Our 8 month old little Sheltie girl has taken to barking at everything and anything that she hasn't noticed in the house before!  It started when my Mam bought some new wicker baskets for storage.  Twinkle saw them and took an instant dislike to them   Ever since then its been a tea towel placed somewhere she's not seen it before, a lamp shade she hasn't noticed before, something dangling from the bathroom ceiling which has been there since before my son was born, etc etc which sets her off on a major yap-athon :rolleyes:  Thing is she thinks she's warning us about the 'thing' and warning it off so we just can't stop her when she gets going :rolleyes:  We've tried taking her up to the 'thing' so she can check it out but she seems quite wary of it and just wants to get down and bark at it again.  We've tried sound aversion then praising her when she's quiet but she just carries on and on.....  Oh the joys of having a dog! ;)  Anyone got any advice?

:)

Nips decided to have "spooked out" moments when he was about 4 and a half months old. He was exceedingly well socialised and certainly doesn't have an over-sensitive disposition! However, he suddenly started being wary of similar things - towels in the wrong place, the coal shovel having obviously moved itself into the sitting room where it was lying in wait to ambush us, etc. Not wanting him to learn how to yap for his country I started by taking him to the objects in question to show him how safe and commonplace these objects were but it didn't really have much effect since like your pup, he just got all the warier.

What has worked (although it may be that growing up a bit has had an influence too) was just telling him - in a very matter of fact but kind tone of voice voice - not to be such a daftie! If he wasn't convinced then diverting him into another activity did the trick.

One of my boys has been obsessed by anything that floats around in our swimming pool. He'd happily stand there ALL day barking at whatever the object may be - why he does it I'll never know!

I've had this on and off over time with my juvenile :rolleyes: She's very sharp and doesn't miss a trick. Last week I moved one of my plants to another area and she had to "investigate" instantly.

Diversionary tactics usually win the day with me. At first when the barking commences I totally ignore her. When the noise becomes overbearing I ask her to fetch her Kong/ball/ ragger etc, this usually does the trick. If all else fails I take her out the room and give her a job to do, ie, hiding treats in various places so that she is busy. It gives me time to regain my sanity :rolleyes: ;)

Hiya,

It's not uncommon for for youngsters to go through fear periods when they can appear to be afraid of even things that they have seen dozens of times before and haven't been the slightest bit bothered by.  They often stop being afraid of them as suddenly as they started but in the meantime I would just try and distract her.  Be matter of fact around these things but don't push her.  My girl is going through a bit of a phase at the moment, but they do pass. :-)

Karen

Thanks for all the replies!  I was more concerned that it was just 'her' but now I see that its quite a 'common' occurance.  We have tried diverting her attention with her toys and she seems to 'forget' about it for a while but then suddenly 'remembers' :rolleyes:  It starts with a couple of 'Ooof!'s and quickly goes onto 10 minute long sessions of 'Yap! Yap! Yap! Yap! Yap! Yap! Yap! Yap! *breathe* Yap! Yap! Yap! Yap! Yap! Yap! Yap! Yap!' - we thought our previous 2 Shelties were noisy but she's got lungs for 3! ;)  If we 'remove her' from the situation and block her access back (there's always someone around where she is though) she just barks at the 'thing' be it upstairs from downstairs or downstairs from upstairs - oh the joys of juvenile dog ownership ;)  Shelties have a very sharp bark which goes right through you but we'll persevere and hopefully she'll grow out of it

My (nearly) seven month old springer get's a bit barky since a few weeks.  A few days ago I walked with her a on a path where there was a roadworks sign in front of us.  She was off her lead (no roads nearby, they just did some work to that path, but no men were about when I walked her there) and suddenly started barking and growling.  I first was wondering what was wrong, but when I realised she is spooked by that sign, I just went up to it, she followed me, I touched the sign, gave her a treat (she had stopped by that time) and then she was so happy, jumping up at me, wagging her tail.  The other day, I past with her that same spot again, she never took even any notice of it whatsoever.  All that fuss a day or two before.

One day she barked at two Labs on our walk, two days later she didn't bark at the same dogs.   So I think and hope of course, that once she feels a bit more confident, she will be fine.