Episode #173 Navigating Barkyard Barking

Ever found yourself puzzled by your puppy's backyard serenades? Wonder no more! In this episode, you'll learn the ins and outs of managing your pup's barking behavior. This episode contains insights on deciphering the reasons behind those barks, whether they stem from excitement, fear, or just plain boredom. I'll guide you through understanding the root causes and how to reshape them into neighbor-friendly expressions, ensuring your backyard remains a peaceful sanctuary for all.

Together, we'll explore effective strategies like food scatters to redirect your furry friend's attention and the significance of maintaining a proper distance to keep the peace. You'll discover the wonders of positive reinforcement and how creating controlled environments with playdates and a long line can build your puppy's confidence and reduce those vocal outbursts. 

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is the Puppy Training Podcast, episode 173, navigating Backyard Barking. This podcast is designed to help you on your journey of becoming best friends through love and learning, as you train your own dog from home, and I'm here to help you every step of the way. This is the Puppy Training Podcast and I'm your host, amy Jensen. Welcome to the podcast today. I am so glad you're here. Thank you for listening. I know spring is a pretty common time to bring a new dog into our families and if you know someone getting a new dog, do me a favor and them a favor and share this show with them, will you? I really appreciate it. By the time this podcast airs, we will have our own new puppy at our house, our Bella. We are picking her up from our good friend Erin at Delano Doodles in Florida and we are super excited to share our training adventures with you. So follow us on social media. At Baxter and Bella. We have a YouTube account and Instagram and a Facebook page. We would love to share our training experience with you or any friends you know who are also getting a new puppy soon.

Speaker 1: 1:11

Today we are tackling backyard barking. Whether it's at the neighbor, another dog, a stranger or critters. This behavior can be a challenge for both new and experienced puppy handlers. But don't worry, I have some tips to help you manage and train your pup for better behavior. First off, with barking, it's important to understand the why. Why is your puppy barking? Is it out of excitement? Maybe it's fear, possibly boredom or something else. Identifying the root cause will help you address the behavior more effectively. As soon as we know the root cause, we can also assess the consequence and whether we're controlling that consequence or something else isn't. Usually with backyard barking it's an external factor, right? The person that the dog is barking at controls the consequence, or the bird flying away controls the consequence. So we'll talk about that today and how to handle it. If your puppy is barking at a neighbor or strangers passing by, it could be due to a lack of socialization. So we'll want to gradually expose your dog to different people, places and experiences, which will help them feel more comfortable and less inclined to bark. A more confident puppy is less likely to bark if they are nervous about seeing something.

Speaker 1: 2:25

Now, when they see something or someone new, I like to just do a little food scatter, so redirect their attention away from whatever it is they're seeing and positively redirect it down to the ground where they get to search and scavenge for these pieces of food. Dogs love to do that. It's a good, natural way to relax a dog because they're sniffing and smelling to find the little pieces of food. You can even help point them out if needed. If your puppy seems overly interested in the new something or someone, you might need to create some distance, meaning move them away, until your puppy can again focus on you or be willing to go and find the food scatter. So if you're too close to whatever it is and you're dropping food right at the fence, right, your puppy might be so focused on what's on the other side of the fence that they don't care that there's a food scatter. But if you move them away you know 10, 20, 30 feet and then do a little food scatter, they'll probably be more interested as you turn and move away. Just reward them for coming with you.

Speaker 1: 3:19

Now, when it comes to barking at other dogs, it may be a sign of over-excitement or maybe a desire to play. Maybe your puppy's excited to see whatever is on the other side of the fence and they want to go play with them. So the barking might be out of frustration like, hey, I can't get to you, I wanna get to you. So we can teach our dog appropriate ways to interact with other dogs through supervised playdates and positive reinforcement. So it's important that, yeah, we do invite dogs over to play with our dogs, but, you know, when they're seen in another dog on the other side of the fence we don't want them necessarily to just sit and bark at them. So when we're in the backyard I like to attach a long line to the back of my dog's harness and then, if needed, if my dog's really interested in something over there, I can just say let's go, I can pick up that long line, turn and walk away. And again, walking away creates that distance so that my dog can then start to focus on me. So as they're moving away, I'm rewarding them with something yummy or I'm engaging them with a tug toy or other exciting squeaky toy.

