# Mini Dachshund Puppy Barking



## Mantishead (Feb 9, 2011)

Hello,

I've read through so much material on pups and spoken to so many people but I have no other options so maybe someone else has advice.

Myself and my wife are exhausted and reached the point were we are considering giving up our new mini Dach puppy - Snoop.

He will have been with us exactly 2 weeks tomorrow and I know this sounds like a pathetically short time and many of you will laugh at such a lame attempt but it's been such a challenge and there seem no signs of progress.

We are both used to dogs and cats and it's certainly not a case of being unaware of what's involved but we were totally unprepared for the barking and whining when Snoop is left unattended even for a matter of minutes.

The challenge has been increased by trying to maintain the spirits of a cat who also seems exasperated by everything.

Snoop is not spoilt or given too much attention, nor is he left for great long periods. We have been feeding him with military regularity, potty training is working fine and whilst in the company of others he is the best.

However, going to bed at night, leaving the house during the day and even going upstairs whilst he is in the lounge quickly brings the most deafening yelps and whines.

We have tried following all the steps of ignoring him, rewarding him when he eventually settles, ensuring he has clocks, hot water bottles, old jumpers, teddy bears, a DAP collar, chewy treats and a radio on but no amount of appeasement is improving his behaviour. 

Cleaning the house or generally doing anything other than sitting in the same room as him has become impossible. We have been through hours of going in and out of the room increasing the periods of alone time but still no progress.

Both my wife and I were completely committed to caring for him and providing all the attention and training he needed but when his barking is preventing sleep, relaxation, irritating the neighbours, annoying the cat and stopping us from doing anything else there's clearly a problem.

The thought of giving him up, particularly if his new owner has a similar issue is heartbreaking. If someone could say with any degree of experience/certainty that it will stop within a week, two weeks or even a month then that would provide the motivation to carry on but all we've had are people saying 'it stops after a couple of weeks'. Well we are at a couple of weeks and it's as loud and painful as ever.

What do I do with Snoop?


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## SEVEN_PETS (Aug 11, 2009)

I'd suggest it's separation anixety. Have you tried going out of the room for literally 1 second and then returning? And then increasing this time very gradually (literally by one second each time)? He needs to learn that you will come back even when you are out of sight. By starting small and increasing the time, this should work. 

Puppies are incredibly hard work and you don't know how many times I've wanted to rehome my dog, and how many times I've felt like a failure, but you will get there.


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## Lavenderb (Jan 27, 2009)

I would say you need to give it longer to be honest. 

I'm no expert by any means but I had a similar problem with my gsd pup and I started leaving her in the kitchen on her own for a minute or 2 and then going back into the room and gradually increasing the time left and then sometimes going back sooner so the dog never knows when you are coming back.
She is getting better, I can leave her for 1-2 hours now. I also made a point of going around to see my neighbours and asking them to tell me if she barks and if its upsetting them and they were great about it. 

She doesnt bark at night because she sleeps in my bedroom and maybe that didnt help her with being left during the day but I wanted her to be able to alert me quickly if needed.

I also find a walk or a good run before I go out tires her out and she will settle down to sleep easily.
She has special bones and toys that she only gets when I'm out aswell, so its more of a treat.


She's almost 5 months old now, so it can take time but keep persisting.


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## Mantishead (Feb 9, 2011)

Thanks for the reply.

We keep doing the 'leave the room' thing, it's rather amusing all standing around in the hall for a few minutes at a time. Obviously this becomes impractical when not in 'training mode' and you actually have to do some stuff.

My concern is when we are not in training mode, we are setting him back, or undoing what we've achieved whilst training.

We absolutely have to leave the house during the day (currently we are coming back every 2/3 hours) as do we have to sleep 7/8 hours per night. I refuse to let Snoop sleep with us as it's just not practical, certainly whilst he's not 100% on his toilet training.

He will usually bark for around 20-40 minutes and then eventually settle down. But showing no signs of getting better. Even when making a cup of tea in the kitchen, with him in the lounge (no door, just out of sight) he starts whining.

Worst case scenario how long can this last - month, two months, six months, forever?

It's also becoming increasingly difficult to completely ignore and not be negative about his behaviour. I have literally sat biting my lip and turning blue whilst he is going nuts - but how long can you last not screaming at something that is screaming at you.

I know he's only a baby and he's Scared but my mum has an 8 week terrier and she just sits in her crate and quietly watches the world go by. I am soooo jealous..


