over and get the ball for him.

I read a lot of posts on barking, but I am not sure how to correct this behavior when it happens at Day Care, so I figured maybe the barking at the ball and the Day Care barking are the same.

 

[curb_pks]

I'm sure Dan will have some advice.

Gracie got into this barking at me thing, the reason she did it is because it worked. I would get up and play so she continued.

I am working to stop it by walking away when she barks. Seems to be working so far. But it seems like your issue is that he is barking for fun.

 

[kassa]

Doesn't Day Care have an approach for dealing with it? Ours uses a spritz of water from a spray bottle for obnoxious-type behavior (mindless barking, humping, rushing the door when another dog is coming in and they don't respond to a command to back off, etc). Tends to stop bad habits quickly, and it's painless. Don't know why they find it so unpleasant, but they do. My dogs still love to drink from spray bottles at shows, and I can spray their bodies to cool them off, but holding up a spritz bottle in their general direction with a "hey!" usually stops brattiness in its tracks.

 

[nicmicwil]

Kassa, that's a good idea. I know that when he barks, they put him in a time out, which means going to an area all by himself. The problem I have with that, is they leave him there for an hour sometimes. (I can see him on the web cam.) I think time outs should be 10-15 minutes and constant, so he starts to understand why he is getting them.

I am going to mention the spray bottle to them = I'll even bring my own.

Thanks!

 

[BeckyNC]

I think this is a Boxer thing!

My girl barks at other dogs to initiate play with them. She barks as a way of saying "please chase me!" The other dog will chase and she then barks more, making the same request. It's a riot to watch.

Several weeks ago, I took Tae to another BW member's house to play and the Boxer boy we visited barked at Tae to chase him. I'm concluding this might be a way Boxers play. I'm not sure it's something that's outgrown b/c Tae is about to turn 2!