Dog barking constantly

[Loui1001]

I hope some of you will have some advice for me

I have 2 labradors who have always been outside dogs, recently one has started barking constantly through the day. It can be triggered by vehicles, visitors etc but more often than not I can't see a trigger for it. His routine hasn't changed, he gets loads of exercise and attention and when he's not with me he's with our other dog - so he's not on his own at any time.

Is there any way to deal with it?

 

[Bernie]

That sounds very strange that your dog she started up barking. Do you have any kids that live near by that might of scared him by throwing things over the fence or anyone that could of hurt him? The only thing you could try is buying one of those citranella spray collars i think you can buy them off ebay as we looked in to it with our dog.

 

[Loui1001]

That sounds very strange that your dog she started up barking. Do you have any kids that live near by that might of scared him by throwing things over the fence or anyone that could of hurt him? The only thing you could try is buying one of those citranella spray collars i think you can buy them off ebay as we looked in to it with our dog.

No, nothing that I can think of. We live in the country with fields either side of our house and garden so it's quite a 'safe' and quiet area, it's a real puzzle.

Will go and have a look on ebay now - thanks!!! I'd try anything!

 

[KayBea]

anything that makes a loud noise, pet corrector for example of an empty coke can half filled with stones/shingle. selotape the top shut. everytime the dog barks give it a firm shake, he will hate the noise & soon learn that barking = horrible noise. xx

 

[Kess]

I'd rethink punishment-based stuff. If they're automatic, then they react to any noise (so if your other dog barks the collar can go off and punish the innocent dog) and if they rely on you being there the dog can soon learn that they can't bark when you're there but can when you're not around.

Is there anyone perhaps teasing him (local kids or whatever?), or a new local dog they can hear that might be barking and your dog is responding (you might not be able to hear it even, considering dogs hearing is better than ours)?

There's a thing about punishment and other training techniques here: https://www.diamondsintheruff.com/punishment.html.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE clicker training. I'm only a novice but it's worked wonders for my cocker spaniel, it really is great. There's a link here about problem barking from a clicker perspective: https://www.clickertraining.com/node/1125

 

[Loui1001]

Great link Kess, thanks so much!

 

[Liesje]

It depends on the temperament of the dog, but I used a bark collar (shock collar). It's not torture, I put it on myself, it's not so bad. It starts off with a "reminder" vibration, then it goes through 8 levels of stimulation if the barking continues. There is also a safety where it doesn't continue ue longer than 20 seconds of the dog doesn't stop. They learned very quickly that a few barks are enough.

 

[gogmagog]

Hi
Please do not use shock collars, they can cause physical damage besides the point of there is no reason to use pain to train your dog. If you live in Wales they are also now illegal

Shock/spray/citronella collars also don't work, especially if you have two dogs - the other dog's barking can set it off. I've heard so often "but it does work as every time he barks/does the unwanted behavior it stops him" - the key point here is that he's still doing the unwanted behaviour!
They can cause fear or resentment of what the dog is barking at - ie every time I bark at the cat/next door's kids something unpleasant happens therefore they caused this!
And can cause frustration and redirection - including aggression

They only treat the symptoms, you need to find the cause of the problem and treat that. How old is your dog? As dogs get older senility can set in and cause excessive barking
You say they're outside dogs, I assume in a kennel. Has anything about the environment changed - a fence /shrub etc that has changed his view so he can now see something different. It can be something as small as that.
Is the other dog affected?
How is his behaviour otherwise? Is he more irritable/excitable or different in anyway?

Clicker training is brilliant for all behaviour problems as well as training. There's a bit on Karen Pryor's site about clicker training and barking - I can't post links yet but if you Google "Karen Pryor unwanted barking" its the first one

 

[Liesje]

It's a well known fact that 4 out of 5 dog trainers agree the 5th one is always wrong

 

[Tigerlily01]

Could he be bored? I know you said he has another dog to play with, but do they interact a lot, or do they ignore each other during the day? I don't know how long you had your dog before the barking started, so maybe I'm way off base, but have you tried giving them some toys (like kongs with treats they can work on during the day)? Just a thought.

Edit: oops, just realized this is an old thread, sorry about that! LOL