Barking... becoming a habit

[brem]

Yoshi my shih tzu is mostly housebroken. He still forgets from time to time, but he mostly now want his treat for going potty outside.

He barks at us when he has to go, which is awesome.

However, even after going pee and poo in the morning (it's a two-trip matter with Yoshi), he will still bark at me, so I figure it's because he wants to play, but he constantly want the attention. And if I don't give it to him, he'll bark, or if I'm lucky, he'll doze off.

What should I do?

He's so good with other dogs and people, he never barks, but recently, he developped this behaviour and I don't want to encourage it.

Suggestions?

 

[SummerRiot]

lol hes discovered his voice eh.

I suggest either completely ignoring him when hes barking, or squirt bottle him?

I'd try the ignoring thing first.. absolutely no eye contact, no shoulder movement towards him.. nothing lol

 

[misticaleclipse]

I have a shih tzu and had a similar problem. Since he knows the command to go outside every time he barks I ask him if he wants to go. If he does he barks again, if not he stops and graps his toy (wants to play) or does nothing (usually wants water)

I taught him the quiet command for when its needed (mostly barking at other dogs) I did not view any training guides for teaching it, but I'm sure some people on here could help you with that.

The next thing I did was, when I knew he did not have to go outside, and he barked I either told him to be quiet, and he does, or I just ignored him. I waited till he was quiet for a minute or so and then I played with him. This accomplished that I was in charge! I tell him when I want to play. It only took a few days to get him used to this. Now I have to be sure to proactively play with him though because this teaches them not to demand attention and to wait for us to pay them attention.

Did that make sence?

 

[brem]

Thing is, it's hard to know whether it's genuinely because he has to go or not. Like right now, I thought he only wanted to play, so I didn'T take him out and now he pooped right in front of the backdoor... *sigh*.

Of course, 5 minutes before that, I had taken him out for a pee break.

Now he's whining and doing puppy dog eyes... so what should I do?

can't you speak english?!

 

[brem]

Besides, I think he's jealous of the computer

 

[misticaleclipse]

Thing is, it's hard to know whether it's genuinely because he has to go or not. Like right now, I thought he only wanted to play, so I didn'T take him out and now he pooped right in front of the backdoor... *sigh*.

Of course, 5 minutes before that, I had taken him out for a pee break.

Now he's whining and doing puppy dog eyes... so what should I do?

can't you speak english?!

Do you have him on a specific eating schedule? I try to keep charlie on a very specific schedule of 3 times a day (because hes still young) and he poos at very similar times during the day due to this. I also pay attention at those times more when hes outside for his *signature*.

By signature I mean what he does usually when he pees/poos. For example charlie runs around in circles a lot of times and then goes back and forth before a poo, but goes right to it with a pee (hope this is not to gross).
I always give him more time for when I think he will need to poo, and I make sure he poos and pees on the same trip outside.

I'm also more careful to take him out more now that its summer because he is drinking more (my dog barks to go outside to, but I have learnt that he sometimes gets to excited and forgets, so i just tell him where we are going and take him outside for a quick potty trip)

When he was younger I would setup a cloth for him on the couch next to me and since he slept a lot during the day I would sit him beside me. He would never have an accident this way because he was right next to me and he would not soil next to mommy It reminded him I think that he needed to bark to go outside to pee (The crate method would work the same way)

How old is Yoshi? Charlie is just shy of 6 months. We still have the occasional accident though, about one a week now.

 

[Roxy's CD]

You'll figure out when Yoshi is barking because he has to go, and when he's barking because he knows that you'll get up and take him outside.

A lot of the time if a dog really has to go, not only will they bark but they become more active, yano jumping around tail wagging.

It's kind of annoying on the dogs part because they've figured out that their actions can control us! A lot of people have said that keeping notes helped, I never did that but it sounds like a good idea.

I just took my little guy out about once every hour once he got older. You'll figure out Yoshi's language though, no worries, i know it can be frusterating at times

 

[brem]

Yoshi is not too young either... he's (let me count) 7 months old.