# my barking chi



## Bree (Dec 30, 2010)

Hi all,

I am after advice for my chi. 

Loki is getting close to 12 months old. We have some behavioural issues with him and no idea what to do.

1. He is a purely inside dog. We take him outside on a lead. and on occassion he goes outside with our staffy but waits at the door to be let in. If the front door is left ajar he runs straight out and waits at the car door. The only way to catch him is to open the car door and let him get in there. He will not come to his name when he is outdoors. 

2. Barking.....................my god, I have never had a dog bark so much. Our entry to the house is at the rear of the house. Cars have to drive down the driveway past the house and every time a car comes down the driveway he will start barking before we even hear it. He doesn't stop either. If it is my car he is fine. But even when my husband comes home he will carry on with until he sees who it is. With everyone else who turns up he barks constantly even after we have let them inside it can take him up to 10 mins to stop barking at them. And it's not standing back barking at them, he will be a foot or 2 away from them. He's the same with people who doornock here. 

3. Barking.......lol........take him with us in the car and he looks out the windows and barks at every person he sees. Bike riders, pedestrians, etc. He doesn't bark at the cars unless stopped at traffic lights next to us and he can see the driver. 


Anyone got any insight into Loki's actions? Apart from that he is good. In the house he comes straight away when calls. Uses his pee-pad. Is generally a good indoor dog. He also likes to play with the 2 cats we have inside. I can take him to visit other chi's and after an initial bit of barking he starts playing with them.


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## 20887 (Mar 16, 2011)

Do you take him on walks or anything? If you don't, that may be why he barks so much at outside stuff. He may feel overwhelmed by everything..


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## kimr (Nov 14, 2010)

I've got barkers, but I don't think they are as bad as Loki!

We live in an apartment complex of townhouses...They all belong to Pedro and Gracie, including the sidewalk...I have to pull my couch out from the front window every day when I leave for work so they don't stare out the window all day and bark at all the 'intruders'. 

I have gained control of their barking when I have them on leash. This was a huge problem and someone on here posted about taking an old pop can and filling it with a few pennies or rocks, then duct taping the top. I carried it with me for a couple of weeks everytime I took them out, and if they started to bark, I would shake it (it scares them) and say "no bark". After a few weeks, all I had to do was say "no bark". With mine, it's all about catching them BEFORE they get started - once they get started I lose control. 

When someone comes in (my son in particular - they do not like him for some bizarre reason) I tell them 'quiet' once. If that doesn't stop them, they go straight into the crate until they calm down. 

I feel your pain...Wish I had better suggestions!


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## tonya_bella (Mar 30, 2011)

bell is 10omonths old and she's started barking alot but only in the garden i think she thinks shes guarding half the houses on my road! i just keep telling her to shut up which she kind of listens to for about 20 seconds then she does it again,i dont want a yappy dog


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## tulula's mum (Jan 4, 2010)

My two are barkers, Teddy is really bad and he goes out for a walk every day.


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## Bree (Dec 30, 2010)

he is alright when going for walks. He only barks at other dogs/cats etc. We take him away camping with us and he is fine with the other campers only barks when someone tries to pat him or if he is within a few metres of another dog. 

It's good to know others have barkers. I just wish I knew how to stop him sometimes.


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## LostLakeLua (Sep 6, 2009)

Kim gave some great advice above!! The key is to make sure you correct/interrupt his behavior right when it starts. The first time around (since he won't understand at first what's going on) it might take a louder correction. Such as the can of pennies mentioned. Or a loud stern "QUIET!!" Some people will do the Cesar Millan approach and correct the dog with a gentle jab of two fingers to mimick a mother dogs 'nip' on the neck as a correction... but I'm always hesitant to recommend that because I'm afraid some people will go overboard with it and actually think they have to poke the dog hard or something. It's not something that causes pain but basically just to startle them. That would only be in the worst case scenario if he literally ignores your verbal commands... (which also means he might have some dominance issues if he's not willing to respect/respond to you.)
Actually my FAVE method of "physical reprimand" is a good ole' fashioned squirt bottle. Once he starts to bark, give him a squirt and always make sure to combine the action with a command, like "No bark!" or "Settle!" which is what we use. 
All this will really only help when you are present... i.e. if he's barking when you're gone there won't be any way to correct him. They do make some stimulation collars such as ones that vibrate, beep, or even spray citronella that could help but it's not easy finding one suitable for a tiny dog. And of course you want to make sure it's not a shock collar.... those should only be used by someone very experienced in dog behavior/training and preferably not for little dogs at all. I do believe they have their place and the results can be very effective; however I think with a little patience there are much more effective ways at controlling bad behaviors. On the other hand I've heard of them traumatizing dogs.
Oh and last suggestion (I'm on a roll tonight LOL) they make little ultrasonic sound things that you can leave on... when it senses a bark, it emits a loud ultrasonic beep that is to startle them. However I'd also just use that if you were gone; depending on their sensitivity they can pick up other sounds and might send out a beep when not needed which would just be confusing to our dog.
**edit to add** the above device is NOT a collar, forgot to mention that. It's just something that you'd plug in to an outlet. The closer to wherever your dog goes the better... you don't want it blocked by anything, as it might not pick up the sound.

