Hi Everyone,

Im at the end of my tether with my 11month old EBT!

She is constantly barking. If we put her outside, she barks, if shes in the kitchen she barks. She has changed and i really dont know why. Even when we will lay on the sofa together she usually goes to sleep, but lately she will not relax and sits there panting quite alot. She has a bad tummy at the moment and has the runs a bit so could this be why shes barking? When we tell her off she ignores us and carrys on. She sleeps out in the conservatory in her cage(she always has done)and when shes out there she will bark and never wants to go in her cage. She sleeps ok at night but will constantly bark in the day. Im really worried i think my neighbours hate me!

As most people know EBTs are very strong chewers and i dont feel i can NOT put her in her cage at night and in the day whilst we are at work, as she is still quite young and i think she will chew through anything!

Ive tried buying several toys and bones etc but she gets bored within 5 mins of having the toy so then the barking starts again.

I really dont know what to do. Has anyone ever brough one of those anti bark collars? If so what do you think of them?I try and calm her down but she doesnt listen.

Someone please help me before i go mad!
Thanks

Yes I know about anti bark collars both types, you are not allowed to pass info on them here so I have passed a PM link which has users, experts and some detailed cases.

Panting as you describe is often a sign of stress, due to either psychological or physical causes (ie pain). How much attention and exercise does she get during the day?

Dogs always bark for a reason - to stop the barking effectively you need to discover that reason and remove it. Simply to stop the barking but leave the cause unresolved will only result in another displacement activity, such as self-mutilation.

She gets a walk each evening, and spends all evening with us in the lounge/kitchen etc, either cuddling on the sofa with us or playing/chewing a toy.

She also gets a run out at lunch in the back garden and in the mornings.

She has only started barking over the last couple of days, before that she has never really been one to bark at anything!

If she has only started doing this in the last couple of days I would take her to the vet for a check up just to rule out any physical cause before anything else. especially if she is panting alot and not settling :(
Just a thought, has she had a season yet???????
Lea :)

Sounds to me as if she is bored out of her mind, if she spends most of the day in a cage, then all night. I'd be barking too! (sorry if I've got that wrong, but that's how I understand your post) Do you do any training with her? Playing games with her? How long a walk does she get in the evening? Has she been spayed or is she likely to be coming into season?>

So, how long is she alone for?

8 hours in the day and another 6-8 hours at night.

So thats a max of 16 hours alone. What does she do for the other 8 hours? Is she with you that whole time, doing stuff, training, walks, games etc?

I think she is bored and i think she has found it amusing to bark at the slightest thing perhaps. Could be way off the mark but you dont give very much information.

Why cant she sleep in your room? Bull Terriers are very people dogs and need company.

What do you tell her off for and why? If you are telling her off rather than preventing her misbehaving or putting her somewhere where she CANT misbehave, then if the thing she is doing is rewarding enough and your tellings off mean nothing of course she will ignore you.

Em

From what I understand EBTs are highly intelligent and strong willed. It may be that now shes out of her baby stage she requires more stimulation.

I understand that you work but I would advise now that shes older, she actually gets a bit of a run before you go to work. She needs to run off her excess energy especially if you are leaving her for a large portion of the day. Try giving her her breakfast from a Kong rather than in her bowl, it may even be something that you can leave her to do while your not there. It is something that she has to really think about and work at to get to what she wants. I know you say she gets bored of toys easily but she may not if youre not there (she will always favour your company over a toy) and its stuffed with treats or food.

Try and give her a run at lunch time too if you can, if not spend some time doing some brain work. Teach her sit, stay, roll over, weaving finding things you have hidden and guessing what hand the treat is in. Brain work is essential for dogs and I find it wears mine out far more than running around. Give her another good run in the evening and give her her dinner from a kong or give her a raw bone for dinner as again this is something that even a strong chewer will have to put some work into.

If you work, you have to be creative with your time and with the things that you occupy your dog with. Mine likes treats in an empty bottle. He can see them and has to work to get them out. I wouldnt leave a dog unattended with this game though as yours will probably eat the bottle :)!

You could set up a video camera to see what sets her off. If shes in a conservatory, it could be that something has changed outside that shes not happy with but that you have not noticed. Dogs tend to be creatures of habit. I would wait til her tummy has cleared up first though so that you can rule it out as a cause because as JG said, panting can be a sign of stress. Having said that it could just be that she is excitable because she has excess energy. If after the tummy clears up shes still panting, its probably worth having the vet check her over just to be safe.

Please dont use an anti bark collar as this will just cover the sympton of her problem. Have a word with the neighbours and explain the situation and that youre working on it. They probably wont mind too much seeing as shes ok at night and you are working to eliminate the problem.

If you suspect that the cage is too restrictive for her, why not, during the weekend, try going out for a while and leaving her out of it. Leave her lots of toys and challenges and remove what you can that is of value or anything she could hurt herself on. You dont have to go for long or go far but just see how she goes and gradually build up the time. Sometimes we assume that dogs will chew and sometimes they do and sometimes they dont. Mine lives in the kitchen area when were not here and I leave him lots of challenges. He is a Staff, a strong chewer, but after an initial taste of things has never damaged anything unless they are his own toys. I work too and its hard work as a dog is also a full time job but they cant make their choices, we have to do it for them in order that they live a full and varied life. If you can give her things to occupy her, she will probably use the rest of her time alone as down time, I know mine does. She will be all recharged and ready to cause havock when you return home from work!

