# Barking at Reflection



## CurlyDog (Aug 20, 2008)

Raleigh has started a bad habit. He sees his reflection in various places in the house ane barks at it. I've tried distracting him, "leave it", etc. Do you have any tips on how to stop this?

There is one piece of furniture that he can see the reflection in the daytime and he keeps bringing toys to the puppy in the window, sometimes accumulating 3-4! As cute as that is, we've been careful not to encourage it, because it quickly becomes really annoying!


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## 4Paws (Dec 11, 2010)

Polo was nuts about his reflection too. Not so much anymore (he's 7 months) but there for a while he would growl and bark at his reflection and try to get "the puppy" to play with him. It mostly ended when we let him have a look behind the mirror. Once he realized there wasn't another dog, he stopped.


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## Purley (May 21, 2010)

Yes. Lucy used to stand looking out of the french doors at night and bark and bark at the other black poodle out there. Once she realized there was no dog, she stopped doing it!


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## CurlyDog (Aug 20, 2008)

I will try that today. Thanks!


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## PoodleMomAnew (Dec 22, 2010)

Hunter used to bark at the black poodle in my shower stall glass and the door to the back patio but he does it much much less now. I think he may be growing out of it and perhaps yours will too if he is a puppy.


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## Countryboy (May 16, 2011)

I once had a little canister vac that Tonka had never seen before. It looked quite a bit like R2D2 and was definitely not welcome in *his* house. 

He was determined to chase it off 'til I came over and rolled it around and spun it a bit. Then he lost interest.


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## spoospirit (Mar 10, 2009)

_Song was very excited about her reflection in our patio doors. She barked and growled at it. I discouraged the barking and soon she lost interest too. I think she just figured it out that it was not a real dog. Wish I had some helpful advice for you._


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## vtomblin (Jul 18, 2010)

Sookie did it too. I'd say thank you for the first bark for doing your job and letting me know you see something. Then it was 'no bark'. She grew out of it. I didn't make too much fuss about it.Yours will grow out of it too I'm sure!


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## jasperspoo (Feb 25, 2011)

Jasper did the same thing... He also grew out of it. The darned dog in the reflection was no fun!


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## Rowan (May 27, 2011)

My new rescue, Merlin, does this. He barks at the oven (it's black) and the sliding glass door at night. I don't think he's used to clean glass or shiny ovens! I've tried explaining the whole reflection thing but he just doesn't get it.  I go with the distraction method and he loses interest pretty fast. 

My dresser (mirror) is across the room at the end of my bed. Sometimes he'll catch his reflection in this but it's far enough way that he's not entirely sure what to make of it. Yet.

One of my other poodles, Pippin, loves to bark at the television. He seems to have really good vision because even if the thing is on mute and a dog/werewolf comes onscreen, he charges the TV. I tried explaining fantasy creatures to him to no avail. (He gets really agitated with those Wargs from LoTR!)


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