http://www.amazon.com/Lentek-Bark-Free-Training-Device/dp/B0001MYNLY

That's the one we have. We keep it by our back door; our dogs don't respond to the ultrasonic sound but it also has a different frequency beep that humans also hear, and THAT one our dogs don't like and respond to. We live in the city, so if our dogs are in the yard and see someone walk by and get riled up we plug it in and use the manual button to make the beep. Then our dogs come running and neighbors don't get grumpy lol. I got mine at a rummage sale for a couple bucks though; I didn't realize til looking up the link how much it costs... I'm sure they make cheaper alternatives!! If you do go this route and right away your dog doesn't seem to 'listen' to it; you might need to initially pair the beep with a squirt or something that he DOES notice. Kinda like clicker training; but instead of pairing it with a positive behavior/treat, you're making sure he associates the beep with a correction. Initially you might have to use the squirt bottle too; but once he realizes that every time he hears a beep he gets squirted he'll quickly learn to be quiet from just the beep alone lol.


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## bayoumah (Nov 30, 2010)

hi my sister has a barker and shes tried it all her pitty pat barks so much we cant hear ouself talk till she'd be removed to her kennel my buster doesnt bark much hes alot more passive than hers i guess its just the nature of the chihs personality


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## tulula's mum (Jan 4, 2010)

I've tried loud noises with ted, he just turns around and barks at the noise. I got a can of hissing air from pets at home, Tulula is terrified of it all she has to do is see the can and she shuts up, but Ted no doesn't bother him.


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## woodard2009 (Aug 4, 2010)

All dogs have to learn when the right time to bark is. If you let them bark at anything, they think they're doing the right thing. You'll have to constantly say no, but remember when they do bark at a stranger entering their yard, you should praise for barking at the right time. When a neighbor comes to my house, my chi barks and warns me. I'll say it's O.K. that's enough and she'll calm down. The only one she doesn't calm down for is the mailman. lol


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## LeStatKelly (Aug 25, 2011)

LeStat barks 'a lot' .....
Mainly when he's being carried outside ot go in the car on he's o his leash going for a walk.

We've just started to address this now that he's put on a little weight and is acting more like a dog.
We didn't want to put too much on him all at once. We tried the anti bark collar that beeps at him but that did no good at all as it didn't always beep when he barked!
We tried the water bottle but everything just got sopping wet!
We tried the rattle bottle but again he ignores it or simply barks at it!
We haven't tried the wall mounted anti bark monitors but as they are so expensive we can't afford one yet!

We now tell Saxon the rottie' to 'tell him' and he barks at LeStat 'once'....one rottie bark is always better than a chi that barks incessantly! 
It's working upto press. We also tell LeStat to stop barking at the same time so I hope he's getting the message.
We will give it a go without telling Saxo to tell him in a week or so and see if we have it cracked! LeStat still barks but not everytime 'a mouse break wind in the woods'....lol


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## Bree (Dec 30, 2010)

wow, thanks for all the advice and for sharing your stories too. I'm sure it will all help. I know I've got some hardwork ahead of me with Loki, but I'm hoping he will understand soon enough. 

@leStatKelly - love how the rottie helps you out. I also have a staffy but he doesn't bark so I don't think that approach would work lol.


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## LeStatKelly (Aug 25, 2011)

My sons staff ever barks either.
He had to teach her to bark on command last year when he had a pnuemothorax so that she can let us know he needs us when he collapses as he lives next door to us.


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## Leona2025 (Jan 3, 2011)

This worries me. My Gigi is about 8 months and she has only barked maybe 3 times. I ignored her on each of those times because I didn't want to accidentally reenforce barking. She whined a little bit when I put her in her play pen and I ignored it. Now she is never in the pen because she is house broken. I do crate her on occasions so she doesn't forget how to be crated. She whines then for a few seconds and settles down on her on. 

She barked at me yesterday when I didn't put her food in her bowl fast enough. Lol. I laughed inside, but didn't say anything to her. I had a rescue shih tzu which was neurotic about food. You could not touch a bowl or bag with out him whining, whimpering, and shaking hysterically thinking he was about to eat.

I wanted to get a second dog, but I'm afraid Gigi maybe an an exception with the none barking. My shih tzu use to bark so much that I got a notice from the office managers that if I couldn't get it under control I would be evicted. 

I kept a friend miniature schnauzer and he started barking so she started to bark also. Only one little woof, but I took her upstairs until he left, because he was huge compared to her and he seemed a little aggressive and I didn't take a chance.


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