Hi,

My 5 month old Border Collie has developed a fixation with the back door to the house and the back half of the garden. He jumps at the back door to see out and growls and barks at it, and as soon as he goes in the garden he goes straight to a certain place and barks and growls at a fixed spot (which is never the same spot!!!!). We have tried going out before him and investigating the place he is barking at, but he still does it, often at very unsociable hours! He does not always do it, often he is perfectly normal.....
Any suggestions??

Thanks
Nicola

Our cocker does this and it's driving me mad :(

Things were going very well with her not barking as I started putting her on a lead and only giving her a treat if she went outside and didn't bark but 3 days with my husband in charge of her completely ruined all progress we'd made :(

I've just started treating her again when she comes back in and will be taking the muzzle off at the weekend and having 2 days intense training with her - if I can keep hubby away then things should be ok with her.

good luck with your pup,

Fiona
x x x

ha ha yes its true that 'the other half' often un-does all my good work! Jay (my BC puppy) has learnt that if he comes in from the garden when asked he gets a treat (his recall is excellent when out but pretty poor at home) but my boyfriend does not do this so its hard work for me!

Maybe you have a ghost?? We all know dogs can detect and see things that we can't!!!!!

I Wonder???!

Regards

Mark!

I must admit it has crossed my mind, particularly last night when I was watching 'Crop Circles - the truth' on Discovery and Jay looked at the back door and growled!!! There is also some strange barking occasionally in the middle of the night (which does not come from my dog!), but maybe that is a point for another forum on a supernatural site.....
Anyone who has experience of 'haunting' please speak out....!! :rolleyes:

When we come home after going for a walk, Our dog always goes to the foot of the stairs, looks up and wags her tail furiously, as if some one is standing at the top. We joke that its My wifes Mom who passed away September 11th, she mainly lived up stairs, and loved animals, but we got Heidi after she passed away, so why would the dog always look upstairs?

No idea! What happens if you go up there while she is looking?

Well I took Heidi for a walk, and when we returned she went to the foot of the stairs as usual, so I started up the stairs, and Heidi got very agitiated, jumping up and down on the spot and whining till I came back down, then she just carried on wagging her tail.
I think she is just happy to see the stairs again.................... isn't she............ theres no such thing as ghosts is there............... gulp

Hi Kirisox,
It's not my personal experience of haunting, but.....
During WW2 my gt-aunt lived at an ancient farmhouse in Somerset, with her daughter and 2 dogs, a labrador and a spaniel. These two dogs were very good watchdogs, and would bark furiously if anyone came near the house. However, many times during the quiet evenings, the dogs would suddenly get up from where they were lying, go to my gt-aunt and lean against her, trembling and staring into the corner.

They had to move after 6 months - nobody could stand it any longer!

True story!

Noo no noo no noo no noo no ;)
Sandy :)

If you thought that was creepy......a different gt-aunt (I think all that generation must have been slightly 'touched') once saw a man's face looking out of her dressing-table mirror.....

Edit: ....and she was alone in the room at the time.....

Hi everyone,

The barking has increased again now with the arrival of the gale force winds and 'scary' things blowing around. Was especially bad when a bit of plastic caught in the tree fell on poor puppy!!!! No supernatural activity to report at the mo....

my Sophie, Everyday, 11am until 2pm, non-stop barking. The neighbours (had to remember the aussie series to spell that!!!) worked nights and couldn't sleep during the day, so rightfully complained. The problem I had was that we wanted to keep Sophie as a Guard Dog aswell as family dog, so didn't want her to stop barking completely. Plus I wanted to do protection with her, and she needs to bark on command, but we didn't know what else to do , so, hesitantly got the "ABOI-STOP" collar (i think thats how you spell it) It worked wonderfully. It gives off a smell which the dog doesn't like everytime s/he barks. Sophie is a GSD, so its in here nature to bark (even though she was using her instinct in a non-constructive way!!!) so it took quite a few refills to get the end result, but I dont think you'd have too much of a problem with your breed.
They are quite expensive, so maybe you could hire one. We decided just to buy it, but the refills are very expensive so look it all avenues if you decide to go this way!!!
She stopped barking at random, and we have the comfort of knowing that when she barks, there's someone there!!!!. I'D LIKE TO ADD THAT THE STOPPED NEXT DOORS BEING BROKEN INTO LAST WEEK!!!!

Well done! At least barking can be useful if channeled correctly!

Hi my mum has a dobe x rottie and every now and then he sits and stares at the ceiling in one corner for ages and wont even take his eyes off even for a treat.It may sound weired but you never know!!!!!!!

Dogs are weird at times.

I truly believe animals can see and sense things we can't. My Staffie was an only dog for a while and used to gallop up and down the hall play bowing and acting exactly like there was something there that she had great games with. We later found out from neighbours that house had an old black lab and when he passed he was laid to rest in the garden. She also sits and stares at odd corners always at human head height, sometimes with her head cocked and tail wagging. Makes you think.

