Has Anyone Used PuppyFinder.com?

[WhoDatChick]

Lol, tumbleweeds! Gracie's fur does that! Yes, @WhoDatChick , exactly. The site indicated that this dog had been viewed nearly 50 times. But... everybody wants a puppy ... not me, though! To me it was an advantage that this boy is house-trained. That he has some basic training, is socialized, knows a few hand signals. I don't mind skipping the puppy training, lol!

They were happy to hear he will be a family pet living mostly indoors... that I have been a trainer of basic obedience ... that my best friend is also Gracie's groomer... that there is a young boy who will play with him ....

Can't wait til Sunday!

I’m excited for you

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I’m excited for you

Thank you!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I’ve been extremely bless with two dogs that only bark when someone is at the door, or (if we’re outside at night) bark if there is a wild animal out there!

It's not like Gracie barks nonstop. Of all my Shelties she is the noisiest, though. But in fairness, there is a lot to bark at here. We have deer, wild turkey, squirrels, raccoons, etc. And she is a guardian breed. So she barks at stuff she hears. I may not hear it, but she does. I have a friend who claims she can make her stop barking. This troubles me. A dog naturally barks at one end and wags at the other. It would creep me out if someone said they could train a dog to stop wagging its tail. Dogs bark. That's their nature. Some bark more than others. Shrug.

 

[aart]

My Aussie was big barker, I trained her to 'stop'. Worked most the time.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Train the deaf to hand signals now culling is frowned on I never had the displeasure to do that but it is a fact of history

You can also get a deaf dog's attention by flipping a light switch off and on, by stomping on the floor quickly twice, or waving a white handkerchief. I rescued a deaf Dalmatian once, and she learned as quickly as any other dog once I figured out different strategies to communicate with her. After training her, I found her an awesome forever home!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

My Aussie was big barker, I trained her to 'stop'. Worked most the time.

I just send Gracie "out" to bark outside, lol.

 

[Kusanar]

It's not like Gracie barks nonstop. Of all my Shelties she is the noisiest, though. But in fairness, there is a lot to bark at here. We have deer, wild turkey, squirrels, raccoons, etc. And she is a guardian breed. So she barks at stuff she hears. I may not hear it, but she does. I have a friend who claims she can make her stop barking. This troubles me. A dog naturally barks at one end and wags at the other. It would creep me out if someone said they could train a dog to stop wagging its tail. Dogs bark. That's their nature. Some bark more than others. Shrug.

I have a "rat dog" that barks at the cats in the middle of the night, and once he starts yapping, he doesn't shut up... for hours.... so, he wears a bark collar when he gets to yapping bad, and once he's been quiet for a few days it comes off, if he starts back up it goes back on. I don't mind a yap or 2 here and there, but hours solid when I and the neighbors (yes, you can hear him outside...) are trying to sleep is excessive and not tolerated.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I have a "rat dog" that barks at the cats in the middle of the night, and once he starts yapping, he doesn't shut up... for hours.... so, he wears a bark collar when he gets to yapping bad, and once he's been quiet for a few days it comes off, if he starts back up it goes back on. I don't mind a yap or 2 here and there, but hours solid when I and the neighbors (yes, you can hear him outside...) are trying to sleep is excessive and not tolerated.

Fortunately no near neighbors here. We have put a bark collar on her from time to time when she gets like that. The last time was about six months ago, I think. May have to dig it out again ... but it's getting close to hunting season. There may be poachers about.... I think I'll just let her bark. She knows more about what's out there than I do.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I see you are from MO and I used to be from
I see you are in MO. I started doing agility in STL, but moved south 5 years ago. Bella Rose is a lovely kennel in Mo. All parents and puppies are health tested. Small kennel.
Here are my two. Shelties are very high energy and also very vocal! I let every know When they say they would like one just how vocal lol!

I forgot to say, your dogs are MAGNIFICENT!!!!

 

[ShrekDawg]

I personally don’t think teaching a dog not to bark is cruel or anything and I definitely don’t think it’s an innate behavior like wagging their tail. They can learn not to bark and still be perfectly happy. It doesn’t have to be taught in a mean way at all. It’s just like teaching house manners and no jumping or stealing food and stuff like that. I wouldn’t put up with that and I wouldn’t put up with excessive barking. And yes, there IS such a thing as excessive barking and problem barking and dogs that truly do bark at nothing.

Often it’s boredom or a lack of proper exercise so that would be the first thing I would try... can’t bark if you’re ridiculously tired! Hah

Then I’d probably try rewarding them when they are quiet and not barking. Then maybe adding a command to that like “quiet” or “enough” and getting them to do it on command. If they stop, they get a treat, or pats, or play time, or whatever the chosen reward is.

It doesn’t have to be anything cruel or nasty or anything.

It’s just a command just like anything else you’d teach them, such as sit or something.

And I personally think stopping barking on command or stopping anything on command, like playing with another dog or chasing something, should be taught to every dog. Of course those latter two are more related to having a solid recall which is a separate command but still.

I just think not having a dog excessively bark or one that knows how to stop when told makes them easier to love with. Also, IMO, makes it easier on them. A lot of dogs are also anxious and bark because they’re scared and are trying to scare it off. Showing them they don’t have to be scared of everything can increase their confidence too.

But obviously some dogs do bark more than others and certain breeds do it more so I would never try to change that or get a dog that I knew was a barker to begin with, wouldn’t be fair to either of us, BUT I do believe that even if they bark more they can, and should, learn how to stop on command. You can also teach them they are allowed to bark in certain situations. Such as teaching them a “speak” command or allowing them to get super hyped up before an agility run or allowing a few barks to tell you someone’s at the door, etc. it doesn’t have to be stopped completely but it can be lessened.

I had a dog that used to bark all the time, sometimes at night, he eventually stopped that but it was all night sometimes and very annoying, never did get him to stop that but he eventually stopped on his own. He just like had a phase ha but anyway, he did also bark at like anything and everything outside, neighbors, dogs walking by, animals, etc. so I did eventually teach him to stop it and come when called and he got very good about it, he’d usually stop right away and come. Not always but usually.

DB & SIL have two dogs and they have been very strict right from the beginning with both of them about not letting them bark so... they don’t. They hear other dogs barking in the distance while they’re outside or see someone walk by, nope. Whereas Gator would have gone ballistic. It’s very nice. They will go up to the fence to check out who’s walking by but no barking. They don’t even bark when people come over or they come home. They just get very excited and want to see who it is haha

I personally think it’s a little bit excessive, I think some barking is okay, but it is definitely nice to not have a barker haha

They do bark sometimes especially at night at wild animals and can be hard to get them to stop and like the other night we had a ton of wind and they were freaked but they usually don’t bark.

Nice compared to friends dogs, not usually big barking breeds, who have been allowed to bark nonstop, or even Gator who used to bark at everything.

I think theirs are a little micromanaged in general but it works.

They’re both basically pups (under two years old) and extremely well behaved. There are obviously some things that are still a work in progress and they’re at the age where they’re testing everything and everyone but they mostly listen.

And they don’t even really use treats now that they’ve grown up, they just expect them to listen.