Good Luck, I hope you sort it out.
Keep us posted.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all of your info.

We tell her off because of her barking. We have tried ignoring her aswell. Ive also been giving her lots of attention so she doesnt think to bark and she seems happy with this.

Tonight we were sat watching TV and she was led on the sofa with us, shes still panting and doesnt seem settled but a bit better, and then all of a sudden she started barking again! I dont get it!

We have moved our sofa from one end of the room to the other and thinking back to it, she does seem to be barking more or less since that happened. Could this be the reason?

We have been having her sleep in our room over the last few nights, but last night she seemed unsettled and wanted to go back down to her cage!

I will go out tomorrow and leave her alone for a while and see how she is.

She is very excited when she goes out on walks amd howls for the first 5 mins, but im assuming if i take her out more she may calm down as far as that goes??

Any info/help would greatly be received.

Hi,

Sorry i forgot to say, when you say raw bones - where do you get them from? Sorry to sound thick but i know we cannot give her the rawhind bones as apparently its dangerous??!

Thanks!

Hi,
     Your dog sounds like you need to work with it a little bit more.  My 7 month old pup became way TOO vocal.   NILIF worked for me.  Sit to eat, Sit to go out, sit to meet people.....finally sit and NO BArk...to do everything.  Really work your dogs mind to make it think.... The panting could be the change in the sofa position.....the change shouldn't make them bark.....work with them...have them do tricks... pay attention and don't leave the toys laying about.  If the pup wants attention and barks pick up all the toys and put them in the kennel.  Make it a game, name the toys and and put the pup in the kennel without closing the door.  Name the toys and make it a game.  NILIF and "No Bark" is the new thing that isn't free.  My pup doesn't bark now unless I ask him to "speak".  Including when he wants to bark at strangers or the squirrels in the yard.  It takes time. Tell them "good but enough":rolleyes:  Make sure to see the vet just so there isn't anything causing the panting or disturbance.  Patience is what sees us through puppyhood and behavior changes.  Be patient.  

Hi,

You can get raw bones from the butchers, marrow or knuckle bones are good, my girl also loves back bone.  It keeps them occupied for quite a while and is really good for their teeth.

If she's only been barking for a couple of days then I'm guessing you won't have taught her the 'quiet' command - it is pointless just telling her off for barking, she won't automatically understand that that is what she is being told off for, so she's bound to appear to be ignoring you.  So that could be something that you could work on.  A good way of teaching this is by using a clicker and treats.  If she isn't already used to the clicker then you need to get her used to the clicker by clicking and treating lots of times at various intervals over a couple of days to get her used to the fact that the clicker means treat.  There are lots of books available on clicker training.

Also if this has only started in the last couple of days and it sounds like quite a change in behaviour then I would get her checked over at the vets to make sure there is nothing physically wrong.

Karen

Hi - It IS possible that this is because you've moved your sofa - but if you want to rule that out or in, try moving the sofa back and see if the barking stops!!!  Sometimes dogs are disturbed when owners move furniture around because it looks different and doesn't look like their house anymore. 

I agree you should take her to the vet for a check up.

As other's have already said - panting and being unsettled could be indications of pain or stress - best to rule out any medical cause first, so please take your girl to a vet.  Bullies don't whimp out for nothing, so this could be something quite serious, such as pyometra.

One thing people who recommend anti bark collars will never tell you is that there can be a big, big downside - depending on the reasons for barking.

There are 2 camps really - those who prefer to find out what the root problem is, and who try to be humane and treat that, and those who feel it's best to make it impossible for the dog to bark, as it will experience discomfort or pain (as Ruth youth (dennis) ) has suggested to you. It's also not impossible for such units to malfunction if the dog coughs etc, whether it is a spray or an electric collar, the latter is what Ruth youth is suggesting to you unfortunately.

If the dog is barking becausae it is bored, stressed, in pain, frustrated etc, it's really not a good idea to use a collar that will cause pain, because the dog may react either by appearing well trained (but basically, shutting down) or by taking out the frustration in another way (ie chewing, self maiming etc).

Good luck,

Lindsay
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i used to use a anti bark on my dog when he was in the garden because we had so many complaints and live in a private rented house, it stoped him barking i have now taken out the battries and it still stops him from barking.

i would take her to vets first and foremost.

It's actually not hard to prevent a dog from barking when the owner is in the house, I have trained my Belgie to not bark at cats which she loathes, (esp. if they happen to be wearing collars with bells on :P ). The training involved plenty of consistency, rewards when she behaved well, also the careful use of putting her out the room after setting up a workable criteria (eg she was taken out if she barked at the patio doors, but not if we were upstairs and she barked, or elsewhere, anywhere but that particular room). There's more to it, but that's basically the outline.

She's now beautifully controllable with the cats, so it shows that dogs can be trained not to bark, even if they are highly aroused which she was... and she's a guarding nature...but I did know the exact problem, and that she wasn't unwell :)

Lindsay
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