Hi

wonder if I could have some advice? You might be aware my leo pup had to be on cage rest after a car crash from 10 weeks to approx 14 weeks. So when he wanted to releive himself he yapped and we jumped. Obviously at the time it was better for my OH to carry him outside than to have him use his bed.
But we find we've made a rod for our own backs as it were, Little 'charmer' now yaps when he needs outside(brilliant) Yaps when his water bowl is empty/full/half full, Yaps when he's finished his meal, Yaps when he wants to play with us, Yaps when he wants other dog to play.
We've ignoring him but it goes on and on and on and I feel so sorry for the neighbours(who have been brilliant).
any help on how to get him out of this habit will be greatfully received.
Thanks
Barbara

This will sound wrong but teaching him to bark on command is the best way to teach him to be quiet when you tell him. I've done a quick google and this info sheet (it's a pdf) on barking has step by step instructions to teach both that look reasonable. The trick is to put a name to the action, barking, so you can ask for it. Teaching your dog a quiet command when he's wound up by something won't work. By asking him to bark you can easily ask him to be quiet.

As for ignoring him you have to really, really ignore him and not give in. If a member of the family gives in once in awhile that will be even harder to stop. Make sure he's been quiet for at least two minutes before you respond. At least if you can ask him to stop barking he'll only have on shout after dinner. :)

> This will sound wrong but teaching him to bark on command is the best way to teach him to be quiet

Excellent advice Lori and it would seem that this clever little chap is already half way there. It's fairly straight forward to train for the absence of a behaviour once you've put a word to an existing one.

Excellence as standard Lori xxx :-)

Barbara, you didn't create the situation hun, you've just done the best that you can for a poorly doggie! If you persevere with the advice Lori has given it won't or shouldn't take too long to resolve, best of luck, Dawn x

Lori
thats brilliant-I've  just printed it off and given it to OH to read. Hopefully he'll do some training too

wish me luck
Thanks for the support everyone
Barbara

Barbara, send him to me, I'll get him ship shape in no time at all!!! ;-) He'd be glad to come home after a week!!! :-)

All our dogs do that - little bossy boots!  Rory will come up and put his paw on your leg whenever he wants something.  When I was at Uni and supposed to be studying he would quite often go into my bedroom then bark so I would go to bed (he wanted on the bed basically but I had to get in first so he could snuggle in).  They are worse than kids lol!