All the Barking

[Valerie]

I've been working on pushing at both meals with both dogs, Eka and Barkley, for the last couple of weeks. Not long I know. However, lately for the last week or so maybe Eka has been barking more and more inside the house.

- any kind of pop sound that could be firework-like (my son snapped shut a glasses case which set off some barking.)

- one of my sons has this excited voice he uses which will start Eka barking

- the new neighbors across the street when they open the garage door and work on their bikes or anything

- reasons I'm not sure of seemingly random


She is the one that lifts a paw and avoids pushing so I'm just at the get her drive up enough so she'll eat (she is very picky) from my hand and then just some petting of her neck and chest stage.

Is this her drive coming closer to the surface? Is it the influence of Barkley, our foster of a few weeks, who is a little nervous and barks at various things himself? Or is she just coming into full-fledged adolescence at 9 months?

[Lee Charles Kelley]

Barking is a way of releasing internal tension.

Years ago, when I was trying to find a way to cure my dog Freddie's panic attacks, I spoke to a guy I knew who had a Sheltie name Duncan.

He said, "I'm sorry to hear about Fred. It's funny, Duncan used to be afraid of thunderstorms."

"Really? How did you get him past it?"

"I didn't," Duncan's owner said. "He got over it on his own."

"Okay. How?"

"He barked at the lightning. And as soon as he barked he stopped being afraid."

So the next time Freddie had a panic attack, I gave him the "Speak!" command. And as soon as he barked, all his fear instantly went away.

So for Eka, I would say that the barking may be a combination of all the factors you mentioned, and is probably a step in the right direction.

Hopefully, it's just temporary.

LCK

PS: Check out Kevin's video of taking a fearful dog to the vet. One of the things he does to assuage the dog's fear is have him speak on command once he's inside the waiting area.

Barking can be therapeutic, depending on the circumstances.

[neilsattin]

Hi Valerie,

A few things:

1. Yes I agree with Lee that barking is a way to release internal tension. Think of it as the steam leaving the tea kettle. In some situations, if you can actually elicit a DEEP bark from your dog, then you'll be getting at the deep place where their stress is stored (emotional battery conversation, anyone?). However, sometimes you have to work to get there - i.e. the pushing work that you're doing is helping to free up the amount of energy your dog is willing to give you. So to get to a deeper bark you'd be well-served to get deeper into the well with the pushing.
2. Have you thought about changing Barkley's name to something else, like "Sleepy", or "Mutey"? I'm just sayin'.
3. I think we mentioned this before, but you ARE pushing OUTSIDE, right?

Overall, you can look at "barking" as a sign that there's something energizing your dog. These are good moments for you to push with your dog (head outside to do it, if you're indoors) in the moment - and you will be reinforcing for your dog what TO do with that energy that's bursting out.

And it does make sense that your dog might be barking more now. It doesn't always happen - but sometimes as a dog feels more free to give YOU their energy, they'll feel more free, in general, to be energized. The barking, remember, is just a sign of that state of being energized, and is a signal to you that you can, now that you are learning how to work WITH the energy (pushing) address.

I wouldn't rule out Barkley's influence, though. That's why I think a name-change is also in order.

[Valerie]

Hi Neil and Lee,

Ha! yes hmmm... Barkley. I would feel bad changing his name yet again. His orginal name was Buddy and then he somehow became Harry and now Barkley.

Yes I am pushing outside for two meals - morning and evening.

So I should head them outside for some pushing if they (one or both) are barking a lot? Can I use treats for that? Someone said to add things to the food for meals instead of just using treats to push. Right now I'm using kibble soaked in warm water and then adding something more 'desirable' because the kibble alone doesn't do it for either of them. That might be hard to grab and go outside for some pushing between meals after barking.

