He is a noisy one!

[bosstheboxer]

All Vegas seems to do is bark, bark, bark. For attention, for food, at puppy class, when he's lying on his pillow for no reason, etc. He's 10 weeks old...is this just a puppy thing he'll outgrow?
It's most annoying at puppy class...he gets all the other dogs going. I know the instructor is getting annoyed by him barking.

He doesn't bark for food anymore actually...we stopped him of that by just walking out of the kitchen if he started barking as we prepared his food.

What can we do about the rest? We do ignore him when he barks, which only seems to make him bark more.

 

[HandsomeBoss]

i have a 12 wk old and he is just now getting out of the whiney stage. I think it was separation anxiety. Granted he still has his whining moments but its getting better than before.

 

[northernboxr]

When Riker acts up at puppy school by barking at the shy puppies, the instructor taught me to put treat in front of his nose, lure his attention towards me and make him sit.

I wouldn't do this obviously when he is barking for food or attention- but it certainly works wonders when he is barking at the other dogs! I worried that he might make the connection between barking and getting food, but that wasn't the case- instead he seemed to learn to be quiet and sit nicely watching me.

 

[northernboxr]

oh, and from what I've read on this board- the attention barking is one of those things that gets worse before it gets better I think. Just keep ignoring it.

However, there are some situations where he barks and I'm not even sure he knows why he is doing it. I give him one firm "no"... if he starts barking again I do something to startle him, such as hitting a rolled up magazine on the counter. When he is quiet, I praise him for it and he settles down.

I think ignoring is still the best because he gets no attention from it. But sometimes I use the startle approach to snap him out of the random barking fits.

 

[bosstheboxer]

Phew, so glad you told me that! I thought we had a defective puppy with attention deficit !!!
We tried the startle approach with other things like chewing or pulling at things he shouldn't - he just thinks it's another game. He loves being squirted with water and just revels in the pennies in the tin can! . He's not right but I wouldn't trade him for the world.

 

[totallyhip]

We have a non-barker. Luke is the strong silent type LOL In the almost 4 years that we've had him I have heard him bark maybe 10 times.

His BFF comes over alot. He is a Pug and we look after him a fair bit when his parents go away. When he first started staying over he barked alot. At everything! The phone, the doorbell, the tv, people/dogs, walking by, the dishwasher, washing machine ----everything it was driving us NUTS! His parents told us to tell him "no! go to bed" and then he would go lay on his bed (and sulk), but the barking stopped. We only had to do that about 3 times and now he doesn't bark anymore.

 

[northernboxr]

He loves being squirted with water and just revels in the pennies in the tin can! . He's not right but I wouldn't trade him for the world.

Haha- Vegas sounds like a hilarious little monster. I love hearing about other people with naughty puppies because it reminds me to keep my sense of humour when Riker is being a nutcase! Our class instructor suggested a cap gun for those puppies who just don't startle ... but I'm sure Vegas would find a way to love that too!

 

[JHarper]

My pug barks a lot too. I was afraid Diesel would take after her, but he'll just sit down and stare in the direction she's barking.

However...and that's a big however. he will bark to get on the couch with me, as well as pawing at my face and arms until I pull him up. (he cant jump up yet for some reason)

That's pretty much the only time he'll bark. but it's painful.