# Making A Video Offered Me The Answer!



## BeckyM (Nov 22, 2013)

The one stumbling block I've had while training/raising Polly is her reaction to every sound she assumes is a person coming in the house. Though she warms up to strangers pretty fast, her first reaction is always loud barking. Any knock is met with a bark and then little "boofs" every few seconds until she's certain it wasn't a person at the door. It's not horrible and compared with my mom's yappy small dogs, it's minor.... but I often have napping daycare kids and a big dog bark can easily wake the kids. 

Also, she barks at youtube videos and TV shows that have dogs in them. 

I've tried a lot of things including: Happy voice to make her think it's a positive thing (now she associates my happy voice and the word "yay" with something that worries her... oy), having her sit at my side (seems to calm her but she still barks and boofs for a few minutes), verbal correction (AAt!, Hush, etc with absolutely no improvement so that was tossed out the window as fast as it entered my frustrated mind LOL). 

So, I decided to work on the behaviors with renewed dedication and video taped Polly when I had a 4 year old (that she loves dearly) ring the doorbell (so, how she responds to a friendly person at the door) and how she responds to a knock fake-out (me knocking on the wall. Here are the videos...

Door bell:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2WjnjbTmpg


Knock on the wall:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWukddCvr8Q 

First, poor Sophie (the silver one). I love that she stays quiet and doesn't add to the excitement but she does seem concerned... without knowing why. 


Here's the funny thing I noticed while filming and rewatching the videos.... She was a lot calmer in the videos then she normally is. I kept thinking, "Man, I wanted to catch a normal reaction from her instead of this toned down version." Yes, she's still barking... but she recovers and calms a lot faster then usual. 

I think I've figured out why Polly was calmer during the videos then she normally is and hopefully this revelation will help me train her moving forward....
I had no reaction to her at all during her barking. None. No sound, no facial expression, I completely ignored her barking and worry as if it wasn't happening because I was focused on filming (or answering the door). So, could this be the key? I wonder. I'm certainly willing to give it a try. It's going to be hard to show no reaction when she barks while the kids are sleeping but if ignoring her makes the barking stop faster then anything else, I guess it's worth it. 

Thoughts from the great poodle trainers of the world??  I gladly welcome thoughts, suggestions, help.... I'd love to get this figured out in the next 6 months or so before adding a puppy to the house. I'd rather a puppy not learn this behavior. 
Thanks


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

I'm just dropping by to say thank you for these videos featuring your two beautiful SPOOs!

What a great little assistant you had in Olivia, too!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I wish things at my door were as good as at yours. Javelin has added a new dimension of excitement to the ringing of the door bell. We have to regroup on this behavior for sure!

I think you have hit on something thinking that you not reacting toned down her reaction. Poodles are so in tune to what we are feeling that her read off you was probably very different. Use that to your advantage.

BTW I had to watch with the volume turned down or Lily would have been barking at the computer!


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## BeckyM (Nov 22, 2013)

nifty said:


> I'm just dropping by to say thank you for these videos featuring your two beautiful SPOOs!
> 
> What a great little assistant you had in Olivia, too!


Thanks! :0) Olivia was SO excited to be able to ring the doorbell. LOL She's the oldest daycare kiddo so she likes to be my helper.  



lily cd re said:


> I wish things at my door were as good as at yours. Javelin has added a new dimension of excitement to the ringing of the door bell. We have to regroup on this behavior for sure!
> 
> I think you have hit on something thinking that you not reacting toned down her reaction. Poodles are so in tune to what we are feeling that her read off you was probably very different. Use that to your advantage.
> 
> BTW I had to watch with the volume turned down or Lily would have been barking at the computer!


I can't tell you how much better this makes me feel! Polly's not alone in her barking at the computer! and her excitement at the door. Whew. Thank you for telling me that!  

Yes, I'm going to use this to my advantage and try to put on my best poker face when she starts her nervous barking at sounds. She is very in tune with me and reads me like a book. I think she knows what I'm thinking before I'm even thinking it!  

I am going to work with her about staying back from the door though. I'm going to buy a small mat at the store this weekend to put in the foyer but out of the way and make it her "place" for when someone is at the door. I'll have her sit/stay in her "place" until I release her. She'll probably bark the whole time she's there but at least she won't be crowding the door.


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## snmim (Sep 7, 2015)

BeckyM, I was just about to say that adding a place command would help things a great deal, but looks like your already on track of that! By barking and allowing her to get to the door as close as possible is what I assume makes her even more excited. If she has a special mat for a place cue she will soon calm down on her own and make it seem that you have things in order while you go to the door yourself.  Yes, she might keep barking but at least the guests will be assured that she's fixed on the mat and not right in front of them. Congrats on finding a breakthrough. Sophie seems so innocent next to her.


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## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

"place" or a variant thereof is a good substitute for going to the door and barking at guests. could be the time for a nice bone or something similar to help with her staying there while being quiet. 

your two girls are beautiful. i can see sophie seems puzzled by polly's excitement. her stillness while trying to figure out what it going on is very interesting.


