[nagdu] Barking again...

[Daryl Marie]

Tami,
You have hit this nail on the head SO much... part of it is what she is doing, and part of it is my reaction to it.

I talked to the guide dog school, who seem to think this is Jenny showing me a suspicion.  They seemed much more worried than I am at the whole prospect, which now has me on edge.

I was asked to write a log for the next two weeks to see if there are any patterns, times of day, noticeable things around, etc., which I think is a great idea.

Today, I think I may have prevented her from barking at someone at the bus stop.  We were standing at the stop, and the sidewalk is quite narrow.  A man approached us to pass, and Jenny kept looking over at him.  I was very calm and told her to sit, which she did; gave her the "touch" cue, which she did... and the man went about his way.

Traditionally, I have been pretty sharp with her, with short low "quiet!" tones, but that obviously isn't doing the job.  So perhaps acting all la-di-da is the way to go from here.


Daryl

----- Original Message ----- From: Tami Jarvis                 <tami at poodlemutt.com> To: Daryl Marie <crazymusician at shaw.ca>, NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org> Sent: Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:07:37 -0600 (MDT) Subject: Re: [nagdu] Barking again...  Daryl, It's tough when you can't identify the trigger or triggers. Is she doing just a single woof when she does bark? Do you notice other body language? Does she seem anxious or stressed or anything different? The waking up bark does sound like a startle reflex, so do other occurrences come from being startled? Hm... Poodles tend to let out a bark when startled, and Mitzi has done so. I'm trying to get Loki conditioned early on being quiet and maybe doing another alert behavior to cut down on the likelihood he will do it in harness. I'll let you know in a couple of years if it worked. :) I'm finding that going around with someone who is also working on barking with her dog is really helpful. She can be my people spotter... And bike spotter and skateboard spotter and... It helps to know early that a trigger is nearby, it really does. Is there a chance you can find someone to hang out at bus stops with you and just be observant? Well, you would have to find time, as well. Hm... Another thing to observe might be details of your own reaction, like tone of voice when you speak to her, other body language and actions. I dunno. I get uptight over certain misbehaviors and give wrong signals to my dog, so it all goes downhill. If I remember to breathe normally and remind myself it's just stuff to deal with, I can just deal with it and Mitzi and I can go on with our lives. Usually. Since the poodle bark is a high-alert thing, it's important for me to be all calm and la-di-da when I would sorta like to strangle the dog. /lol/ I learned that late with Mitzi, so we went through a real rough patch before we got it turned around. Aargh! I think keeping track and finding a pattern is the best idea and may at least help find what her motivation is. Sometimes a stern reminder is the best approach, sometimes you have to be more creative. A really good technique is to turn the dog's head away from what it's barking at, which is usually also what it's looking at. This breaks the concentration and also is a form of negative reinforcement, since the dog tends to want to look at whatever it is. You can also get a feel for tension level. It does help to keep my voice low and firm when I give the quiet command and to praise in the same way. When the dog relaxes under my hand and I can feel the throat relax into quiet, I can let the dog look at the thing-a-ma-jig as an added reward... Then if the dog barks again, I can turn its head again and work on quiet... This isn't the approach I take in every situation, so I can't remember exactly what it worked well on with Mitzi. Good luck getting it sorted! Tami   On 03/13/2015 08:21 AM, Daryl Marie via nagdu wrote: > So I am back to dealing with Jenny every now and again barking in harness. I have no idea what in particular is causing this most of the time. I am not talking about her barking her displeasure at a drunk person reaching out to grab her, but just wanting to voice an opinion on something. > A couple things: > 1) I don't know what is setting this off, so I can't set up training opportunities. > 2) This is not a regular occurrence, but it happens often enough that I want to deal with it, rather than having it be a self-rewarding behavior. > 3) Every once in a while she will bark (startled?) when she's been asleep at work, but for the most part this only ever happens outside, particularly when we are waiting for a bus. I have only once gotten any verbal feedback ("oh, the dog doesn't like my green jacket!") > 4) I have contacted the guide dog school for pointers, and am waiting on a phone call. > > Would like any pointers! > > Daryl > _______________________________________________ > nagdu mailing list > nagdu at nfbnet.org > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nagdu: > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/tami%40poodlemutt.com >