We’ve lost control, Pandora is back to barking. Or maybe it’s her version of narrating the play-by-play of the household. Every dog in a five-mile radius knows what is going on at our house.
We Hear Barking…
Pandora believes it’s just letting us know, or more specifically, letting ME know what everyone else is doing. And everything that is happening around us. She feels no need to let anyone know what is going on when I’m not home. Other than, “Oh uh, someone is on the property.”
When I’m home it’s a completely different story.
“MOM! One of the kids walked out of his room.”
“MOM! He went into the bathroom.”
“MOM! Dad turned on the outside water faucet! OH MY… Water! MOMMMMM, WATERRRRR!”
“MOM! A car drove by.”
“MOM! A leaf fell 3 miles away.”
“MOM! Dad sneezed.”
And heaven help anyone who wants to talk to me while I’m in my office. Pandora has taken it upon herself to be the guardian of my productivity. Or just insanely jealous of anyone who wants my attention. There is the possibility that she understands my desire to be a hermit and is trying to provide that for me. Whatever, her perception is, she is very vocal to anyone who starts to talk to me.
When anyone leaves the house, she gets very upset. I’m not sure, but I wonder if she feels like she failed on the corralling of her herd. “They’re getting away.”
Whatever the Case May Be…
I’m going bonzo. What happened? We had the barking under control for a bit, but then she snapped.
The worst part is that she is the absolute worst with my husband. Whenever he’s in the yard working, she is trying to heel him and barking at every move he makes so long as I’m home. If I’m not home, she sulks, she doesn’t care what others do. Understand, this is hearsay, as I have never seen this side of her. But apparently, my husband and boys can vacuum, mow, hammer, go in and out of the garage, leave, do whatever they want without Little Miss giving a play-by-play.
When I’m home, I have to go rein in Pandora when she’s barking at my husband. He just ignores her and keeps doing what he’s doing. Which is not helping her learn. With spring and summer, he’s outside a lot, which means I can’t get invested in my tasks and work because I have to go deal with the barking. I don’t want to be that dog owner, the one that allows the dog to bark and bark and bark. And I can get her to back off. Until I leave.
Possible Reasons for the Increase
Obviously, the first reason is that my husband isn’t training her. Let’s be clear, when the whole family is consistent with the training, the dog will respond for each person. My husband likes to get out and do what he needs to do. He doesn’t want to stop moving and get the dog under control, he wants to do his thing.
Last year, my husband did do some training with Pandora. And even though she didn’t change to perfection, she responded fairly well. As with all training, we need to be consistent, and we need to revisit it often. The sooner you get on top of it, the better. The first few days will be the worst, but then it will get easier and easier.
Another reason for the increase, we have our twin boys home for the summer. There’s been an adjustment in the family. Whenever, there is a new adjustment, Pandora (and even I) have to adjust. We have to adjust to the comings and goings which are more frequent. We have to adjust to more noise and activity.
Sometimes barking is a sign that the dog isn’t getting enough activity. And since we’re dealing with an Australian Cattle Dog, that is something I’m very mindful about, making sure Little Miss is stimulated mentally and that she gets lots of run and activity time.
The New Plan to Reduce the Bark
This time around, I’m going to be implementing the same thing as before. Rewarding for “quiet”. I want her to bark when people come by the house, but I want to stop when I acknowledge what she’s telling me.
And once we get that back under control, we can use it for all the other stuff she feels she needs to let me know about.
The biggest caveat is that she doesn’t do it for treats. She did that once before. Expecting the treat and throwing out some unnecessary barks just to get a treat. I’m thinking it might be wise to delay the treats as she learns. We’ll start with instant treat on a pause. We’ll move to instant treat when she responds to the command. Then we’ll start stretching it, waiting one second after she follows the command, then two seconds and so on.
I also love Pet Web MD’s idea of getting the pooch in a spot when anyone comes home or to the door.
And, I’m going to give my husband three links on training to read through and let him decide how he wants to approach training her. I like to give options so people can find what works best for them. When I train Pandora, I give a hand signal as well as a verbal signal. This way, I have two ways of communicating with her. So I figure if my husband wants to try something different, he can use the same hand signal and we’ll get the same effect. That’s my theory.
Side Note: Hand signals are awesome. They have come in handy many times, when I’m talking with a neighbor or someone on a trail, but I don’t want to interrupt the conversation to get Pandora to sit or come.
And, as always, I will update in a month, how the training is going.
If you have any suggestions that have worked for you and your dog, please share, I’d love to hear them.
If you’re curious about the links I’m sending to my husband:
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