This is Jackie aka Jackie O (as in oh no) or Yakity Jackity. She was adopted from the Oakland Animal Shelter about a year or so ago. She has no impulse control. She jumps ALOT and barks nonstop while playing in the group. She does not have a mean bone in her body and her recall is excellent but that barking......
Last year I completed a couple of courses at the Marin Humane Society under the instruction of Trish King. It was $1,500. well spent. One of the many things I learned was about correction. When there is a behavior that is undesirable, DO NOT MARK IT! At first that didn't make sense to me but I was willing to give it a try. I always keep 6 foot skinny leads on the dogs that need help. When bad behavior happens, I am not to say anything. I just remove the dog from the activity. Jackie gets overwhelmed with excitement during play and starts that *%## barking. Instead of yelling her name 1,000 times and getting frustrated with her for not listening, I am to just pull her out of play and give her a time out. I started doing this about 2 months ago. Her schedule has been irregular with me but in January she has been on a daily schedule. 10 days ago my helper and I realized something was missing. JACKIE'S BARKING! I was elated. It worked! Every once in a while she forgets and barks and I forget and yell but we both check ourselves and do the desirable behavior. It has made such a difference for all of us. Now for that jumping.......
Well done Coleen : )
ReplyDeleteI expect this works well when you have more than one dog and you are all outdoors. You can put the barking dog back in the vehicle. But I wonder what you do with a barking in the home?
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