Friday, February 09, 2007

Barking madness

Brandy is a barker. There is no getting around it. She may be little but her bark is loud and strident (like those big old-fashioned alarm clocks guaranteed to get you up even if you've only had an hour's sleep last night). She barks when the phone rings, when the doorbell rings, when family comes home (even when we open the door with our key and not ring the bell),when someone drops something loud in the house, when there is any sort of steady noise (like a car alarm or house alarm) outside the house or when thunder growls. Basically she takes any excuse to bark.

Barking to alert the humans that something unusual is happening is ok but she does not shut up even when we, the humans, acknowledge the event and tell her to keep quiet. She does stop barking once the phone stops ringing or whoever is coming in to the house actually gets into the house, then she is all wagging tail and happy yaps. I have had the phone and the doorbell ringing at the same time and yes, there was barking madness and no, I was not a happy human.



(My sister thought Brandy had green eyes 'cos of all the photos I took when her eyes turned out like this, but it's the camera flash. I don't know why but she sometimes sits like this with one of her hind legs sticking out. I think it's bad posture and have tried to correct her many times.)


We have tried different ways to try and stop the barking madness, scolding her, reassuring her, distracting her, calmly and quietly telling her no, yelling even but the madness continues. I watch Oprah sometimes and she has this dog trainer guru (I forgot his name) that comes on every so often and his approach to dog training is to show the dog you are the boss. He says that pet dogs prefer to be part of your pack and once you've established that, it is easy to train the dog not to bark or jump around wildly. And it seems to work for him. I have a strong suspicion that humans are not the dominant party in Brandy's world.





4 comments:

Emma said...

Emma's pretty bad on that score too. She barks at jet aircraft, helicopters, seeing anything moving on tv that may be alive (so I can no longer watch anything with animals) things coming through the letter box, spiders or flies crawling up or down the wall, or when she senses we may be going out for a walk. I can take up to 15 minutes to get myself ready to go out and her going off on one really does my brain in. I've tried everything to shut her up from wacking her with roll-up newspapers, spraying her with water, ignoring her, yelling and nothing works! But we love 'em anyway don't we! :o)

oldcrow61 said...

Hi, I saw your comment on Jans blog and thought I would check out Brandys. Very cute doggie. I've had dogs myself over the years, a German Sheppard and part Sheppard. I remember they could be quite vocal when someone put a foot on the property. I see you like some of the authors I love.

mydogbrandy said...

Hi Oldcrow61, as Emma has said we love our dogs anyway despite their barking madness *grin*

Which authors do we share the same taste for? I have been trying to spend more time reading this year but have been failing dismally so far.

Thanks for dropping by, brandz

oldcrow61 said...

P.D James, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Jane Austen, James Herriot and Sherlock Holmes. I've read all the Sherlock Holmes and just about all the books the other authors have published. If you haven't read Elizabeth Georges books, try one. I put her up there with P.D James. Also Martha Grimes.