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## BeckyM (Nov 22, 2013)

Mithy said:


> BeckyM, I was just about to say that adding a place command would help things a great deal, but looks like your already on track of that! By barking and allowing her to get to the door as close as possible is what I assume makes her even more excited. If she has a special mat for a place cue she will soon calm down on her own and make it seem that you have things in order while you go to the door yourself.  Yes, she might keep barking but at least the guests will be assured that she's fixed on the mat and not right in front of them. Congrats on finding a breakthrough. Sophie seems so innocent next to her.


Thanks  That's what I'm thinking.... that it'll be nice for me to not worry about Polly crowding the door and nice for the guest to not be greated by a barking, crotch sniffing poodle! LOL

And Sophie spent the first 6 years of her life as an outside dog and the ONLY positive to that is that she has no association with knocking or door bells because she'd never heard them before! So she gets concerned because Polly reacts but has no idea what all the fuss is about.


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## BeckyM (Nov 22, 2013)

patk said:


> "place" or a variant thereof is a good substitute for going to the door and barking at guests. could be the time for a nice bone or something similar to help with her staying there while being quiet.
> 
> your two girls are beautiful. i can see sophie seems puzzled by polly's excitement. her stillness while trying to figure out what it going on is very interesting.


Good idea about offering a highly prized treat!! That might work! She's very food driven. 

Sophie is a very complex dog and is very pulled inward. She can be hard to read because she turns into a statue when stressed. I thought it was only fight or flight but Sophie has come up with "statue" as an option.  She's very attached to me and I'm the only person she will wag her tail for. She'll go up and sniff the hands of the other members of the family and she'll let them pet her but no excitement about it according to her body language. She's doing very well (especially with house manners) but she just seems so darn sad all the time. On the upside, she and Polly romp and play in the yard almost daily now!


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

I didn't find that too bad personally.....but then again I don't have sleeping toddlers! My Molly barks at the door also, but it isn't over the top and after 2 or 3 barks she just growls softly til I open the door, then she's ok! If it is someone she knows (she can smell them from the bottom of the door) she doesn't bark at all, just does a growly sound (to show how excited she is I guess!) I had always thought of small dogs being yappy and I didn't want that to be an issue so I always did the "it's no big deal" no reaction thing also, so what she does now is at an acceptable level to me....
I hope you too get to your 'acceptable level' LOL!!!!! Good Luck!


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## catsaqqara (May 20, 2011)

Here is a positive training technique you could try. 

"Stop barking at the door - dog training" by kikopup https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpzvqN9JNUA


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## BeckyM (Nov 22, 2013)

catsaqqara said:


> Here is a positive training technique you could try.
> 
> "Stop barking at the door - dog training" by kikopup https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpzvqN9JNUA


Thanks  I love Kikopup and used most of her videos to train Polly when she was a baby. I watched the barking video the other day and started the desensitizing but I had to click and treat immediately because she was so sensitive to the triggers. I'm going to keep working on it though


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## BeckyM (Nov 22, 2013)

MollyMuiMa said:


> I didn't find that too bad personally.....but then again I don't have sleeping toddlers! My Molly barks at the door also, but it isn't over the top and after 2 or 3 barks she just growls softly til I open the door, then she's ok! If it is someone she knows (she can smell them from the bottom of the door) she doesn't bark at all, just does a growly sound (to show how excited she is I guess!) I had always thought of small dogs being yappy and I didn't want that to be an issue so I always did the "it's no big deal" no reaction thing also, so what she does now is at an acceptable level to me....
> I hope you too get to your 'acceptable level' LOL!!!!! Good Luck!


Well, her usual barking is a bit worse and if Olivia was a stranger, it would have continued until she got a good sniff of the person and maybe even after that if the person gave off a non-dog-person vibe. 

I think a lot of my intollerance of barking comes from her size. Until Polly (and a brief period of caring for my mom's elderly greyhound), all of my previous dogs were under 15 pounds. They had tons of bad habits that never bothered me enough to correct because they were so small. If they barked at the door, I scooped them up and held them while the person came in the house. 

I'm having to figure out my comfort level + realistic expectations with a medium/large size dog. 

Yesterday one of my daycare dads came in the downstairs door earlier then usual and we were upstairs. Polly alerted to his voice and very fiercely barked until I told her she could go downstairs and check him out. She sniffed him and then grabbed a toy to offer him while wagging her tail. I thought about it that's not a bad way for her to react to an intruder. I might not mind her acting like there's a "boogie man" coming in unannounced. 

So, maybe I just need to realize that she's doing fine, the barking isn't that bad and sometimes is a good thing!, and with some work on manners when answering the door (staying on her mat), I think we're in good shape.  

After taking a break from formal obedience classes this past year, we're retaking a CGC class this winter.  I thought it would be fun for us to be back in class and a good refresher course now that she's a year older. I'm curious to see how an almost 2 year old Polly does. 

Okay, enough rambling for one morning.


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