# HELP!!! Cockapoo Puppy Bad Behaviour



## Tom Hammond (Jan 30, 2017)

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone had any good advice.

Our 10 month old cockapoo is really well behaved, friendly and obedient apart from in one situation.

When my wife returns home from work before me and I am not there Pepper (the puppy) will constantly bark at her for attention. Even if she is given attention or picked up she will continue to incessantly bark once put down, this usually lasts for 30 mins-2 hours. It can happen at any time when my wife returns home but predominantly happens after work. She is completely obsessed with my wife and will follow her round all day and they definitely have a better bond than what I have with Pepper. When I am in the room she never misbehaves and will stop the barking instantly if I say "No" to her. Any tips would be hugely welcome, I would imagine that the equivalent of a naughty step would work or I have read that spraying water on her to stop it is another wives tale that seems cruel. I should add that during the week she is taken out for a walk around lunchtime, she stays in her crate in the hours after her walk till we get home. She also sleeps in her crate in our room at night (just adding this in case there are any good tips).

Many thanks in advance it is driving us insane.


----------



## Rafa (Jun 18, 2012)

Well, if your Wife picks her up or shows her attention as a response to her barking, she's rewarding the behaviour.


----------



## Tom Hammond (Jan 30, 2017)

Thanks Sweety, sorry to be more clear this only comes last as sheer desperation. Otherwise she continues for an hour or so. Any other advice would be most appreciated.


----------



## Rafa (Jun 18, 2012)

There are others here better able to advise you, as it's not a problem I've had to deal with.

If Pepper only does this with your Wife and not you, then she must have learned that your Wife will respond to the barking. It can be easy to encourage a bad habit without realising. Maybe your Wife speaks to her or gives her a pat or stroke to encourage her to be quiet, but that is responding to the barking.

Personally, I would use a word such as "Quiet", then praise her when she stops barking, then maybe distract her with a toy or ball, but only give a positive response when she's quiet.

I don't think spraying with water will help at all and could make a pup fearful.


----------



## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

Never had this problem, but please don't spray her with water.

Punishing a dog for an unwanted behaviour doesn't teach the dog how to behave but could make the dog anxious/scared and cause more problems.

Have a look at positively.com for some tips and advice on positive training.


----------



## Tom Hammond (Jan 30, 2017)

Thanks Lurcherlad, much appreciated!


----------



## Sarah1983 (Nov 2, 2011)

Tom Hammond said:


> Thanks Sweety, sorry to be more clear this only comes last as sheer desperation. Otherwise she continues for an hour or so. Any other advice would be most appreciated.


Thing is, she's teaching her to be more persistent if she eventually gives in and picks her up/gives her the attention.

Personally I'd turn and walk out the instant she barked, shut the door behind me, give it 10 or 20 seconds and go back in. Repeat as necessary. Alongside this I'd be teaching her appropriate methods of asking for attention. Come and sit in front of you, fetch a certain item, whatever you feel is appropriate. I've had 2 attention seeking barkers now and this has worked extremely well with them both. It's extremely important to be consistent with it though, if sometimes your wife leaves and sometimes gives in and gives the attention when she's barking then it'll likely make the unwanted behaviour even stronger. It's a pain in the backside at times, I don't really want to get up and walk out when I've just settled down with a book or whatever but I'd rather that for a short period than constant barking.


----------



## Hanwombat (Sep 5, 2013)

Tom Hammond said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I was wondering if anyone had any good advice.
> 
> ...


Hi

Your wife is essentially reinforcing the dogs barking. The dog is simply barking for attention. Your wife needs to completely ignore Pepper whilst he is barking and by ignoring I mean everything i.e. looking at the dog, body language, saying get down.. basically everything.

Best for your wife to go straight back out the front door for 30 seconds or so and then come back inside and repeat.

The barking would most likely get worse at first so beware as they generally try harder for your attention, especially if its been happening for a long time. The worse thing that can happen though if the behaviour worsens and then its reinforced.. i.e. you get so fed up you just say get down! and then the level of intensity will be at this burst level.

Then if consistent the behaviour should completely drop and stop. Its called an extinction burst. Basically when you stop reinforcing a behaviour, the behaviour eventually fades away. Extinction doesn't mean forgotten though. Extinction means a new learning but the previous memory would still be there somewhere.


----------



## Guest (Jan 31, 2017)

Hanwombat said:


> Then if consistent the behaviour should completely drop and stop. Its called an extinction burst. Basically when you stop reinforcing a behaviour, the behaviour eventually fades away. Extinction doesn't mean forgotten though. Extinction means a new learning but the previous memory would still be there somewhere.


I thought the extinction burst was the bit where the behaviour is at its worst?

OP whenever my puppies have tried barking at me I would stare at the ceiling so they're not even getting eye contact. As the others say, your puppy has learnt that if they persist for long enough, they'll eventually get some attention!


----------



## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

Extinction burst is when the dog tries harder , behaviour gets worse before it gets better . Extinction is when the dog stops doing the behaviour permanently , the behaviour dies out . However it could occur again and is known as spontaneous recovery .


Barking is self rewarding, dogs can get a "high" from it .

To the OP. Pepper is a young cockapoo , you dont say how much walks and attention he gets , its great he get ma walk at lunch time but he spends a lot of time in his crate so perhaps more exercise and mental stimulation might help .


----------



## Hanwombat (Sep 5, 2013)

McKenzie said:


> I thought the extinction burst was the bit where the behaviour is at its worst?
> 
> OP whenever my puppies have tried barking at me I would stare at the ceiling so they're not even getting eye contact. As the others say, your puppy has learnt that if they persist for long enough, they'll eventually get some attention!


The whole process is called extinction burst. Their behaviour worsens because the dog tries harder (burst) until eventually the behaviour stops completely it becomes extinct.


----------



## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

Hanwombat said:


> The whole process is called extinction burst. Their behaviour worsens because the dog tries harder (burst) until eventually the behaviour stops completely it becomes extinct.


If you are modifying a dogs behaviour by using Extinction e.g ignore it and it will stop doing it, then extinction burst is something that might happen, not necessarily something that will. 
Extinction is an operant procedure , if it successful then , it is the whole procedure . Extinction burst isnt an operant procedure, it is a possible result of using an operant procedure ,

Extinction occurs when a behaviour that has previously been reinforced is no longer reinforced , and the result is that the behaviour no longer occurs .
Extinction burst : The increase in intensity , duration or frequency of a behaviour that is not reinforced during extinction is called an extinction burst ,


----------



## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

kimthecat said:


> Extinction occurs when a behaviour that has previously been reinforced is no longer reinforced , and the result is that the behaviour no longer occurs .
> Extinction burst : The increase in intensity , duration or frequency of a behaviour that is not reinforced during extinction is called an extinction burst ,


The above quotes are from How dogs Learn by Burch and Baily .

Its a recommended book for those doing dog courses and its worth reading . I learnt a lot from it .


----------



## Muttly (Oct 1, 2014)

kimthecat said:


> The above quotes are from How dogs Learn by Burch and Baily .
> 
> Its a recommended book for those doing dog courses and its worth reading . I learnt a lot from it .


I've had this book a while and still trying to get round to reading it! However, I've now had to focus on 'Total Recall' which explains pretty well how dogs think and learn too


----------



## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

Ive just checked that out on Amazon , you can read excerpts and its very good .  I might buy that one , Pip isnt 100 % when squirrels are around .


----------

