barking

[DabiansDad]

so dabians got this new thing.....barking.
hes not one of those dogs that constantly bark when hes out side but lets just say if im sitting on the couch watchings some TV, he will just start barking like crazy like he wants to play.
now, ive tried just not paying attention and just letting it go so as not to "answer" him.
ive tried telling him "no". and it just doesent work.
if i get up and try to come over to him he just runs away, and will stop and just start barking agian, its really getting annoying.
i keep my cool but im seriously getting really aggravated with this.

i give this dog no reason to bark whatsoever, he gets LOTS of attention, from me and my father.
i always have him running around we tug on the tires in the house hes always laying down with us but he gets in this mood to bark.

im sorry, but sometimes you just need to kick back after a long day at work and relax and then i cant because he just starts fing barking.
is his just a phase?
ps. hes about 9 months now.
thanks for any advise,
vern

[Carrie]

There are different reasons for barking, of course. Dobermans can tend to be VERY demanding as far as attention goes... as I'm sure you're noticing. You cannot give into their every demand. Looking at him, saying "no" or any attention is still attention. His barking like that sounds to me (over the Internet) as though that's what he's doing, insisting that you do something for him or give him still more attention.

How much obedience practice are you doing with Dabian? He has to know that he does NOT make demands on you or your family. Obedience training every day gets this concept through to him.

In addition, you can work on the "enough" command. If you say, "no" to him, you are telling him that barking is a bad thing and that he should never do it. Is that what you want? He is a protection dog and part of his job is to bark. What you probably want is to channel that barking to appropriate situations and cut out the unnecessary barking. That's why I don't say, "no" but instead, "enough." That is a different meaning. It means that barking is not a no no, or naughty, but that you've heard enough for the time being and he needs to stop now.

See the threads I think in the Behavior forum, called something like: (Barking collar went haywire and Barking problem... by Axel) where I described how I taught the "enough" command. Some others gave ideas too. This might help you. It is a different circumstance than yours....why the dog is barking, but the enough command is good for both. Hope it helps.

[DabiansDad]

thanks carrie,
i was using the enough command for quite some time, but thing is my dads gota hardcore german accent and his "enough" sounds nothing like mine, so he would listen to me, but not him.
im pretty sure i knwo what the problem is, see he listens to me, but he doesnt listen to my father at all, he always thinks hes playing because my father is always answering him, sometimes dabian will come on the couch which is fine with us, but he will lay down with me, but stand on my father, my dad will just look around him, i try to tell him to put him down where hes soposed ot be like i do and he will get used to it.
but of course he knows more than i do.
dogs smart, really smart, he knows the 2 different attitudes of me and my father and doescirtian things with me than with him.
im moving out this weekend anyways and it kills me that my father doesent do any training with him at all ike i do.
my father thinks he will just know commands "just because", he just cant grasp the concept that dogs use single words best and not sentances, and they need to be taught.
ugh, it really irks me.
hey, hes one of those very heard headed germans who know EVERYTHING, thats why im going going gone thsi weekend :-)

[Carrie]

If your hard headed, German father doesn't listen to you and read something about training dogs, you may end up with a dog who doesn't respect him and that's not a good thing with any dog, but a Doberman is particularily not one you want to disrespect you. I'm a hard headed American with German as 1/2 my ancestory. (the other 1/2 is Irish, Scottish, English, one person worth of Spanish...my German father says that my mother polluted the good, German strain. LOL. He's kidding, of course) You can tell him that Carrie says, even hard headed Americans can be rehabilitated so he can too. LOL...

You can find something online about training Schutzhund (German) dogs and in connection with that...the obedience. You can show him what dogs understand and what is confusing to them. Simple, one word commands where you use the same one for each thing, consistancy, rewarding, gentle, but firm discipline is a must. A Doberman, in particular must have obedience training and must know that he is not in charge. But it is done in a non-harsh way. They are very sensative.

You can show your Dad by your own, good example. Show him something you taught the dog. Show him how you used a command, consistancy and lots of reward to teach him.

Good luck. Let us know how things go.

[vonissk]

If you go to that Dr.P's dog training site they have the commands in several different languages. I don't know about Dobies but in my experience with GSDs they seem to like the German words better than English. Minta

[Barrett]

When you move out, are you taking Dabien with you?