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## SEVEN_PETS (Aug 11, 2009)

Mantishead said:


> Thanks for the reply.
> 
> We keep doing the 'leave the room' thing, it's rather amusing all standing around in the hall for a few minutes at a time. Obviously this becomes impractical when not in 'training mode' and you actually have to do some stuff.
> 
> ...


dogs are not born perfect, that is one thing I have learnt. Well behaved dogs come from training, you get out what you put in. Do you have one day where you can just spend all day going in and out of the room constantly? I'm sure she is a very smart pup and she will soon get the message. I'm currently training my dog to not bark in the garden. I have to sit inside and wait until he is quiet before I can reward him. You have to bit your lip sometimes and just be patient, I like putting the TV on so it blocks the sound of the barking out. :lol:

In your situation, you want to only leave the room for as long as she stays quiet for. Returning to the room with her barking is only making it worse by giving her attention. Only return into the room when she is quiet for about 5-10 seconds, so that you are rewarding the quiet with your presence.


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## Lavenderb (Jan 27, 2009)

Have you started teaching him to sit, stay, lay down? I found it easier once my dog knew the 'down command' and then teaching stay by taking a step away and walking back and rewarding with a treat and gradually increasing the distance. Obviously saying 'stay' at the same time. Taking her to training classes is paying off aswell . Is that something you could consider?


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## Mantishead (Feb 9, 2011)

My wife spends most of Monday and Wednesday with him in the house and she floats about from room to room so he is getting accustomed to the idea that we come and go. 

One of the things that is a problem is that because it's not always practical to return before he starts barking (or wait until he stops) that inevitably there are occasions when the behaviour is effectively being re-inforced.

For instance, I am in the house on my own at the moment and I know if I dash to the loo he would start barking. Clearly it's not then practical for me to sit on the stairs for 40 minutes until he stops so I go back. I try to just ignore him if I do return rather than validate his behaviour any further but nevertheless, it's still not ideal.

I guess we will solider on and see how it goes. One final question, in an attempt to ensure he doesn't get too attached to me I have tried to resist the urge to pet him and allow him to sit on me, or next to me on the couch. Instead I've been trying to make him sleep in his bed in the lounge. He is really good at this now. Question is, is this right, or as a puppy should I just be allowing him to have the best experience possible?

It seems mean to not be with him for a few hours and then have him sit in isolation also - but it appears discipline it managing to keep his hysteria at a minimum.

When I had a couple of spaniels I would just play with them constantly but then there was no need to establish such a dominant alpha with them two.


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## Beardy (Jun 4, 2008)

Mantishead said:


> For instance, I am in the house on my own at the moment and I know if I dash to the loo he would start barking. Clearly it's not then practical for me to sit on the stairs for 40 minutes until he stops so I go back. I try to just ignore him if I do return rather than validate his behaviour any further but nevertheless, it's still not ideal.


No it isn't practical, but you are doing the right thing ignoring him. The trick is to praise him when he is quiet. On the subject of spoiling him, surely you could allow him to sit on your lap for some time? Please remember that prior to coming to live with you, he had his Mum & his litter mates. Dogs are pack animals & love company. Having said that, they do have to learn to be on there own, it is not practical to be with your dog 24/7. Years ago we had a Manchester Terrier, boy could she scream the place down at night. I thought it would never end, everyone needs sleep! She did get better after about a month, however, many owners are now recommending keeping your pup with you in the bedroom for the first few months. As they become settled, you gradually move them out & to where-ever you want them to sleep. Have you read the thread on seperation anxiety? Luckily we have been a 2 or more dog family since then, so sleepless nights are unheard of. We have a whippet aged 14months, I just used to get up & let him out if he made a noise in the night. I didn't speak to him, just let him back in & put him straight into his cage. Must admit, one of the best dogs we ever had was a mini-wirehaired dachshund, he was a little character. Only other things I can suggest are earplugs or another puppy to keep him company !:lol:


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## Mantishead (Feb 9, 2011)

Hi there,

Thanks for the response. 

He certainly isn't ignored, if I had my way I'd let him snuggle up whenever he wanted but my concern is that he will see himself as top dog and only re-inforce his barking behaviour.

I can leave him for hours with my mums terrier pup but getting a second for us is just not possible. We've been wearing the ear plugs at night.

I would gladly substitute any other bad behaviour than the barking.


