Excessive barking and really naughty

[Fiona Kenward-Mower]

 

Hi, I wondered if anyone can give me some advice about my Irish setter Scarlett. She is 12 months old and has suddenly become really naughty. She was very well behaved having attended 3 puppy training courses. She came in from the garden as soon as I whistled, had never weed indoors and never chewed anything apart from her dozens of toys. But in the last couple of weeks she has become a nightmare! She has chewed up cookery books, a tablecloth, table mats and anything she can climb up to get. She has weed in the lounge despite being outside for an hour before. She ignores all commands, jumps up all the time and is mouthing and biting our hands and arms. But the most frustrating thing is she just barks all the time if she hasn't got your undivided attention and especially at four o'clock every night.

We have 2 other dogs including a five year old setter that she sleeps with and is with during the day. I am at home all day so she has company. She is regularly walked, has a huge variety of toys that we play with and gets lots of cuddles.

Nothing has changed at home, she is very healthy and eating well, so why is she such a pain at the moment? I wondered if she might have her back teeth coming through - I am not sure when they usually grow? That would explain the biting but need to stop all the other unwanted behaviour especially the jumping up and barking!!

Please can anyone suggest anything to help?

[Ossian]

I have a feeling she is a touch of the LLewellin Bowen and doesnt like the pattern??

[eva ciechonska]

Sue....Guardsman or Barjo do dog guards, tailor made to your car, that do not fall on your head.  There are others.  If you stop suddenly your dog will fly over your head and straight through the windscreen......no laughing matter!!!!!

Ossian.....I think Sue is just using that as an excuse to buy new carpets!!!!!!  Nice one............

[Jo Ottinger]

my sister's dog would put his noise on the ground and bark.  could not get sprayed that way

[Peter Hennig]

Jo that's priceless how smart are they hey

[Sherry Miller]

They all go thru some time of being a wee bit wild....I found that a stern NO worked well for me.and a wee bit of shaming ...after they stop the behavior I would redirect their attention with a favorite toy or tennis ball and actively play with them and then let them go off on their own to see if they repeated the behavior...if they repeated it I repeated the above and it pretty well took care of it here. Mine usually got into things or misbehaved when they felt they were not getting enough of my attention...or to compete with my daughters when they were younger !  Removing them from where we are at was the worse punishment for my Irish Setters ...they hated that big time so a few minutes of timeout in their " cave" (Crate) worked wonders for anything they kept repeating .  There is nothing more  funny then an Irish Setter caught in the act ...such a "uhoh, she caught me" look on their faces!  Miss Molly accidently forgets and digs her craters in the yard...usually trying to get a burrowing critter as neighbors have moles tearing up their yard but everytime they come on our side she collapses the tunnel by digging but makes for a messy dog and torn up part of the yard so have been trying to decide here if digging is worse than having a mole tear up the yard!  She does stop immediately when she sees us so I know she knows she is not supposed to dig...usually will not dig again for about a week and then that temptation starts again.  Miss Molly wants an audience most of the time when she is outside...but in our cold winter she goes out by herself more often but will constantly check the windows to be sure we are watching her....in otherwords someone needs to be by the patio door so she knows we see her!:)  She is afraid she might miss some excitement inside. She has been taking her soft piggy outside to carry around and will put it down but every evening before dark gathers it up to bring back inside....then we have to defrost the piggy and clean it up for the next day.  One day we had six inches of new snow come down while piggy was outside....poor Miss Molly had to check all her favorite hiding places to find her piggy!  Just wish it had not been dark while she was looking for her piggy as pictures would have been wonderful of her running around sticking her nose into the snow! We all use the same command about barking....outside it is her name followed by  a shhhh sound followed by hush....for inside if she is barking to let us know someone is out in front we go to the door or window.....tell her good girl and now hush and pet her...she is just telling us someone is out there!  She does "roo" at us when she wants to play chase inside...which is hilarious as her mouth is usually full of at least two soft toys so the "roos" come out all funny. She will air bark twice at the patio door to go out if I am in the breakfast room...or one soft bark if I am in other part of the house to let me know she needs to go out....just has been so easy to train her to be an inside dog ...the one thing I worried about as she was a rescue( came home at 14 months old) who had been kept outside and all the house sounds and sights were new to her. We never crated her at night here....just when we were gone for the first two months and then started letting her have run of the house when we were gone for small trips by three months she was never crated as any mischief she was getting into was when we were home...in otherwords she wanted the reaction from US ! or some attention from us!  So even if it is just my talking to her if I am busy doing something seems to settle her down as far as mischief here...it's all about her wanting to be the diva!  Sometimes it just has to be worked into whatever I am doing so talking by using her name seems to satisfy her need for my attention....trying to remember if my males were that easy to settle down but think she is easier.  I do know that when my daughters were younger all my males would compete with them for my attention so I learned to include them in most of the things we did at home....they are awesome footrests while learning spelling words or cuddle buddies for bed time stories.  Can even remember one getting into the bath and lying around the baby bath while I gave the baby her bath! Someone on ES said they are a way of life and I truly believe that is what they are. My Irish lads were wilder than Miss Molly but they also had to compete with children in our home so perhaps for us that is the difference and not the male /female issue.  Our first Shilo was much like Miss Molly in behavior and he was before children also so I really think that is the difference in "wild mischief " for us...have stories which could raise the hair on your head about setter mischief here! :) and the lies I told the hubby so he wouldn't follow thru on his" one more time and they are gone " threat!  only to find out years later he knew I was covering for my lads all the time!  Hope this helps and just realize they all go thru it but it sometimes is our reaction and actions to what they are doing that makes the difference!
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[Eunice Marott]

