 | "Not disciplining" a dog so they will 'become a watch dog' is THE silliest thing on the planet Sarah. Don't rush over and tell them, but just for your OWN information, know that it is QUITE the opposite!!! A dog that just barks all the time is NO kind of watch dog. The trick is to have a dog that barks ONLY when you need them to. Do you remember the story about the "little boy who cried wolf"??? The first time he yelled Wolf! Wolf! everyone listened ... but then every time after people "heard" him less and less -- they just ignored him? Then when the real wolf came and ate the boy nobody paid the slightest bit of attention! Same thing happens with barking dogs! And the dogs know it. They don't even know WHAT they are barking at most of the time. Years ago, I was gone on a business trip. Mike was just a puppy then, but I did have a dog named Prissy who was pretty old! People often think of small dogs as "yappy" but again, I'd trained Pris that she only barked when there was SOMETHING to bark AT! My ex-husband heard the neighbor's dogs bark and thought nothing of it. They ALWAYS did. But then, he heard Prissy barking furiously in our back yard. He got up and went to the door to find out what was up. As he had his hand on the doorknob, he looked through the door only to see some huge man on the other side of the door coming IN!!!! It was a break-in in progress. However, Prissy's barking had gotten the attention of the police officers who were already on this guy's trail and before my ex could react, our backyard was FULL of Orlando's finest cops!!!
So how do you train a dog like this? It's really not hard. Simply, the first thing is to train them NOT to bark all the time!!! My dogs KNOW they are NOT to bark in the house -- not in play, not when the doorbell rings .. when they bark I simply tell them NO. But .. when they run to a window or door barking .. like they hear something .. THAT is not the time to correct them. That is the time to GO to the door yourself. I always say "Mike -- show Mommy!!" They will. If they see you are interested in what they have found, they'll lead you right to it. If it's night time and we can't see out, we snap the leash on one's collar and take them out so they can sniff the perimeter of the property and see what's up. Then you pat them and tell them how GOOD they were to show you! When a dog knows he can GET YOUR ATTENTION he'll come to YOU with his concerns. That's actually his JOB .. what a dog perceives he is supposed to do. When you pay attention to that .. he remembers it.. TRUST me!! Now, if they are just barking willy nilly .. you tell them NO. |
