Question:
: Hello,
: I"ve an 9 months male JRT which has a problem with barking. He always bark early after wake up to go out to the back yard where's sometime has cat walking around. The problem is it's too early for others to wake up at the time. We tried to ignore him when he barks (that's what I found in a training book) but since this bother neighbourhood so we have to grab him inside and try to attract him with toy or food and mostly it doesn't work. I know that doing this will make thing worse but we can't just let him bark. So we tried to ignore him if he barks at other times. He doesn't bark that much at the other time of the day. We leave the back door open for him, he came in and out and doesn't bark that much. He only barks in the morning, I thought he just want to scared cats away cause he hasn't been out all night.
: Now, I'm thinking of putting him in a playpen in the morning after he woke up. He used to stay in his playpen when he was young but when he gets older and has a manner in the house we let him stay out all the time. So now he doesnt' like staying in there anymore. I tried to feed him in the playpen but he'd keep trying to come out than eating,, finally barking. I'd ask him to be quiet till I let him out. He knows the word quite, but just for a while. Is it the right idea if I'm going to teach him to love the playpen again so I can put him there for an hour in the morning untill e'one left the house. Would you please recommend how to put him in the playpen and being quite. I've read a lot of positive training book and I know that I've to connect the playpen with happy good things such as food.
: Thank you very much for your time.
: Pomme
Response:
Dear Pomme,
You are correct that connecting the playpen with good things is the best way to get your terrier to accept it again. However, changing his environment -- indoors instead of outdoors -- doesn't really address the barking problem. And since he needs to go outside in order to eliminate first thing in the morning, you may also have to deal with housebreaking issues.
Rather then trying to use the playpen as a means to stop the early morning bark-a-thon, I suggest you instead take your terrier outside on a leash first thing in the AM. If you have control of him, you can easily get him back in the house after he's gone potty. Plus, you are THERE to give him the command to "be quiet!" when he does start barking.
The bottom line is that JRTs bark; this is part of their heritage as a hunting breed and "prey" in or near the yard is certainly grounds for making noise. Our job as owners is to teach them to obey our command to stop barking but again, we have to actually be there to end the behavior.
Good luck,
Leslie