our previous setter used to bark in the early hours of the morning at possums. She slept outside. Neighbours had the council rangers visit us. People next door used the collars as when their dog went out it barked until they returned. I don't personally like them and there is no need for Molly to have one. Her training stopped the barking when we got home and jumping etc. We just stand still and ignore her until she stops and then when is good she gets a treat. Best thing I ever did was training and this will continue. She gets excited and her tail is like a whip.

[Sue and Cash]

I think one of my first posts on this site was about Dublin who barked non stop everytime we drove in the car.  I was frazzled and deaf in my right ear.  No one at that time seemed to have that problem.  I made the comment that I had read that irish setters were known to be barky.  Again people all reported that wasn't the case!  I am rather pleased that I wasn't crazy or rather my dog wasn't.  Luckily I don't have this problem in the car with this dog.  Actually the silence is lovely.  We were freaked out when we got Cash in the car everyday and he just sat there nicely.  What a blessing it was, pinch me was it real?   But Cash likes to fog up my back window and then lick it constantly!  He knows that if he breathes on it for a bit, it will fog and then he starts the cycle over again.  I yell leave it, and he will stop and then start up again witihin minutes of it.

I think I will try and find something he likes to chew on, maybe that will distract him.  I suppose it is harmless actually but annoying to me that he does it. 

[Fiona Kenward-Mower]

Wow I never expected so many replies! Thank-you all for your words of wisdom. I have tried squirting her with water when she barks but she loves it and it turns into a game which makes her bark more! Also she loves any citrus smells - she keeps trying to eat the lemon flash wipes when I am cleaning.  She loves playing in the garden and as the weather has finally reached above freezing hopefully she can burn off some of her excess energy outside. I have checked with our neighbours and they cannot hear her at night so we will ignore her barking and see if that helps.  Am also trying to stand still and ignore her when she jumps up - only problem is she is nearly as tall as me and it is difficult to ignore her when she is licking my ears, face or anwhere she can reach. She is such an inquisitive girl, whatever I am doing she has to be right next to me helping! Have dug my Cesar Milan training book out as I like his calm approach. Eva not sure if you were joking or not but I don't believe that violence is the solution to any problem and will certainly not be beating her. In my experience setters are intelligen,t loving, gentle dogs that eventually respond to training (when they feel like it). Once we have ironed out all these teething problems I'm sure she will be her normal gorgeous self. Once again thanks for all your advice and I will keep you updated on how things go.   

[Eunice Marott]

good luck. sounds like you have a real challenge on your hands. they are the best breed just some more outgoing than others.

[Sherry Miller]

Thanks for the giggle...sounds like she is a smart one and just is showing you life is a game and she wants to play it with you.  If standing still does not work try turning away from her....do not make eye contact but you can peek at her to see what she is doing and do not laugh outloud as you try to ignore her!  All too soon she will grow out of her teenage wildness and believe it or not you'll look back and laugh and sometimes even miss it!  I do agree that calm is best as a lot of what they pull is for reaction and attention from us....if they get the attention they want or the chase they will repeat the behavior cause it worked last time.

 

[eva ciechonska]

I have been advised that my comment of 29th January has caused much upset. This remark was made completely tongue in cheek and never intended to be taken literally or seriously. It was certainly not my intention to cause hurt or upset to anyone but I see that it has and for that I apologise unreservedly to you all.

[Howard Glansfield]

I didn't think you were being serious apart from the collar!