My Pet World: Pent-up energy often the reason for feline ‘love bites’
It’s never too late to train a dog. However, dogs are highly attuned to their surroundings and feel it’s their job to let you know someone is approaching. You can’t really stop the alert, but you can work on reducing the time she’s barking.
The trick is to let her alert you but work on changing what happens next. Keep a leash on her during this training period so she is easier to control and will be more responsive to your commands.
When she alerts (barks), take a hold of the leash and say her name so she looks at you. When she does, say her reward word or “thank you,” a form of acknowledging the alert, and then give her a treat. Then ask her to sit. Dogs cannot incessantly bark and sit at the same time. So, work on acknowledging the alert, thanking her, treating her, telling her to sit and treating her again. Everyone in the house should learn this pattern so they can be consistent with the training. She will learn much quicker that way.
Distraction also works well with high-alert dogs. If she has trouble “sitting,” skip the “sit” command for now and toss her a Kong with high-value treats that she can’t resist. She can’t do two things at once.
Finally, remove opportunities for alerts. Close the blinds so she can’t sit there and alert you to everyone and everything. And turn on a sound machine, radio or TV to introduce some background noise and reduce her ability to pick up on the sounds outside.
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(Cathy M. Rosenthal is a longtime animal advocate, author, columnist and pet expert who has more than 25 years in the animal welfare field. Send your pet questions, stories and tips to cathy@petpundit.com. Please include your name, city, and state. You can follow her @cathymrosenthal.)
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