Struggling with barky 5mo mini

[jo+sam]

Sam is five months old now and is SO LOUD. As soon as he found his bark a few months ago he wanted to make the most of it pretty quickly, but with some training and perseverance he did calm down a bit. He would still bark when he wanted to play with another dog, but he calmed down significantly when people came to the house, when we were having dinner in the next room etc. He was just happy to chill.

This all seems to have come undone in the past couple of weeks. We can no longer have dinner in peace, he has started barking again, despite being left with toys and treats which seemed to work before. When we go out for walks, he barks at everyone. It's mortifying. He made a child cry the other day. It's not aggressive barking, he just wants to say hi and play with everyone, but how are they supposed to know? I don't know how to control him. My partner tells me to step in front of him, block his view and he'll calm down. It doesn't work, he just runs circles around me.

We took him to an obedience class last night and he was barking his head off. They all were - it was the first sessions and it was eight dogs in a new room who hadn't met before. But the trainer comes over to me and tells me I need to pacify my dog. I tell her I don't know how - that's why I'm there. And she just huffs off. Another trainer tells me if I want him to be quiet, I just need to get him to sit. I don't know how!! He will sit beautifully if he's focused, but if he's barking at something he just won't listen to me.

I'm crying every day at the moment. I cried in the class, I cried on our walk just now, I just can't handle this noise any more. We got two steps out of the house then he started barking at a neighbour and a group of children. People shout at us to shut up from their houses. I just brought him straight back home because I didn't know what to do.

I really feel at a loss. I love Sam but I'm not really a pet person and none of this comes very naturally to me. At least once every day since we got him I regret our decision to do this and I absolutely hate myself for it. But I guess this is the puppy blues and it will pass, hopefully? We knew minis could be a barky breed before we got him - believe me, we've been researching the right breed for us for literally years - but my partner assured me that it would be easy to train the barking out of him (he's more experienced with dogs). And we don't want him to be silent! Just one or two barks would be fine. It's the endless barking, screaming, pulling...

Does anyone have any tips or any stories of hope from similar situations? I am a quiet person and I feel like I'm going insane...

[Dawnspell]

Jasper too would bark at anything. The poor neighbour couldnt be in his garden without getting barked at. If the doorbell went he would instantly start barking, race out of the office, hurdle over the settee and lunge barking and squealing at the door where he could see out side. This was around xmas time. As if on cue while I'm typing the doorbell has rung. He was on his mat beside me in the office asleep, he twitched his ears opened his eyes and that was it didnt move a muscle or make a sound, which for a schnauzer is amazing

The difference is Ive introduced calmness and manage his environment to set him up for success. Dogs become what they rehearse so the more he barks the more he will bark so managing the environment to prevent barking is a start eg the glass door where he could see outside, its an internal door where he can see through to whos at the door and outside, I put a curtain up so he couldnt see out. He couldnt see what was happening outside so didnt have anything to bark at. He wasnt allowed free access to garden so he couldnt bark at the neighbour or anything else outside. It has taken a lot of time and effort and is still a work in progress but it is possible to get it to a level where you can live with it.

Heres a link to youtube video explaining about barking and creating calm and also a free ebook.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX70QvZEf50
https://game.absolute-dogs.com/barking- ... ns46897670
https://nbn.absolute-dogs.com/blog-barking-dogs

I gave up with puppy class after about 3 weeks. Jasper was just like Sam. It wasnt worth it, I wasnt enjoying it and Jasper wasnt. Bringing him home while on your walk you say you didnt know what to do but you did the right thing. You got him out of a bad situation.

Its perfectly natural to have days when everything just seems too much so dont feel bad about it. Puppies are hard work some more than others. Jasper has most definitely been a greater challenge than Barney our previous dog was, but I have learnt so much about dogs from having him which hopefully has made me a better owner.

[zeta1454]

So sorry to hear about your bad experiences with the training class. Unfortunately many young dogs who need sensitive positive training are let down by unprofessional and unhelpful ‘training classes’ which can actually make things worse if they are not being run well. You will be better helped by online resources such as Alison recommends if you cannot find a really good dog trainer /behaviourist. The fault is definitely the trainers and not you, so please don’t feel you are to blame in this situation.

Sam is also going into his adolescent period which often means that dogs change temporarily as their hormones surge and forget training / settling down and start testing boundaries and generally being more challenging in every way - which with mini schnauzers almost always includes barking and with some this can include a high pitched noise which is particularly hard to cope with. Adolescence is a phase - dogs do come out the other side, and, with patience and continued training on the part of you and your partner, Sam should begin to settle down and control his barking more.

You must try not to get too upset about this - plenty of people have noisy children too and wouldn’t appreciate being shouted at about them, I’m sure. It is hard when you feel this is a situation that could go on for ages and / or you have no control over it so to reassure you that this is almost certainly temporary (that is due in large part to adolescence) and that there are ways you can work on calming Sam and encouraging him to relax and focus on you more. If need be, for a short time, try to avoid taking Sam into situations where you know he will not cope without barking - is there a play park / field local to you that you could hire for an hour or half an hour to allow Sam some off lead running - do you have any friends with placid dogs who might be a good play companion for him. Dogs do copy others to some extent and a calm companion may help to give Sam signals as to how to control his reactions more.

Although I totally support positive and calming training as the way forward, I would mention that you can get a head collar and /or a double ended lead which may help to give you a bit more control when out walking Sam. These are not a solution of themselves but if you are struggling with not being able to manage Sam when he becomes hyper on a walk, they may help. The head collar is something that needs careful introduction though as most dogs are resistant at first and, if you think it is going to cause too much stress and aggravate the situation don’t use it. We have used one successfully for a short period many years ago with a dog that stressed out very much in crowded situations and she was much calmer with the head collar.

https://www.dogmatic.org.uk/

We have a dog currently that came to us at nine months old very reactive to cars, people approaching and other dogs on walks and, with him, I would look out for any potential trigger situation, call his attention and, if he was already stressing, I would get down beside him, holding his harness, talking to him calmly and waiting until the ‘trigger’ had passed. It didn’t always work but eventually I have got to a place where he will walk calmly as cars pass by, is not stressed by people passing and will look to me when there is a dog without getting wound up. I do give him treats when they pass and I have distracted him with treats too once he has seen the dog. It is not 100% but certainly enough to make a walk an enjoyable experience which it wasn’t at first. You definitely need to work out a way to have some gentle but firm control of Sam when out as you don’t want you both becoming stressed and upset. I do prefer a harness on a dog rather than a lead on a collar and always a fixed lead, never a retractable one. We use the Perfect Fit harnesses which are easy to hold on to at the back if need be to keep a dog from leaping or running round you:

https://www.dog-games-shop.co.uk/

Some of the other things to consider are whether there is anything that may have triggered or aggravated Sam’s hyperactivity - diet; medications; over-tiredness etc. If the change in behaviour came on very suddenly, did anything happen at that time that might have contributed to his over-reactive barking?

Good luck and don’t despair as this period is always a challenging one for families with an adolescent dog but you can get through it