Hi everyone, as the title says, my dog barks for hours at the door to be let back in.
Titi is 5 years old (the vet's estimate) and I adopted him 4 years ago.
We have a house with a large garden. He sleeps indoors at night.
So, the problem is that Titi can bark for hours at the door to be let in. We've tried everything: at the start, we used to let him in as soon as he barked too much – we know that was a mistake now – but we've been trying to fix it for years. A dog trainer advised us to ignore him, but he just keeps barking for hours. We've tried giving him toys to keep him busy outside, telling him off, taking him for really long walks, and calling him in when he isn't barking so he gets the idea, but nothing works.
As you can imagine, it's really stressful having this little Jack Russell barking non-stop for hours, so now we just give in and let him in... We have a second, older dog who doesn't do this; they play together and get on really well, so he isn't actually on his own out there.
What can I do to understand my dog and correct this behaviour?
Translated from French
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Oh, I know that problem only too well! 🙂 My little Chanel, a Cavalier King Charles, is exactly the same when I leave her out in our fenced-in garden... she doesn't bark, but she scratches at the front door and the patio doors until I let her back in. I can tell you, it's a real struggle... so in the end, I set up a large pen outside for her, like a big playpen, so there’s no more scratching at the glass! 😆😅😅😅
We’ve got a Fox Terrier who’s quite a character; he’s 8 years old and we got him from a rescue. We don’t know anything about his background! He’s very stubborn and if you give him an inch, he takes a mile. It was hard at first; he’d bark at nothing at all. He’s made loads of progress bit by bit—no heavy-handedness, but we have to keep saying "no, don’t do that". At the end of breakfast, he barks and begs. When he does that, we get up and go into another room to do something else. Once he’s calmed down, he has to sit before he can have his treat. When he sees water coming out of the garden tap or the pool, he barks and wants to drink the lot; you just can’t stop him barking. He gets so worked up that he starts frothing at the mouth... So, we just avoid all that now and leave him inside in the peace and quiet.
If we pick up a set of keys (any keys at all), he thinks he’s going for a car ride; we can handle that though, as we just go off and do something else.
If he does go in the car, as soon as the engine stops, he barks and there’s no silencing him—but once he’s out, he’s fine. He’s a bit of an anxious soul, but other than that, he’s very affectionate, loves playing, etc. and we love him to bits. All we’ve really realised is that we mustn't give in to his every whim.
Best of luck!
We don’t have the full picture, but we can guess certain things, like the need for a dog that knows how to wait patiently without throwing a fit.
Just because she said he could howl for hours doesn’t mean she *wants* to leave him waiting for hours. I think that’s a bit of an unfair leap, almost insulting—it’s as if you’re making her out to be some kind of sadist.
She didn’t say she was leaving him outside to show dominance; it seems she just hasn’t quite grasped what was likely explained poorly to her (if you re-read her post you’ll see she says, "if I’ve understood the explanations correctly...").
She’s only exchanged a few emails with an online trainer who hasn't even seen the dog, I assume, plus one session with a trainer? (Well, we don’t know for sure, but I get the impression they haven't been around much, otherwise they would’ve had time to go over things again and make sure she really understood everything).
One session is a bit thin for solving a problem that, in my opinion, goes way beyond just barking behind a door.
So no, I agree, it’s not down to just one single factor.
On the one hand, the OP says he spends his nights indoors, so I’d assumed he was outside during the day – sorry if I’ve misunderstood 😕. But the first post still says he can spend hours outside (with the other dog and some toys). If he’s indoors most of the time, how many hours a day are we actually talking about?
Now, we probably don’t have the full story, but I still don't see the point of leaving the dog outside just to show who’s "boss". A relationship based on respect with a dog is a whole package – it's about your everyday attitude, the boundaries you’ve set (or haven't)... so it doesn't just come down to one single thing, does it?
She mentions she wants the dog outside when the baby’s there... because he isn't house-trained... but surely the floor gets disinfected before the baby arrives? Because if not, the bacteria and germs are still going to be there, even if the dog is outside...
I don’t know, I grew up around dogs, and I know plenty of babies being raised with dogs, including my nephew, and we’ve never had the slightest issue...
We carry germs on us anyway, we even eat mites on certain cheeses... our world is far from being sterile.
Anyway, I know that personally, I have no problem letting my dog in when she asks; it doesn’t make me her slave and she’s certainly not "dominating" me.
It’s not her baby, it’s her nephew, so I assume she’s just looking after him occasionally.
She didn’t say the dog’s place was outside (that’s you lot saying that), but that the baby puts everything in his mouth and she wants to stop the dog from touching toys left on the floor. There’s nothing weird about that; he needs training. You can't just throw them all together and hope for the best.
Mind you, if she’s having training issues elsewhere, it’s only natural they’d crop up here too.
Even if they were getting on well (the dog being obedient about toys, etc.), she’s still entitled to want her dog to learn how to wait, regardless! She might be changing the little one’s nappy or have an emergency without having to deal with a demanding dog barking her head off. But he has to be taught; you can't just expect him to figure it out on his own. Maybe he’s anxious—it’s hard to tell without seeing him...
And no, he’s indoors most of the time (if I remember correctly from page 1).