Hubby also had an experience on the Seaforth Estate in the Highlands. Family had let a holiday home and taken several GSD with them. At night, they would not walk down the path and though the lodge gates, they all stood snarling and whimpering and could not be tempted through. in the day they were fine. It was later looked into and it is documented that the carriage of the lady of the estate turned over and she was killed which fulfilled the last part of a chilling prophecy on the family and on the wall behind the gate was a plaque in her memory. There are also many reports of various people, (my hubbys family included) being spooked by a carriage careering by in the middle of the night. It was this that prompted my hubby to investigate, and he quizzed one of the estate staff on what nutter drove a carriage in the middle of the night to be met with suspicion, and then told the story.

Sometimes you have to wonder, don't you? Sleep tight all, no nightmares.

Sheilagh and the brood.

Oh dear what have i started off! lol

Mark

P.s i crap myself even thinking about a ghost in our house! let alone the fact that our dogs can see it too!! aghhhh! :D

Here I am, all on my own in the house,, feeling a bit insecure and wondering if Oscar would ever be able to protect me in a senario when i would need it..Husbands away now for goodness knows how long and my mind was wondering along the lines of(how do you teach a dog to welcome people and be sociable yet also be able to protect you if need be.. ) I know Oscar is only 3 months old but is it possible to teach them both things, also is it purely a breed thing.. a position in the pack thing.! But back to the ghosty thing..:( my friend had a dog yrs ago that used to sit and growl at something in the corner of one of her rooms late at night (eeeek) Thank goodness I leave Oscar downstairs in the kitchen at night.. if he's doing that then I'm upstairs snoreing my head off and don't know a thing about it. Back to the [protection thing] the only time he ever barks is when he's waiting for his food. I always make him sit and stay untill the food is on the floor and I say "okay" he keeps running up to where I'm gettin his food ready barking all the time and barking all the way back to the place where I make him "Sit" and wait..How on earth do you make them bark when someone is breaking into your house or attacking you..My word you hear of all these well trained dogs and it seems such a long way off..
Sandy xx :)

Our old lab was a big, quiet softy, but was always on the alert. Once when I was doing the usual dogwalk in the fields, chatting with friends, one person gave me a friendly push. A couple of seconds later Bella flew past, at head height, teeth snapping, just where this person had been. When she landed and realised it wasn't a serious attack, she went on with her walk, although she kept looking dubiously at this person. She'd never been taught anything like that, but it made me feel very much safer when I was out!

RE Dogs barking when needed.

I new a gorgeous border collie, sadly long gone, and her mum an older lady lived alone. She taught Carla to "speak" by witholding a treat untill she barked for it (most food loving dogs will do this), then said "speak" as the command, waited for another bark then gave the treat and much praise. She did on occasion use this to alert people that a dog was on the premise or when out on night walks when somebody shady looking was around.

About ghosts. Do they Exist/don't they? If you feel you have somebody in the house you don't want, sprinkle the carpet in the affected room with salt (cleansing). Stand in the room and explain that the person is scaring you and not wanted and ask them to please move on. Close the door and leave the room empty overnight, then hoover up the salt.

Sheilagh

P.S I'm not a crank or weirdo, my great grandma was a spiritualist medium and this was her advice.

Hi!
At a certain age they just naturally start to guard 'their' property. Jay is 5 months
now but only starting noticing the postman etc about a month ago. If there is
a noise at the front door that he is not expecting he is ready to protect me!!
Shame he's so small.... :D To teach your pup to bark on command, try saying
"speak" when he is barking at you and praise him for it. When he stops say
something like "quiet" and give him a treat. Or you can get him to stop by
offering a treat as most dogs won't bark and eat at the same time, and then
say "quiet".
As Jay is 'worrying' at the back door and garden, I am worrying about him staying
downstairs at night incase he barks then. At the moment he sleeps on our
bedroom floor. Maybe I just need to bite the bullet and leave him down there
with the supernatural elements...

Hi Shlugh and Kirisox,
Well what do you know, tried your "Speak" techniques and Oscar got it in maybe 4 or 5 attempts, I'm so chuffed!! he has been doing it all day and when my daughter phoned from Aberdeen tonite I tried to "Show off" on the phone by asking Oscar to "Speak" At the first command to "Speak he f--ted! then I asked him again "Speak" then he just started to scratch his back end.. typical Male!! anyway he just wouldn't do it, after doing it well all day too.:o Maybe he'll remember tomorrow.
Sandy xx :)

Wow I'm so glad it works! I'm sure he will show it off for you soon enough!! That has given me a incentive to REALLY make an effort with it on my pup!

The 'speak' command worked with my pup (10 weeks!). Also I'm training him to 'speak' to be let out in the garden because I can't always see him scratching at the door. :)

Yes Oscar sat at the back door today and barked very clearly to be let out.I was so pleased as I take him out every half hour or as soon as he wakes up and this is the first ever sign he's given to me to go out..if he does it again I will remember to say "speak" goodboy.
Sandy xx

That's good news Sandy!
I'm finding that Mungo keeps doing those silly silent barks :rolleyes:
He'll get there eventually... :)

Zoe P x