I have a 1.5 year old large dog. I have had him since he was 2 months old. I have some problems with him. One of them is, he barks too much when he is alone in the garden.
To address this problem, in the past, I used to warn him by saying "shhh", sayingt one time was never enough, but repeating it somemes seemed working. If he starts barking too much, I would get him inside.
He have stayed at vet for about 4 months and about 15 days ago he returned back, to our new house.
Since he have come back, I stopped warning him by saying "shhh" or "no", instead, in the first days I just ignored him when barked at passer-bys. It didn't create a good effect, he was barking too much. Then I started using anothef method, when he starts barking at something, I use the command "come" and after he comes to me then I throw a little cheese into his crate and say "to crate". I read this method in a trainer's book, though it was a bit different, which she wrote. In her book she says, when the dog is in the garden and acts aggressively toward something outside, invite the dog to you then give him a food reward and lead him to inside home. But my dog is never free in the full garden, he is inside the fences in a seperate place in the garden, so I can not invite and lead him to inside home.
So when I apply the method in the way which I described, I have a strong doubt saying that I am actually reinforcing his barking or aggresiveness. When I first put him into his separate place in the garden(and I am always with him when he is in the garden) he mostly barks at passing motorcycles and cats and sometimes passing people.I use the method I described and after sometime, maybe cause he settled into the enronment or reinforced by my rewards, generally he starts barking at everything passes by, including cars and after a while he even goes worse, he starts barking continously.
Do you think by applying the method I described, I am actually reinforcing his barking?
To address this problem, in the past, I used to warn him by saying "shhh", sayingt one time was never enough, but repeating it somemes seemed working. If he starts barking too much, I would get him inside.
He have stayed at vet for about 4 months and about 15 days ago he returned back, to our new house.
Since he have come back, I stopped warning him by saying "shhh" or "no", instead, in the first days I just ignored him when barked at passer-bys. It didn't create a good effect, he was barking too much. Then I started using anothef method, when he starts barking at something, I use the command "come" and after he comes to me then I throw a little cheese into his crate and say "to crate". I read this method in a trainer's book, though it was a bit different, which she wrote. In her book she says, when the dog is in the garden and acts aggressively toward something outside, invite the dog to you then give him a food reward and lead him to inside home. But my dog is never free in the full garden, he is inside the fences in a seperate place in the garden, so I can not invite and lead him to inside home.
So when I apply the method in the way which I described, I have a strong doubt saying that I am actually reinforcing his barking or aggresiveness. When I first put him into his separate place in the garden(and I am always with him when he is in the garden) he mostly barks at passing motorcycles and cats and sometimes passing people.I use the method I described and after sometime, maybe cause he settled into the enronment or reinforced by my rewards, generally he starts barking at everything passes by, including cars and after a while he even goes worse, he starts barking continously.
Do you think by applying the method I described, I am actually reinforcing his barking?