How Do I Stop My Dog From Barking At Noises Outside Of Out Apartment Door?
by admin on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 | 4 Comments
I have a two year old golden retriever and have recently changed apartments. She has started to bark every time she hears someone pass by our door or when she hears the neighbors. I know she is just doing this as a way to protect me, but I need to curb the barking.
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You probably want her to alert you at least once (my dog was barking one time and as I approached the front door I heard “Let’s get out of here.”) The secret is that you need to teach her “quiet”. As someone pointed out, you’ll need help with this because you need to know when the noise is coming. Enlist someone to be your noise maker, when your dog barks, tell her quiet and do one of two things, grab her muzzle (so she can’t bark) or squirt her with a spray bottle of water, water with a little lemon or vinegar in it, or bitter apple (preferably in the mouth). You should slowly be able to faze out the squirt bottle or muzzle grab and she’ll respond to quiet. As someone else pointed out, the secret is consistency.
you must stop her every time….
practice a few times a day ( or at least once a day for 5-10 min)
have a friend or neighbor walk by the door
while you are inside next to your dog. and when she starts to
bark, stop her right away.
say something like “shhhh!” fairly loud- to break her concentration on the noise outside the door and barking.
then have your neighbor walk by again, making lots of noise.
adn then you stop the bark right away again.
several time, repetition is key.
she will learn. you just have to have patience.
Just keep telling her, “No, it’s okay, thank-you.*” She’ll figure it out. You’ll just have to be patient.
Good luck!
*I suppose the thank-you is optional. I always say thank you to my dogs. I don’t know why. Yes, sometimes I say please, as in, “Excuse me, please.” when I’d like them to move.
Could you play a radio to help drown out the noise?