Calling all Dog Owners

duckr

Hi, I've read a few articles about "preparing your dog for baby" and somethings I need to work on with her are jumping and mouthing.  The articles explain how to handle those issues and the methods seem to be working.  The big issue is barking inside the house because it's loud and it will no doubt wake a baby. I've determined she is a friendly barker who is just saying "hi" to the mailman, neighbors, cars, chipmunks, butterflies and gust of wind passing by. She is a 4 year old German Shepard/ Yellow Lab mix (if this info helps). I've tried yelling, calming, and distracting but NOTHING deters her from her mission to say hello until it is out of sight for at least 2 minutes.  Anyone a trainer or know from experience how to change the behavior?

Thank you!

Wsmommj28

I hear ya, and I wish I had advice on the bark factor. My lab is quiet and rarely barks where as my yorkie is a serious noise machine at times. Luckily newborns sleep through almost anything at first I guess.

[Deleted User]

I'm in this boat with you! Our lab only barks if the doorbell rings, but his internal alarm clock goes off every morning at 4:00am and he is a whiner. Like top of his lungs, you can hear it across the house kind of whiner. I also have a puggle and he has never whined at all like the lab does. I don't know how to nip this in the bud. We already sent Jake (the lab) to a 4 week training program. His behavior is much better, the whining is not.

ladybug0088

Our dog is five and a sweet mutt but looks like a golden retriever with a chow tongue.

DH has been putting her in her crate every time she barks for a 3 minute time out. In two weeks she is starting to get it and will now sometimes bark and run in her crate on her own.

Most of the time she does it if she wants to go outside or if she hears a noise outside. She is starting to sit at the door quietly to let us know now.

duckr

ladybug0088 said:

Our dog is five and a sweet mutt but looks like a golden retriever with a chow tongue. DH has been putting her in her crate every time she barks for a 3 minute time out. In two weeks she is starting to get it and will now sometimes bark and run in her crate on her own. Most of the time she does it if she wants to go outside or if she hears a noise outside. She is starting to sit at the door quietly to let us know now.

Haha! That is cute! I should probably try the crate more.

ladybug0088

Lol I think she acts first and then has the oh no I'm in trouble thought. Its pretty cute! She loves her crate so I hate to use it as a time out but it seems to be working.

lyoness013

We have a yorkie-poo who is generally pretty quiet but when he sees other dogs outside or on TV he wants to play and will bark at them. This is something we have never been able to get under control (he's 5) and I'm not sure that there is a fix at this point. But we do plan on getting our baby used to noise in the house so maybe that will help.

I am also concerned how he will react when the baby gets here. He is perfectly fine with other babies and kids but he has had our undevided attention for 5 years and I'm afraid he will get jealous of the baby once he/she is here. Does anyone have any advice for this?

Heartwood0519

ladybug0088 said:

Lol I think she acts first and then has the oh no I'm in trouble thought. Its pretty cute! She loves her crate so I hate to use it as a time out but it seems to be working.

Everything I've read says to not use their crate as punishment because that's the place where they should feel the most safe and comfortable, like a safe haven.  Especially if you use it a lot at other times.  If they start to associate it with something bad, that's probably not a good thing.

roundabout2

I have some of the same problems with my bichon/poodle mix. She barks to say hello, and also barks at the TV  We use a water bottle and will squirt her and say "quiet" when she is barking. While it doesn't seem to stop her initial barking, it does quiet her down to a whine or "doggy talk", which to me is wanting to bark but trying to keep it under wraps lol. But, if we see another dog on a walk, it's all out mayhem. Not sure what to do about that but it's disconcerting to us and those around us when she freaks out like that. I'll gently grab her mouth and get down to her level and tell her quiet at those times but it doesn't seem to do much good so far with other dogs.

She is also a jumper. And she's a total food hound. She stole a piece of toast right off my 18 month old's highchair tray the other night ugh.She'll also get on the table if we don't make sure the chairs are pushed all the way in. 

We've only had her since November from a rescue and she is getting better about some things so we think she'll eventually catch on. Probably not before baby is here though. 

