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Shadow's barking started out as fearful--if something appeared in the yard or the house that frightened her, she barked at it, and her barking could be very intimidating! If the frightening thing was a human, it generally went away which was exactly what she wanted! So after having the bad behavior reinforced that way, it became a way for her to control her environment and later even became fun for her. She felt in control and powerful. I've been told that dogs don't know that they're barking, that barking is really just a reflex and you have to make them aware of what they're doing before you can change the behavior. To do that with Shadow, I first taught her to bark on command. I picked out a command word. In our case, we used "guard" with a hand signal--pointing a finger as if it was a gun. I also picked out a "bark stimulus", something I knew she would bark at (the Dustbuster). Then I would break out the Dustbuster, have a treat ready for Shadow, command "guard" and turn on the Dustbuster. When she barked at it, I responded "GOOD guard!" (lots of happy emphasis) and gave her the treat. We did this frequently during the course of a day, several times at each "session". We did this for a week (and still reinforce "guard" from time to time) but after about three days, I knew she knew it. And I knew she was conscious of the sound she was making when she would walk over to the Dustbuster where it hung on the wall, woof at it, and come over to me for her reward. In the beginning the barking was pretty frenzied, but it settled down to a quick "woof" fairly quickly. We did that for a week, then I started to teach "quiet". By this time, I could command "guard" without the bark stimulus and get a consistent response. So I would stand in front of her with a treat and command "guard", she would bark and I would say "good guard" but NOT treat this time. I would then stand in front of her and not say anything--she would bark again, trying to figure out how to get me to give her that darned treat, and I would say "quiet" (sweetly, not in a command voice), give her the treat immediately and say "good quiet". This was harder to teach than the bark command. In addition during this time, I had visitors (which always elicited lots of barking) just sit in a chair in my yard, while I had Shadow on a leash far enough away that she'd stop barking sometimes. Then we would walk a little closer. If she was quiet (I didn't command for this at all) I rewarded her with a treat and the praise "good quiet". If she barked, I stopped walking, and ignored the barking, but as soon as she stopped barking I again rewarded her with praise and a treat. That was the beginning and it seemed to take forever! Shadow is still a work in progress. We're constantly finding new things that need help, but I love my Monster Puppy. These days, other people are starting to find her more lovable, too. |
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