 Barked: Thu Feb 19, '09 4:06am PST |
 | |  | | Pyr barking actually is NOT inevitable!! Put your hands together and rejoice, Pyr owners! 
I have working livestock guardians. If Lu barked All. The. Time she'd be pretty useless, wouldn't she? The sheep would be nervous and we'd never be able to tell a real alert from, well, whatever.
Lu is out watching the lambies right now - she stays out all night to do that. A few nights ago, she was barking and howling at about 3:00 am (an odd sound for her). It finally got my attention, and I went out to see what the matter was.
There was a very young lamb separated from its mom. It was a super cold night and it was the age when it still needed several feedings through the night. She certainly would have been dead by morning. More than that, she had gotten separated because the mama sheep had broken out of her pen and was in the neighbor's yard.
If Lu barked constantly, I'd tune her out and I'd never have noticed that.
My livestock guardian dogs are so quiet that my neighbors comment on it. I have a chowlike object and a Border Collie net door, and a Beagle/Rottweiler on the other side, and THEY bark all the time. There's a trio of rat terriers who bark at every little thing from inside their house. My three livestock guardian dogs only bark when something's amiss - and in that case it's just as long as it takes to sound the alarm, or drive off an actual threat.
When a young dog barks for longer than is necessary to get the "team" together and alert the sheep - it's a HUGE offense. It's the worst thing a young dog can do. A dog that barks after the "all clear" is given, is immediately removed from the flock by the "boss."
You can take advantage of this same type of correction. After your dog barks on alert, tell him or her "Thank you!" once you've identified what it is. You can tell the dog what it is, or just go back to what you were doing - just let your dog know that you appreciate their help.
If the dog THEN barks again, give a sharp (but not yelling) verbal warning. I say, "Excuse me!" - it's hard to get shrieky when you are polite. 
Finally, if the dog persists, quietly take the dog into a back room and shut the door. Don't worry if the dog barks. Wait about five minutes and let the dog out - regardless f whether the dog is still barking. Ignore him or her for a while. If you can then, go out for a short walk together (but still don't make any kind of fuss), then come in and everything is fine again.
Repeat this each time the dog barks inappropriately, when you can. Don't worry if it doesn't seem to be working. One day, you'll say, "excuse me" and the dog will look at you and decide to quit. Then another day, you'll say, "Thank you," and it will work!
Another factor is that you need to make sure you and your dog ARE a team. Go for frequent walks in the neighborhood to ensure that your dog knows what all those noises really are and can tell the difference between Bad New Things and Okay New Things. If you stroll by the neighbor's house where they are getting a new roof, and your dog sees you examine it calmly and even discuss it with him or her (yes, talk to your dog while you walk!), then they will do less barking, or none, when they hear normal roof building noises. |  |  | |  |
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The Dog Show: Who's Your Mama?
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