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View Full Version : Dog Barks, Even When Being Squirted With Water


Inaru
Jul 21, 2014, 03:33 PM
I have a mini dachshund and she is the sweetest dog in the world, but when she starts barking, she will not STOP. I've looked up online what to do and I've tried a few things. When she starts to bark, I let her bark a couple times before saying "Okay, thank you." She'll usually look at me, but then go right back to it. That's when I say "That's enough." If she keeps going after that, I say "No." and squirt her with the bottle. Sometimes it works, but most times she just looks at me and keeps going, as if to defy me. If she does stop after a "Thank you" or "That's enough", I give her a treat. I've even tried just ignoring her when she's barking, but that doesn't stop her, either.
What I have noticed is she is like this when my boyfriend isn't home. Every little noise and she thinks he's home, so she starts barking and refuses to stop, even when I squirt her with the water bottle. I think that's what it is, anyway, but don't know how to make her stop.
We have another dog and he was even worse than her about the barking, but after giving him the squirt bottle treatment, he's a lot better and listens very well, so I don't know why it doesn't work on the dachshund.

Thanks for your time.

Alty
Jul 21, 2014, 03:45 PM
How often is the Dachshund walked?

Dachshunds are prey dogs, they were bred to hunt. Your dog needs a lot of exercise and he needs a job. That's right, a job.

When he starts barking, remove him from the room. During the day set up little tasks for him to do, like hiding a treat in the backyard and he has to find it. Play hide and seek with him. Anything where he has to use his nose.

The best method for training this breed is treats. They react with their noses first. So lead him out of the room with a treat, then make him sit, lay down, roll over, and work for that treat.

You could also try giving him a toy to distract him from what he's barking at.

It won't be overnight, and he'll never be a quiet dog, this breed is known to be yappy, but it should help.

Good luck.

Inaru
Sep 3, 2014, 02:53 PM
They are walked every day when I get home from work. The toys kind of work, but she'll start to ignore them after a while and continue to bark. It's not that I don't want them to bark at all, I'd just like it if they stopped when I say. Thanks to your answer, I've started playing a game with her, where I hide a treat somewhere under some blankets or something and let her look for it. She loves this game. :)
Still a little yapper though... haha

tickle
Sep 3, 2014, 03:41 PM
My dog thought the 'water bottle challenge' was a great game. She just followed the water and drank it, and then it was, more mom more! It was a trainer who suggested that but not for barking !

Alty
Sep 3, 2014, 04:28 PM
They are walked every day when I get home from work. The toys kind of work, but she'll start to ignore them after a while and continue to bark. It's not that I don't want them to bark at all, I'd just like it if they stopped when I say. Thanks to your answer, I've started playing a game with her, where I hide a treat somewhere under some blankets or something and let her look for it. She loves this game. :)
Still a little yapper though... haha

Sadly she'll likely always be a yapper. I have a beagle, so I know how that feels. Their vocals are like nails down a chalkboard. The baying could drive a saint nuts. Seriously! They're not yappers, but they are vocal. Very vocal.

Beagles are scent dogs, and hunters, just like dachshunds. They need a job. They're not laid back dogs that will just sit all day and do nothing, and be okay. I recently got a ticket for my beagle's barking. We went camping, me and the kids, for 5 days. Hubby stayed home with the animals. Well, they didn't like me leaving. While hubby was at work my beagle (6 years old) and my border collie (3 years old) both did their best to escape the house. The beagle more so than the border collie. The ticket we got, after a complaint from a neighbor, only mentioned the beagle. He tore my house apart. I was gone 5 days, hubby works 8 hours a day. He tore apart a wall, two blinds, and the front window screen.

They didn't like mommy being gone, even though they weren't alone, except for the 8 hours hubby was working. The neighbor (not the one that complained) even said to me "You obviously can't leave home without them. You're the pack leader, and they did not do well when you left".

Barkers will bark. There are things you can do to make the barking less, which I do with my beagle (games relating to his breed and what he's meant to do, bred to do. Lots of exercise, and most of all, patience). Patience is the hardest one. Most of all, when Chewy (my beagle) barks while outside, I get him immediately. He's not praised. He's put inside right away. Still, after 6 years of this, he still barks at the neighbors dogs. But, he used to bark at everything. Now he doesn't. Vast improvement. :)

It's a lot of work, and sadly, you can't change temperament. You can, however, work with it, and lessen the annoying habits of some breeds. :)

teacherjenn4
Sep 3, 2014, 05:11 PM
Like Alty, I'm a beagle mom. Our last beagle was a barker. A citronella spray collar worked for him. When they bark, they get a spray below the neck. They don't like the scent. It's worth a try.

Alty
Sep 3, 2014, 06:10 PM
Great suggestion TJ. We used that collar on Jasper my border collie mix (RIP), and it worked very well. He did however learn that if he barked softly he could get around it. But a soft bark is better than yapping. :)

teacherjenn4
Sep 3, 2014, 08:14 PM
The puppy, now a 1 year old, isn't a barker. She's a thief, but we can handle that :).