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## Beardy (Jun 4, 2008)

Please don't worry about this top-dog rubbish. He isn't trying to be top-dog, he is just lonely. As long as he can spend some time in his basket on his own & isn't allowed to be cuddled all night, you really don't need to worry. My GSD shares the settee with me, he sometimes gets up on his own, sometimes I call him up. I don't mind though, if I ask him to get off, he does just that. A quick tip to get them off anything without confrontation is to throw something on the floor & give the command 'off'. It's the same if you want anything that he has got, don't try & grab things off him. Offer him something else which is of a higher value to him, it works a treat! I took 2 raw-hide bones off mine only last night. I just offered them a nice little tit-bit in return. Hope things settle down soon, hopefully when he is getting a bit more exercise he will be better. Bet you never thought anything so small could make so much noise!:scared:I can remember saying that about Peggy the Manchester Terrier:scared:


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## Mantishead (Feb 9, 2011)

No further progress with Snoop - he's still barking when separated.

He spent the last 24 hours with my mum's yorkshire terrier pup and they were great together - no barking or whining - proof that he just needs a friend. Unfortunately there's no way we can have two.

Got him back home and as I left the room he just started barking again - same as usual. The other night I had to put him in the kitchen and sit in the dining room - where he can actually see me, like two feet away - yet he just barked constantly at me for 30 minutes. Even though I completely ignored him, he didn't stop. How can this be fear? I am right there.

We spoke to a local, well known and respected dog training school and behaviourist who basically said we'd done everything correct and now that we'd tried the positive approach it was time to engage in 'tough love' and when he was barking to distract, make noise and/or tell him off.

However, this seems to run counter to everything we've tried and been told this far. Furthermore, how does one get up out of bed purely to go and tell the dog off and then quite simply to have him start again.

I am not one to doubt their wisdom, as I say, they are well respected but how are you supposed to completely reverse a strategy!!

We asked if we should look to re-home him in a family who has another puppy or dog where he will no doubt be okay, but the trainer has said with certainty the behaviour CAN be changed.

Unfortunately after almost 3 weeks, with absolutely no progress at all, my faith, motivation and hope that we can push through the problem has evaporated. And now on top of that, I am supposed to start telling him off for basically 'being upset'.


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## littleBichon (Oct 4, 2010)

We had an absolutley terrible time with Harry when we first brought him home, we didnt sleep the night through for pretty much a month, the first few weeks we didnt get more than one hours solid sleep a night, I had to sit next to his crate for hours until he'd drop off back to sleep and I could sneak back to bed. Then one night he just didn't make a noise, he woke up really early (around 5am) but slept the night through pretty much (10-5). Harrys Kong helped us a LOT. I fill it with a mix of tuna and his kibble and freeze it before bedtime, he now can go to bed without it but it really helped us when leaving him as it distracted him long enough for us to disappear and gave him something to concentrate on. We cant leave Harry downstairs and go upstairs unless we've put him in his crate first, its like he panics when he has all the freedom. Have you tried crating him? I dont think I read that you had? I know some people don't agree with it and I dont know where you stand but Harry deffinatley doesnt like being left alone if hes not in his crate and cant associate it with 'his alone time', I know thats not the best solution when you need to nip upstairs for a wee, but it could get you through a night?

I hope you get it sorted. I wouldnt wish those nights listening to Harry howl on my worst enemy! I feel for you, really I do!


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## Mantishead (Feb 9, 2011)

Thanks everyone for suggestions and such...
We've now had Snoop for a couple of months, he's about 5 months old in total.

We finally decided to move his crate to the bedroom. Why? Well we finally managed to reach a point where he would happily go to bed in his crate at 11PM and not bark. Unfortunately this was countered by him waking up at 5AM shouting a lot. We didn't have too much of a problem with this as it gave us a chance to let him out and go to the toilet.

Unfortunately, sometimes his panic and anxiety would get the better of him so it was not uncommon for him to foul his crate - which we really didn't want as it went against the whole point of crating him.

We recently went on a short break to the Lake District and we had to basically keep his crate in the bedroom. Not a peep. Happily slept right the way through the night (to about 6AM), outside for toilet, then back into crate and happily sleep through to 8:30/9. Upshot being, that whilst we would prefer his slept in another room the quiet outweighs the barking.

However, his general separation anxiety (when leaving the house during the day has not subsided). Of course it's true to say that now he sleeps with us, he could arguably have 'worse' separation anxiety - but the simple fact is we need to balance the sanity of our neighbours (and ourselves) against what's best for Snoop.

