You made me laugh too. I'm so reactive I'm an idiot. I will try to control my nerves and do the treat when I get him to a calmer state. R and B the K9It's a teachable moment.
1) He wants you to throw the frisbee.
2) He's barking to get you to throw the frisbee
3) you throw the frisbee.
See where I'm going with this? It's a learned behaviour. Dog barks, he gets what he wants....
You need to flip the script.
1) dog wants you to throw the frisbee
2) dog barks to get what he wants
3) you bring him back to a clamer state of mind.
4) the dog stops barking and "sits" (or whatever you decide indicates a calm state of mind)
5) you throw the frisbee.
My point here is that the REWARD (throwing the frisbee) must come as a result of the DESIRED behaviour (being calm). As long as you keep throwing the frisbee in order to "shut him up" then he will continue to bark and it will get worse.
See where I'm going with this?
Thanks for the response. I'm in the process of making chicken. He will do ANYTHING for chicken. I will update my progress! R and B the K9I have the same issue with my dog. My trainer told me to ignore her, and when she calmed, to reward her then. I didn't find that worked, though it's a technique.
What has been working better is I have treats with me, the second she starts barking I call her over, do some tricks with her (target is a great one), and make her lay down. When she's down, I treat her. Usually the stimulus is still ongoing so when she's down she hears the stimulus, but I treat her for not reacting. I'm not completely successful yet, but her 'fits' are much shorter in duration, and she's more responsive to me in those moments.
Good point, I never thought of that. I'll take better not perfect. I am going to try the "treat" today.In addition to the very valid point made by @dogslife, I would add that both Shepherds and Blue Heelers are very vocal dogs by nature, so to some extent you may be battling genetics here as well. I've only had 1 Blue Heeler over the years, and she was an awesome cattle dog, but a bit of a yapper. All of which to say that you can probably lessen the barking as dogslife pointed out by rewarding behavior you want, but you may have to settle for "better" not perfect due to the breed.
Once my dog sees another dog outside he doesn't know he goes wild. Barking, growling running to the next room for the window. I literally have to pull him out of the room of just keep the door shut. Apartment life is not for him (or me). We always had a house and this behavior was non existent. But...........that's a whole different story. He's actually very friendly. He likes a lot of dogs especially little dogs. There's only a few he doesn't like and we avoid them. Story for another day. At this point I want him to stop barking for attention so I can actually take him out and be around others.yeah, yelling at the dog for being reactive isn't going to help. To the contrary. The dog will recieve that as "barking because I am barking". It will reinforce the behaviour.
What you can do if the dog is on a lead is to abruptly change directions in response to reactive behaviour. For example if he starts barking at another dog then literally make a 90 degree turn to the left or right. This also works if the dog is pulling on the lead.
I think you also understand, even if it's hard for you, that reacting to the behaviour also validates the behaviour. You need to set the example. If you want your dog to respond calmly then YOU must respond calmly. Insofar as your dog is taking behavioural cues from you, you must model the behaviour you want to see.
Case in point, my dog runs up t o a window in our living room and barks when he hears another dog barking outside. I will go and stand beside him (I don't admonish him for barking) and say, "what is it"? what do you see?". Once there is nothing else for him to react to I say, "OK, done!" and he stops barking. This plays in to the dog's natural behaviour but sets a boundary.
We do zero brain work at home. Did did quite a bit when he was a puppy but have become quite lazy now that he's 8 y.o. He's becoming an old man so some times I get ignored. Not sure if he will respond unless there's chicken involved. I could try it with treats. Thanks!Do you guys do much brain work at home? Could be just sniffing out treats hidden around the room. You could go deeper into scent work and things like that, but maybe if you could work out his brain, he will feel more satisfied and not seek to bark as much at the windows? Maybe simple training sessions? I try to teach my puppy at least one new thing a day. Could be easy like jumping up on the sofa and back down again? Or jumping over or under your legs, weaving through as you walk? I usually don't use treats for this, I just use toys and teach them as we 'play'.
I started ignoring him. I walk away in the opposite direction and say 'leaving' or 'going home' and he stops. So far it's worked. However, I do like the clicker video. When he would not respond to clicker training. His ears would go back, he could turn his head and ignore. I may try it again. If it's distracting it might work.Have you tried any of the methods above?
Sorry my bad........I actually meant the new person who asked, but your comment about the clicker makes me wonder if you are using it correctly. The dog isn't expected to respond to a clicker - it's the clicker that responds to something the dog has done.
If you want more information on that, please do shout out.
