Re: [pyrnet] Barking

["Barb Bowes" <bamb@monmouth.com>]

My experience has been this. When people get their Pyr puppies
and those puppies "find their voice" the new owners think it is
cute and encourage the pup to bark. (there are many ways they do
this) But, when the cute "little" puppy bark matures into a full
throated full bodied adult bark the owners and neighbors get
annoyed. I encourage all puppy owners to "nip it in the bud" lay
down the barking rules and stick to them. Most people, I've
found, can't take the time to be consistent. We had one bitch
that was a bark-o-matic! We used all the normal techniques on her
which quieted her when we were right there, but this did not help
when we were away. Our solution? We taught her to bark on
command. Which, of course, she did happily! :-) Then, we taught
her the no bark command. It seemed that she made the connection
easier as to what we wanted and expected from her this way. Our
neighbors were taught how to administer her commands, and when
she got excessive they would call out, "Tessa, BARK!" and of
course she would bark. <vbg> They would then call out, "Good
Bark"! Then they would call out "Tessa, NO Bark, quiet." And she
would stop barking and settle down. This worked extremely well
unless there was a child crying within her earshot. If the child
could not be consoled, she wouldn't shut up for anything. She
just adored children and could not bear to hear a child cry.

Barb Bowes
Bo & Chelsea (Pyrs) & Flopsy (Pyr Shep)
The more people I meet, the more I like my dog!
bamb@monmouth.com