It's a constant juggling act, trying to work out what's going to work and what is counter productive. We have tried every conceivable tool in the book including controversial methods such as DAP plugs and anti-bark collars. I know there are some die-hard animal welfare types who would jump up and down on this and quote animal psychology but the fact is Snoop has a fantastic home, a huge amount of exercise and attention so I would happily refute any suggestion of cruelty in the spraying of a mist of water when barking - his own mother would be harsher in the wild no doubt.

Anyway, regardless nothing has actually worked. We've had Snoop long enough now that there's no really any way we'd let him go - just couldn't do it. So we keep our fingers crossed and keep hoping that maybe when he crosses adolescence he might just start to chill out.

The other option being get him a friend which we know from experiments with friend's that he doesn't say a word... We never wanted two though - we like having just Snoop as he's such a character.

Has anybody has similar experiences and found that 'eventually' things settle down or is it more likely we have a little chatterbox for life?


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## LexiLou2 (Mar 15, 2011)

A couple of things that may help calm him but i may be a milliom miles of the mark. I have a 2 year old staffie, form 8 week old she was crated and slept downstairs, at 6 months she weaned herself off the crate and at 15 months we moved house and took away her crate all together. At 18 months for a reason totally unknown she became scared of the dark and she would scream cry throw herself at the kitchen door she would mess in the house jumped on the kitchen table messed on there it was a nightmare and for 2 weeks ai tried to mange it with ignoring it and other things however it wasn't working so i went to see my trainer and she told me try and we might sometimes dogs need reassurance and sometimes they need comfort ignoring the bad doesn't always work. So she came up with a few ideas and some seems tupid and you have to stick with it but:
Rescue remedy...you get it for boots you want the liquid with the dropper. You can either put this is their water or give it directly to the dog, it is totally natural and anyone can use it people dogs cats, I even give it to my rabbits as one of them is a really bad traveller. If you give it direct the effect is more obvious, we used to give it about 10 mins before bed, its also good for teething pups if the are in pain etc.
A t-shirt for them to wear, we got kids vests but they must be relatively tight fitting, its like getting a bit hug, its a reassurance thing.
brown bread is really good for helping boost a vitimin which helps relax them (can't remember which) but a slice of brown bread in with their tea.
we left the tv on very low on a radio channel overnight so she had noise and also got her a night light (these are more a fear of the dark thing)
The other thing she had me doing and i felt so stupid, read to her, go through her bed time routine shut kitchen door sit on the other side and read. You could put him in his crate sit 2 or 3 feet away and read, just read until he calms down then leave, if he starts up again, just come back don't say anything just continue reading (read anything i read her the harry potter books)
Its not an overnight fix, it took about 7 weeks for us to become right, when we started it took 2 hours to get her to settle on a night so i started the bed time routine at 9 with the aim to get to bed for 11. 2 weeks in it was taking 20 mins then we got stuck at 20 mins but eventually she was fine and we haven't had an issue since and that was over 6 months ago. Once he starts to settle faster rather than reading just sit there and slowly wean him off what you were doing although you may find that rescue remedy and a t-shirt is always needed but maybe not.
The problem is something may have happened to him one time when he was tiny and on his own and unfortunatly those bad expereinces stay with them so you need to make him feel as safe as possible.


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## karenydavis (Apr 2, 2015)

Hi there, I know this post is from a few years ago. I wondered how you got on in the end as I'm in exactly the same position at the moment?


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## Misi (Jul 13, 2009)

karenydavis said:


> Hi there, I know this post is from a few years ago. I wondered how you got on in the end as I'm in exactly the same position at the moment?


I'm not very optimistic about your getting a reply from the OP since their last activity on here was 4 years ago. You might have more joy starting a new thread.


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

Mantishead said:


> Hello,
> 
> I've read through so much material on pups and spoken to so many people but I have no other options so maybe someone else has advice.
> 
> ...


I would suggest that you obtain the services of a reputable trainer/behaviourist, nobody here can really advise you as we cannot assess the frequency, intensity or duration of the problem or the context.

I think you will find the solutions are simple once the correct triggers have been identified and what behaviour changes you all need to make.


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## Lol Buoey (Jun 23, 2017)

We have a dachshund pup we bought a water spray every time he barked we sprayed him took a bit of time but it stopped him barking peace at last


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## lullabydream (Jun 25, 2013)

Lol Buoey said:


> We have a dachshund pup we bought a water spray every time he barked we sprayed him took a bit of time but it stopped him barking peace at last


Am sorry but this forum is all about use of positive reward based training.

You have brought up an old thread, and showed a punishment type of training. Which does not sit well with the ethos of this forum.


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