Sockgnome78

Mine is a barker at anything outside. Neighbors had a party ( did not know until the dog went bonkers) this past weekend. I am not sure what we will do about it. We have learned that a boat horn works for her. We need to get her training done so when she/he comes. But I also think we will all need a grace period for everyone to get used to a new family member.

DiannaVB

We were worried about barking at first but everything turned out okay. It seemed like if he was still tired he would just go back to sleep. Also we never concerned ourselves with being quiet during the day when he was sleeping. I guess he got used to the low levels of noise.

aander6

I don't have a dog and I am recalling this from memory from a book I read before DD was born, but I think it said that they baby will hear the dog barking in the womb so they will already know the sound and they wont have a problem sleeping through it. It might be something worth googling. 

duckr

aander6 said:

I don't have a dog and I am recalling this from memory from a book I read before DD was born, but I think it said that they baby will hear the dog barking in the womb so they will already know the sound and they wont have a problem sleeping through it. It might be something worth googling. 

That is really interesting! I will look into it thanks!

Staciefacie

I just want to say somethin about the barking. My parents have 5 small yappy dogs. At first they would wake my DD up but after she got used to the noise she could sleep through them howling, barking, and whining. I would just let your dog bark when he greets you. It's their way to show affection. Plus babies get very use to noises in womb. Along with dogs barking my child could sleep through a war because the house was always noisy. I'd say you'd have more of a problem keeping baby asleep trying to keep things quiet.

That's just my opinion. You can take it or leave it

Sockgnome78

That is interesting that they can hear so much. I will keep talking to my baby.

Wishing35

Our dog barks at the door, squirrels etc. When the babies where small
It didn't bother them when they slept. Now I keep a white noise machine on and it masks the noise in the house when they nap and go down for the night. As far as mouthing and jumping, I was so worried about this too. My dog basically ignores the babies and has never bothered with them! She is getting calmer now as well because she is getting out of the puppy stage. If you are really worried if look up a trainer now and start working on it. The only things I did to prepare my dog was send home blankets with the babies smell on them, and put together the baby equipment far in advance so that Maggie could get used to those things being around.

reneenearl

My dog barks a lot. When we had DS it never woke him up. I remember wondering if he was use to the sound since my dog barked a lot when I was pregnant too. DS is now two and can still sleep through our large dog barking....if I walk past his bedroom and a floor board creeks, he wakes up.

mbcgirlie14

When DS was really small if our dog barked it woke him up every time.  Drove me crazy!  But after about 6-8 months he started sleeping through it.  I recommend Ceaser Milan's Dog Whisperer books. They are really great.  

persephonerose

My son (16m) sleeps through our dog barking. Even if the dog is in the same room. As an infant sometimes he would twitch when the dog would bark but he never woke up. 

jmw222

Our dog barks occasionally.  DD slept through it 99% of the time.  We really didn't want her to be used to silence, especially during the day, because it's unrealistic to be quiet all the time (especially at daycare).  DS never has woken up from the dog.

kittenmitton

My dogs are very "talkative". I was really worried about what would happen when we had our son, but he never even flinched when they barked. He often sleeps through their noise and always has. I think maybe he got used to the sound when he was in utero? Not to say that you shouldn't train your dogs, but maybe the barking won't be too much of an adjustment when baby arrives.

LEP424

We have two pups that bark anytime someone/something goes by. The barking wasn't an issue when B was a NB. Remember, the baby is completely accustom to the sounds of the dogs from utero. When the weather is conducive, the dogs a majority of nap time out in then fence. When the weather isn't conducive, I keep them with me around the house to distract from outside. You'll be amazed at how the dog protects your LO.

SusieBW

I haven't read all the other responses, and I have no idea how to stop the barking, because my dog is the same way.  I call him Barky McBarkerson. 

Anyway, the good news, as DH and I have determined through very scientific methods, is that our DD will sleep through absolutely anything, and has since birth.  We think this is because she became accustomed to all of the barking while she was still in the womb.  So maybe there's a silver lining?

PC0909

My dog barks.  It doesn't wake up DS unless they are in the same room.  Even then there's a 50/50 chance he'll sleep through it.

