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Yap, Yap, Yap!!!

revnkeller's picture
Posted July 15th, 2008 by revnkeller
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Hi all,
I am new to this site and am excited to be on it.
Problem. I have a 9 month old Bichon, Renoir (Renni), who is much more yappy than his older brother,
Joux-Joux (French for "toy".) The thing is is that he isn't barking to be dominant or aggressive, but because he just wants to go meet them sooooo bad. I have been trying to work on this by saying "quiet" and praising him if he stops, which is what Victoria Woodhouse ( I believe)a well know trainer from Britain, says to do, but it just doesn't seem to be working. People think he seems vicious because of his barking, but he is a sweetheart and if I take him up to the other dog, he greats them appropriately, with the friendly sniffing etc. Any other ideas out there?
Thanks in advance,
Nancy (JJ is my older Bichon (-: )

Comments

Corection

revnkeller's picture
On July 15th, 2008 revnkeller says:

That is Victoria "Stillwell" I was talking about. Mixed her name up with Barbera Woodhouse of "walkies!" fame.
JJ

yapping

Aidan's picture
On July 15th, 2008 Aidan says:

Hi Nancy, I think Victoria Stilwell is great. I'm not sure exactly what she prescribes for this sort of yapping, but I like the idea of -
1. Interrupt the problem behavior
2. Reinforce the calm behavior immediately following the interruption

Praise alone will very rarely do it. Use food, it's convenient and it works. Use the praise to "mark" the quiet behavior. It will be brief, so you need something to mark or capture it, to let your dog know exactly what you are giving the reward for. In fact, I would use a clicker instead of praise. This is exactly the sort of thing clickers are made for, marking brief behavioral responses.

If your dog really does just want to greet the other dog, you could try walking slowly away from the other dog while he is yapping. If he stops yapping, click, then start walking towards the other dog. If you're in an off-leash area and you know the other dog is friendly, you could let him off the leash to greet as his reward.

With this plan you will soon know if it is going to work or not.

Either of these plans require accurate timing of the click, so any chance you get to practise your timing will pay dividends.

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com

Thanks

revnkeller's picture
On July 17th, 2008 revnkeller says:

Thank you for the adv ice. I will try them.
We only have one area that is off leash and they do great there. Will try the greeting as praise for good behavior there. I sure hope it helps.
Victoria says to say "quiet" with making and signal kinda like an baseball "safe" signal", say "good boy/girl" when they are quiet. She seems to have success at it. Will add the treat to it and see. He's a very strong willed boy.
Nancy and JJ

Victoria Stilwell

Aidan's picture
On July 20th, 2008 Aidan says:

Hi Nancy, one of the small problems I have with "It's Me or the Dogs" is that the program doesn't show you everything Victoria does. They sometimes leave out key parts of her training, and the narrator has absolutely no clue what Victoria is doing. Apart from that - it is excellent!

I wouldn't be surprised if Victoria used a clicker and food when working with this behavior problem, in fact I would put money on it. While clickers don't make it into the show very often, she does advocate the use of clickers and her dog training schools in the US utilise clicker training.

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com

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