Also they are both now tearing up boxes, chewing books, cds and digging outside! We're packing for moving so things are a little chaotic. It's getting a little crazy. I admit I'd gotten lax about puppy proofing for these things because Eka had stopped doing them. If they are doing something I don't want them to do, should I be redirecting? doing pushing? Just lose that round and do better proofing next time? I have tending to 'trade' Eka whatever she has in her mouth for a treat. She usually drops whatever when I say 'Trade ya!'.

I'm starting to keep them more contained to a room, kinda going back to younger puppy days.

[neilsattin]

Hi Valerie,
If you've been reading through the articles on the blog, then you're hopefully getting the sense that our dogs are receivers for the emotional energy that's in their environment. And, because they're dogs, they have no choice but to give voice to the emotional energy that they're experiencing.

Originally Posted by Valerie

.
Also they are both now tearing up boxes, chewing books, cds and digging outside! We're packing for moving so things are a little chaotic. It's getting a little crazy.

Get the connection? Except maybe read those sentences in reverse order - their behavior will make more sense.

Yes - absolutely head outside. You can push for treats - play tug/push-of-war. Often I'll suggest that people save a portion of the "prepared" meal aside (just put it in the fridge if necessary) - but so it's ready to go for those "in-the-moment" situations when you need to help your dogs let out excess steam.

And definitely, containment is a viable option. You're saving the dogs from themselves, after all. But when you let them out, make sure you do something (like...pushing) to help them get rid of any stored stress.

Crates should be small, dark - denlike and comforting.

[willum44]

I have been tugging and pushing with my dog Rosie, a 9mo old Shiba. I have been doing it outside and sometimes inside. In too have noticed an increase in barking plus more contact with me. Today was quite stressful. We had a long walk off leash on a deserted country lane. Later I cut my lawn. This caused a lot of stress in her as she barked constantly at the mower. I put her in the house and she barked. I brought her out again and still barked. The only way to stop the barking was to throw a tennis ball as I worked. When the lawn was finished and we came inside for me to cook lunch, she crashed under the kitchen table and slept for a couple of hours. Any one got a suggestion to help with this type of situation.

[Valerie]

Hi Neil, once you mentioned the 'emotional battery' something clicked, even though I'd read the phrase several times already. I realized I was worried about getting outside right away along behavioral modification lines so she'd 'know' the pushing was for that incident. But a battery holds it's charge until it's needed and it doesn't matter which event the pushing is for just that it happens, right?

So if I start pushing right away whenever anything comes up and then gradually I can increase the time between exciting/stressful event and pushing as long as I have regular pushing sessions then at some point she'll be able to hold the stress until these times knowing she will get release at some point through me. She will be able to hold more and for longer periods in her battery as long as regular pushing happens.

This was a pretty big breakthrough in my thinking (assuming I'm heading in the right direction) and I'm rereading the book and it's like it's a new book.

[Lee Charles Kelley]

That's brilliant, Valerie. Nice breakthrough.

It's true, although Natural Dog Training works well in tandem with learning theory (at least to a certain extent), the pushing exercise isn't designed to teach a dog to push, which would be the behavioral science explanation! It's designed to make the dog more able to release energy in positive ways, and as you put it, to be able to hold on to stored energy longer without feeling a pressing need to release it right away.

LCK

(I actually learned something from your post!)

[Jannik]

Hi Valerie

Im also seing a breaktrough here in Denmark i will write what i have observed a litle later :-) ... All i know is that when u are pushing u are working whith many complex things at one time. As time goes i understand why all of u gurus writes keep on pushing...

Jannik

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Valerie

This was a pretty big breakthrough in my thinking (assuming I'm heading in the right direction) and I'm rereading the book and it's like it's a new book.

That's great news.

I also had one of those wow days where things started to click. Three loose dogs came around the corner and from only 10-15m away I was able to redirect Ty and got two pushes out of him, very little stress, it was SO cool. To the point were he didn't even look back at them and was more interested in a sniff. It was like Yesssssssssssssssssss

I'm also re-reading the book and getting so much more out of it this time around.