Hello i wonder if anyone can help my friend. She has a rescue labradour about3 years old. My friend has had him about 3 months now and he has started to Bark everytime someone comes into the house for attention. He also barks constantly at my friends husband when he comes home from work to go out for a walk. She has tried to spray water at him everytime he barks but he thinks this is a game. This has been going on for a about a month now and people have stopped going round to her house because of the constant barking. If anyone has any suggestions we would be greatful.

My toy poodles do exactly the same - tried everything (I think). I even resorted to buying the anti bark collars (£18), this didn't work for me as I have 2 dogs and you can guess what happened. Maybe if no-one else has any other advice you could give this a try?

Best wishes
Amanda

Just a question but does he get told to be quiet when he barks? if so this is gaining attention and he could be barking to get attention.  Try ignoring him when he barks and see if this has any effect.

My Irish pup does this alot - including in the ring :rolleyes:

if we are indoors and he does it, he gets ignored, if he continues then he is shut in the kitchen for a couple of minutes and then let out if he is quiet.  If we are out and there is no where to shut him away then I just turn my back on him and ignore him - it does work :)

Ideally you need to be sure why he is barking - I take it he has no hearing or other health problems? Does he bark at other times? :)

I suspect if all is normal and he is healthy, he may have got used to barking for attention and finding it successful; maybe it was part of the reason he was a rescue dog. 

I would suggest: teaching "Quiet" - you can do this best with a clicker, or if not and your friend is not sure, post again re. how to do this :)

(I don't recommend teaching "speak" and then "Quiet" because I haven't met anyone who finds it works, and wouldn't recommend it unless owners were experienced trainers).

Totally ignore the dog if he barks  for attention - to clarify, this means no eye contact at all, and not even talking about him as he will *know* :P and find that rewarding. As soon as there is a lull in the barking, maybe for even a few seconds to start, give him some attention. Withdraw this if he barks. If he persists, calmly say "ah!" and take him out of the room but only for a few minutes and let him back in. It does take a lot of persistence and the dog may go through an extinction burst which means, he gets worse before he gets better, and this is the one point many owners will give up understandably!

Books recommended: "The Rescue Dog" by Carol Price and sametitle, by Gwen Bailey.

Just a few suggestions anyway, hope they are of help :)

Lindsay
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Yes this is exactly what I did with my oldest when she insisted on barking for attention.  she normally did it when someone else was getting a fuss, we were watching TV or I was on the phone.  It did work.

Banya used to race off and find the TV guide to shred if I was on the phone (when she was a baby of course ;) :P )

Lindsay
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Thankyou all for your advice. I will tell her to try and ignore him. We all know you have to have patients with this kind of matter. He is the only dog in the house and yes i think this was why he ended up in a rescue place. Thanks again.