PingPong1214

Before baby comes and if you don't have to keep quiet when training your dog---

Get a soda can, small coffee can, etc. and put some pennies or small rocks in it.  Tape it securely shut and the second your dog starts barking, shake the hell out of the can.  It will take a few times, but basically it startles your dog out of the barking mindset.

If you need a quiet fix---

Fill up a squirt bottle and put it on stream.  As soon as your dog starts barking, squirt them vigorously.  Give a firm "No!" and repeat as necessary.  If your dog doesn't mind the water, you can add apple cider vinegar to the water as needed until it's effective.

The most important thing is starting asap and being consistent.

BreandMikewedding

PingPong1214 said:

Before baby comes and if you don't have to keep quiet when training your dog---

Get a soda can, small coffee can, etc. and put some pennies or small rocks in it.  Tape it securely shut and the second your dog starts barking, shake the hell out of the can.  It will take a few times, but basically it startles your dog out of the barking mindset.

If you need a quiet fix---

Fill up a squirt bottle and put it on stream.  As soon as your dog starts barking, squirt them vigorously.  Give a firm "No!" and repeat as necessary.  If your dog doesn't mind the water, you can add apple cider vinegar to the water as needed until it's effective.

The most important thing is starting asap and being consistent.

This! We didn't do the can with pennies because my crazy dogs would think it was a toy and try to get it and eat it. We use the spray bottle and it works great! We have a black lab/ German Shepard, a lab/ terrier and two cats. We spray them for any undesired behaviors. It's really fantastic if they get too rough while playing with each other. They instantly separate when we spray them. Most of the time now we can just say "do I need the water bottle?" and they will stop.

rellicdragon

My DD is 20 months and sleeps through anything including the our 50 lb puppy, who is a sheppard/rot mix and can be very loud if he sees anything stirring outside the house, so I am not worried about the new baby.

I am sure the baby will adjust to the sounds of the house, and will sleep whenever he/she wants to

Emerald27

PingPong1214 said:

Before baby comes and if you don't have to keep quiet when training your dog---

Get a soda can, small coffee can, etc. and put some pennies or small rocks in it.  Tape it securely shut and the second your dog starts barking, shake the hell out of the can.  It will take a few times, but basically it startles your dog out of the barking mindset.

If you need a quiet fix---

Fill up a squirt bottle and put it on stream.  As soon as your dog starts barking, squirt them vigorously.  Give a firm "No!" and repeat as necessary.  If your dog doesn't mind the water, you can add apple cider vinegar to the water as needed until it's effective.

The most important thing is starting asap and being consistent.

Little water guns are even better (and shoot farther...ours go 25ft). Our cats are terrors come 4am. They try to get near DS and meow as loudly as possible to wake us up so that we...um...stir their food? They also roughhouse on the bed. One squirt gun on each bedside table solves that problem fast.

...and they're more fun than spray bottles.

MrMrsandBaby

Our dog barks when people come too.  DD sleeps through it now and got used to it pretty quickly.  Same as some PP's said, we didn't keep it quiet during nap time so she got used to sleeping in noise.

Not all babies will though, so I second the water idea...

jusmale

aander6 said:

I don't have a dog and I am recalling this from memory from a book I read before DD was born, but I think it said that they baby will hear the dog barking in the womb so they will already know the sound and they wont have a problem sleeping through it. It might be something worth googling. 

This fascinates me! I have 3 big dogs and they do bark, but only for good reasons like someone is at the door or other "threats". My thinking was that the baby would get used to the barking and sleep through it. But if this is true, the baby will already be used to the barking by the time she gets out

PoetGrrl

Good news is that the baby will get used to the barking since she can hear it before she's even born. I was worried about this after my son was born, but he never seemed to mind unless she barked right next to him. Good luck!

Maymk

I have a jack Russell/pug cross who does the same thing and we went to a behaviorist (he only started doing It after he was attacked by a dog so we wanted to see where o start) and she said to put a note outside the door that says for the visitor to take a treat (keep a container of little treats outside by the bell...not on the ground) and then make the dog sit when you answer the door and the visitor gives them the treat. Kind of a pain in the butt and you'll need to get your friends to do a lot. Of bell ringing so the dog gets the idea that visitors are amazing but it really does work!