barking pomeranian

Hi Rose (or Rose's owner?)

Barking is a natural behaviour for dogs, but when for the wrong reasons - or excessively it can be obsessive in nature - and drive owners barking mad!

As with most obsessive behaviour - we want to make sure it's not due to boredom. The temptation with small dogs is to baby them and not give them enough obedience training and walks - because they are small, cute and easier to control then big dogs. As cute as they are, they too, need at least 10 minutes of obedience training (sit/down/stay/come) at least once or twice a day - and walks outside of the backyard for mental stimulus and exercise to drain them of their frustrated/pent up energy. If you already do this, great! If not, I would suggest a new routine including the obedience and one 15-20 minute walk per day.

At first you will need to have the dog on a leash at all times for this training. While letting the dog into the backyard, have her on a leash (it can be a long leash if you want) as soon as she even looks like she's getting too excited (about to bark) or at the first yip, reprimand her and give a jerk on the leash (ideally it would be a jerk that pulled her sideways a little off her feet - this is easier practiced with short leash first - it doesn't have to be violent, just firm). If she doesn't behave after the first reprimand, reel her in and have her sit with you for a bit - do not use recall for this reprimand, or you will have a dog hesitant to come to you. Release him again after about 1-2 minutes, if she becomes aggressive (wants to bark) again, do the same procedure over again. If, after a third time, she continues to misbehave, reprimand, and bring her into the house. While you are training her - if you should see some good play behaviour without the barking, be sure to reward her with praise (even from a distance) she will hear you and start differentiating between good behaviour that she can play longer, and bad behaviour that ends the play fun!

In addition, if she barks inside - to obtain attention, food or just for the sake of it - you need to ignore her! Completely! Or if you're within reach, you can reprimand her with a low loud AHHH or growl, or a low no and make her sit (strong obedience is good here). Yelling will not work with dogs, as it is too high pitched and doesn't represent a reprimand in their minds.

You may also want to research clicker training - which associates the click with reward, and is great for remote training. Research it and if you have any questions, let me know.

I hope this helps! If you have any further questions, feel free to post them!
Blue