Speaker 1: 4:13

Possibly, again, food scatters work well too. So once I've created that distance, scattering little treats in the ground for them to go find is helpful, and then that long line will prevent your puppy from running back to the fence to bark again, because we don't want them to practice that. If I have no way to reinforce or to manage my dog's behavior. Then as soon as they collect their little food scatter, they could possibly just go back and say, oh yeah, but I remember there's this dog over there and they run back and bark at it. So that barking can be naturally rewarding to them. It might feel good, it might be fun. The other dog might be barking back, which is even more fun. So having that long line will help me make sure that I can move my dog away from it and even inside if needed. I can go as far away as needed until my dog can redirect their attention on something else. So the idea is to prevent it, if possible by moving away the second I notice something on the other side of the fence that my dog might react to, or if I miss it, then my dog is currently barking.

Speaker 1: 5:13

I want to immediately interrupt and redirect, as I mentioned before. The barking behavior, again, as I mentioned, can be naturally rewarding. It feels good. So we want to make sure that we interrupt and redirect as quickly as we can. We're not letting our dog have lots of practice engaging in the barking Now. Other animals can also be super exciting and they might trigger barking episodes, especially for curious puppies exploring their environment. Consider blocking off access to areas where critters may roam or supervising your pup closely when they're outside.

Speaker 1: 5:43

Now let's talk about training. Since young puppies are still learning the ropes, it's essential to start with basic behaviors like a touch leave it and quiet Now. In the beginning, our puppies have no idea what these words mean. It's up to us to teach them. I like to use positive reinforcement techniques such as food, rewards and praise to encourage these desired behaviors. I think teaching a basic leave it is awesome. It instructs your dog to take attention away from what they are excited about, and give that attention to you Now. The trick, then, is, as soon as your dog gives you the attention, reward them and do something fun with them so that their brain changes channels and focuses on something new instead of whatever it was that they saw. So be sure to use your dog's attention in a happy, fun way so they're likely to repeat that in the future, that they're willing to turn away from whatever they're seeing because they know what's going to follow is a fun game with you or a really rewarding experience. So this is what we call, or consider an expensive behavior, meaning it may be hard for your dog to want to listen to leave it. They might not want to do a leave it because it's so fun to engage with whatever's on the other side of the fence. But pay them well for this one Again, use that long line as that management tool and then reward them Again for doing so great when they make good choices.

Speaker 1: 7:03

Now, touch is a good behavior to teach. It's super simple. A lot of dogs, it's easy for them to do and it's very specific. We can work up to getting your dog to do this behavior in harder and harder situations. Remember, with everything we teach our dogs to do, we like to start teaching behavior indoors with minimal distractions and then, as they get good at a behavior, we add little challenges so that it gets harder and harder and harder for them to do it. But they're successful and they get paid for it and we can take it outside and generalize it to this scenario or these situations. So while our dogs are still learning, it is important to manage situations and prevent practicing unwanted behavior, because it is going to take some time to teach them the leave it or the touch or the quiet cue, and so we manage in the meantime when our puppy starts barking and want to redirect their attention to a more appropriate activity, such as playing with a toy or practicing a trick, maybe playing a game.

Speaker 1: 7:58

Consistency is key here, so be patient with your dog and persistent in your training efforts. Remember that key of distance Distance may be needed before your puppy's able to focus on something else besides what they are interested in. So, like I mentioned, you may need to walk away, even inside your house or out to the front yard, until your puppy can finally look at you and respond appropriately, so that distance is going to allow them to calm down and redirect their attention on you. So just remember this is normal and it will get better over time with consistent practice. Additionally, make sure that your dogs are getting plenty of mental and physical stimulation for your puppy to prevent boredom and excess energy. Invite a dog over to have a play date in your backyard so your dog gets to run around with another dog and play. Give them interactive toys. Put their food in puzzle feeders instead of just a bowl.

Speaker 1: 8:47

Make sure they're getting a daily exercise. If they have been leash, you know, trained to do leash walking, take them out on a walk If they are not so great at leash walking. Maybe we put them on a long line and go do go sniff walks. As long as they're fully vaccinated, that's a great exercise. That they don't have to be right next to you. They can actually have a 10 to 20 foot leash on and go sniff every tree that they come in contact with. They love that. So make sure that they're getting plenty of mental and physical stimulation throughout the day, because that does really cut down on the boredom barking. Remember you guys, managing and training a puppy takes time and effort, but with patience and consistency we can help our dogs become well-behaved members of our families. Thanks you guys for tuning in today. Until next time, happy training. If you have a question about anything you heard on this podcast or any other puppy training question, visit my site, baxterandbellacom, to contact me.