barking when i'm not around

hey guys
i've read several posts about barking. bentley is quiet whenever i'm around, but when i leave the room (with him in his special room, the laundry room) he whines and yaps what do i do? i can't teach him the quiet command b'c the second i appear, he's quiet! there's no way to give him a treat b'c he's already stopped and then i'd be rewarding him for nothing. he's only been home 4 days and is 3 months old this friday, so i know not to expect much, and i don't. but he whines at 5:30am (no matter how late i try to make him stay up!) and won't stop. i'm in an apartment and hate that i'm waking ppl up so early to the sound of puppy yapping. what do i do? his natural bedtime is 10 or 10:30, but i've tried keeping him up till nearly midnight to see if he's sleep later - he didn't. hee hee. well, please help. i can't have him barking/whining/yapping in the morning and i know he does it when i leave the apt b'c i've heard him do it for about 10 minutes while i'm still outside the door, and i'm sure he does it longer. i do ignore him when i'm home during the day and evening and i've left the room, and eventually he stops, but one it gets too late at night or so early in the morning i just cant' do that to my neighbors. please advise!
otherwise, bentely's wonderful. sweet, loves to cuddle and is good. not sure how long it'll take to get him potty trained (inside, on pee pads). he's only had a few mess ups in the past several days and always goes on his pad when he's aleady in the laundry room with it, now i just gotta get him to go INTO the laundry room to go when he's out in the rest of the apt. sorry it turned into two posts! but the barking thing has just got to be solved, please help!!!

 

I only have a few minutes and just wanted to tell ya that I just LOOOOVE your baby's name! Bentley is cute hehe

 

=P~ Hi there~

Sounds like he has trained you! He barks or whines, you come over to him...just what he wanted! :wink: That's not the way it should, or you want it to be! The key here is to come to him when he is quiet, not barking. When you come to him when he is barking, you are simply reinforcing the negative behavior and letting him get what he wants. When you are away from him and he's quiet, every once and a while come back and reward him with positive praise and a treat for being quiet. Just remember though, DO NOT return to him or yell at him when he is barking, for that will only encourage him to continue on! It may take a while, but with persistence, patience, and positive reinforcement, he'll learn!

A couple of other thoughts:

- Do you leave him with ample amount of stuff to keep him busy, besides just toys? One thing I would highly recommend is a Kong. Stuff the Kong strategically so it takes a good amount of time for him to completely finish it off/get it all out! (The easier it is for the dog to "unpack" the Kong, the faster he'll finish it off and be bored again. The harder you make it for the dog to "unpack," the more time he'll spend trying to figure it out and get every last bit out!!! :y_the_best: ) For a little bit of variety besides the Kong all the time, go out and look for other assorted safe chews that you could leave with him when he is alone!

- When you leave the laundry room, do leave something on, such as a radio? Often times, the background noise from a T.V. or radio is comforting for a dog!

As far as the indoor training issues go - Since I've never done it, I can't really give you any pointers to help you out. I think some other people on the forum have, so hopefully they'll come in with a few tips!

Hope things get better!

 

Hi,

Our puppy had the same problem when we brought him home at 2 months old. He would whine and cried the minute we put him in his crate. He's now 5 and 1/2 months and such a good boy.
Try to ignore his whines and cries. He would grow out of it. If not there is something called Anti Dog collar? But some said that's mean to use on dogs.

Good luck,

Brian & Bamboo

 

That's not a route I would take...ESPECIALLY the type that emits a shock (I don't care how little the shock) when the dog barks. You never want to teach a dog to not do something out of fear of what might happen as a result of disobedience! Yes, they do make citronella spray bark collars, but from what I hear, they aren't very effective. Quite honestly, I wouldn't even use the citronella spray collars either! Highly qualified trainers I have spoken with would agree, don't use any type of bark collar!

They're just not logical, anyway! You have two options, leave the anti-bark collar on all the time, so any time the dog barks he is either shocked or sprayed. In that case, you are telling the dog that any barking is inappropriate! Now that's just not realistic, that's like telling a kid never to talk. It's just not fair to the dog!

Other option, only put the collar on when the dog starts barking too much, or when you know he is about to be in a situation where he's known to bark up a storm. By doing this, you are thoroughly confusing the dog. Why can he get away with some barking here and there, but can't during other times!?!?

In either case, by using an anti-bark collar you are risking the chance of your dog developing a fear of collars as a result of your use of the anti-bark collar. (Such is the case often times with the anit-bark shock collars.)

Anyway, that's my opinion on anti-bark collars...I'll stop rambling now! :roll:

Positive reinforcement training is the best way to go, no doubt about it!

(Brian, this post was not meant to be an attack on your statement...I promise! :wink: )

 

Hi, I understand your mean well.

We would never use anti collar on our pet esplly the Shock collar.
Fortunately, our puppy only whined and barked like 5 or 6 times in the begining when we put him in his crate.

I learned about anti collar when I spoke to this guy. He said the anti collar is effective because He has tried many ways to quiet the dog but the dog is out of control when no one is home. The constant barking has ruined his friendship with some of his neighbours. I guess he uses the anti collar as the last resort.

Peace,
Brian & Bamboo