Barking for attention?

[Shalista]

While I was in clinic Bax started barking if I locked him in his room while I was home.(understandable, he was stressed by the life change, the confinement all day, and the boredom. if I was home he totally wanted to be out and in the action!(unfortunately because he's still a neophyte when it comes to potty training, being confined is sometimes for the best)) as soon as I left the house he would stop (or so I'm told) but if I was home and not in his room with him he'd bark.

Lately he'll go into his room even while the door is open and start barking. As soon as I poke my head into the room he stops barking and comes running up tail wagging. He'll follow me out of the room just fine and then go back into the room a moment later and start barking. If I go into the room and stay with him he immediately settles on the chair or sacks out in front of his heater. It doesn't sound like his usual bark if something is up. if he's angry or anxious it's a higher pitch and more.... urgent?

He's been walked, it's usually not time for him to be fed, thoughts on what he wants?

(I'll remind everyone this isn't the first time I've had problems with his barking. I actually contacted a behaviorist about the old behavior and together we sorted it out. What his barking issue was BEFORE was that when he was LOCKED IN HIS ROOM WITH ME he would constantly bark without ceasing and never stop for rest. We sorted it out with me kicking him out of the room for a minute whenever he barked. Within the first few times I kicked him out the barking stopped immediately and I haven't had an issue with that kind of thing since. the reason why I feel like this is something different is that the behavior only shows when I'm NOT in the room. and it's odd because if it's beginning separation anxiety he could just leave the room, the doors wide open, he could come get me. I can understand barking when he's locked in but barking when the door is open?)

He'll usually start barking almost immediately after I close the door. I'm not sure when he decides to start barking with the door open because I'm not there. In both cases when I appear (either walking up to the open door or opening the closed one) he's standing in the middle of the room facing the door with tail and ears erect. very alert. He usually does the barking with the door open towards the end of the day. I notice it most around dinner time when we're all sitting and eating and then after if I'm watching a movie in the other room or even just going to the bathroom.

(for example, he started it this evening around dinner time at about 6-630 pm, continued it as I hung out with my brother, and stopped as soon as I came back to the room around 830-9 pm. he sacked out and fell asleep as soon as I sat down. during those 3 hours he would bark intermittently, not continuously, it would be a couple of barks, silence, a couple more, a long barking phase, I go into the room, talk to him soothingly for a bit, he follows me out of the room, hangs out for a bit getting pets and snuggles, goes back into his room, silence, starts barking again, rinse repeat. Usually I give him a couple of barks to see if he'll settle on his own but my dad has conference calls in the room above me so if he's not settling I'll go to my room, talk to him, encourage him to leave the room, give him attention, and then hope he stays out for a bit. he inevitably goes back to the room, rinse, repeat.)

I'm torn because I don't want to encourage the barking with attention but giving him attention is the only thing I can think of to quiet him down and my dad has conference calls. I could kong him but I'd need at least 6 to get through 3 hours and that would be more than his dinner probably.

What do you think Bax is trying to tell me?

[Shalista]

So i recently received three pieces of advice for fixing this

1) barkbox

2) shock collar

3) ignore him

2 is obviously a no, 3 might not work because my dad has conference calls directly over bax BUT my dad is out of the country for 3 weeks so if i WERE to practice ignoring him i could do so now. 1 is intriguing, the person who recommended it to me said it doesn't shock them? it just does a tone? so i'm curious to know how they work.

Thoughts?

[Nettle]

People are so odd. Oh my dog wants attention - i know, I'll hurt it. That's sure to make it understand I can't be bothered with it. Or maybe I'll just ignore it so it has to raise the ante and get louder and louder

Well done Shalista for not going with that.

At the risk of sounding like Lassie Come Home, he IS trying to tell you something! Can you keep a chart with when he does this and figure out has he been walked, does he want his food, has he had enough attention already - have you mice in the walls again?

Dogs do nothing for nothing, and there will be a good reason - but while we here can guess, we aren't on the spot the way you are.

is he better with the radio on?

[Shalista]

It mostly in the evenings and only when im out of the room, as soon as i come back he settles.

music doesnt make much difference.

if it was mice in the walls he'd bark even when im there right?

he's on a pretty regular pottying schedule so i dont think its that and again, if it was pottying hed still bark when im in the room.

It's not dinner, though its in the evening its not close enough to dinner time and again, hed still bark when i was in the room but he just conks out and goes to sleep. Also i know what he usually does when he wants dinner which is whine, pace, and put his paws up on me and beg, never bark.

I cant live in this room, i do have to go out of it at some point. and like i said, im on a bit of a time crunch. 3 weeks is all i have and then my dad is coming back. the last time bax was barking he promised hed get him a shock collar if it wasnt fixed. I'm trying to avoid that.

[MandaS]

Do you think he is bored? Have you tried interactive toys or even making your own out of boxes with things hidden inside? I am new so not sure of his breed or age.

So glad you ignored the shock collar idea....never heard of a bark box.

Manda

[Shalista]

he's still coasting on the abundance of paper tubs left over from Christmas so he gets plenty of treat bombs and walks a mile and a half daily. he IS probably bored (4yr old rat terrier. i could be an Olympic runner with him and he'd still have energy to burn.) but I'm a college student and i (frankly) dont have the time or energy to take him on longer or more plentiful walks and im not sure that i wouldn't just have more energetic, physically fit rat terrier with all the walks. i'm also trying to back off on treat boxes and kongs because hes been having a bad reaction eating anything that isnt raw. (IE peanut butter or cheese or luncheon meat i usually fill his treat bombs with)

I also was encouraged by my vet today to yell "NO" at him when he's barking, to try a shock collar, and to also try one of the spray collars. sigh.....

this is an example of a bark box http://www.petsafe.net/training-behavior/deterrents it sends an annoying ultrasonic tone when the dog barks to deter him from barking. This is probably what my dad will buy in a few weeks and if it doesnt work then he'll move on to a shock collar.

[Erica]

Could you start him on something like nosework? That searching behavior is really natural and enriching to dogs. Once he gets pretty good, you could even have him do some nosework while you study flash cards or something similar -- you need to be able to check if he's giving you his "found it!" signal but otherwise he just does his thing.

[Shalista]

he took a nosework course twice but i was warned to not do it with him in the house because he'd go nuts looking for stuff that isnt there in the house. after practicing with him a couple of times outside he went crazy sniffing outside for a couple weeks and wouldnt settle to potty so i have a feeling that nosework inside would only make him more neurotic =(

Also running into the problem with treats again. he doesnt really like toys so a play session when he's 'found it' wouldnt be very rewarding and im trying not to feed anymore junk food because he's been backsliding on his pottying

[Shalista]

So tonight we tried to watch a movie and Bax went nuts. he pulled out all his toys, ran in circles and tried to shove his nose in everyones popcorn bowl. when we kept watching our movie he went into his room and started barking so we couldn't hear the movie. my mom finally insisted that i kick him out of his room (since that worked before and he wasn't barking outside of his room) i figured hed just bark outside of his room if i kicked him out and while he was in his room he at least had a chance to settle on the bed if he cared to.

Still, her opinion over rules mine and i was willing to at least try it. So i got up, herded him out of the room, closed the door, and sat down again...... and miracle of miracles bax trotted over, hopped up onto my lap, and fell asleep.

So i guess until something better comes along Bax is going to lose room privileges when he starts barking.