If you own a Great Pyrenees, or any dog really, barking can be quite the issue. Great Pyrenees are guard dogs and will bark at anything. I mean anything. I’m pretty sure that they’ve barked at a leaf falling to the ground. Sometimes, they just like to hear themselves talk. In our house, we call it “grumpy barking”. Mauja is particularly good at this. She will lie on the floor with her eyes closed and gruff bark. She’s really protecting us, huh?
Since owning pyrs, we’ve had to perfect our method of quieting the dogs. Here is our foolproof method:
- Assess the reason for the barking. Are they barking at a person? A dog? A sound? Is there even anything remotely visible? Most likely, they’re barking at the air. Now is time to intervene.
- Tell them it’s okay. I’ve been told that with pyrs a great way to end the barking is to see what the fuss is about and then to tell them it’s okay. Some people use the phrase, “It’s okay, it’s just Uncle Fred”. First of all. That never works. I think it’s just a rumor in the pyr community to make us believe there is hope in ending the barking. Second, I would be quite worried if it was Uncle Fred. You see, I have an Uncle Fred and he passed away a few years ago. If it was Uncle Fred, I would think I was hallucinating.
- Offer them a treat. Now that trying to calm them has failed, try offering them a treat. One of two things will happen. One. They will stop the barking and run to you for a treat. Two. They will look at you like you’re crazy and run off to continue barking. Unfortunately, neither option will leave you with quiet dogs. Most likely, they will gobble the treat and continue barking.
- Break out their favorite toy. You think to yourself, “Ah, they love the tennis ball. How could they ignore that?” Once again, they will look at you like you’re crazy.
- Bring them inside. After your several attempts at quieting your dog have failed, bring them inside as to not disrupt the neighbors. You think, just maybe, a change in scenery will be enough to help them calm down. Wrong.
- Ignore them. Everyone’s heard that if a kid is doing a bad behavior, he’s likely enjoying the attention he’s getting from it. Why should it be any different with your dogs? So you sit on the couch, deliberately avoid eye contact (even as they grumpy bark and stare at you), and turn on the TV. After ten minutes of ignoring them, the barking hasn’t ceased. Finally, it’s time to resort to the last step.
- Go upstairs, crawl into bed, and put on some headphones. Yes, you read that right. When all else fails, just find your own quiet hideaway. Get under the covers to help block out the sound and pop in those headphones. If you position yourself just right, you’ll be able to (mostly) drown out the sound of barking. Plan to keep cover for the next hour.
Have they stopped barking yet? Good. Now you can come out of hiding for at least 5 minutes until the barking starts again. If it does, I suggest you skip straight to step number 7. Oh, and don’t bother with any of those bark control methods. Most dogs find a way to out smart them. Or just bark more to get back at you 😉
How do you get your dogs to stop barking?
I feel so lucky that neither Jack or Maggie are barkers (knock on wood). But our Becca was terrible – she barked at everything and anything and as she got older her eyesight got worse and the barking, well so did it. I’m glad I didn’t miss out on any magic cures…also tried 1-6, #7 is the best option.
Great post! hahaha!!!!! So funny!
HAve a great day!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
We live to bark.
It’s very true. We humans just have to understand that 😉
We have 3 dogs in my house. If one dog barks, they all bark, because whatever it is that caused the first dog to bark, the rest of them all swear they saw/heard/smelled it too. So we have oodles of barkage every time.
The best thing I’ve found is to allow one or two barks, tell them “Thank you. That’s enough.” And then I reward whoever stays quiet. Particularly if I see him or her look toward the barkable thing and still say quiet. Then I tell them “Good, quiet” and they get treats. It’s taken awhile, but they’ve gotten the idea for the most part.
–Wags (and purrs) from Life with Dogs and Cats
We’ve actually been working on that method for awhile now, but when it comes to pyrs, they were born to bark. One of the things you have to be okay with when getting this breed 😉
Mom saw the title of this post and was like “you can get pyres to stop barking?!?”
I’m not much of a barker myself. I only bark when something is really up. And when we take out the trash. I always bark when we take out the trash. It’s very exciting!
Haha I’m glad someone understands pyrs and why this was so funny for me to write 😉 Taking out the trash is exciting! I bet mom is pleased with your minimal barking!
I hardly made a sound as a pup, but when I discovered my bark I wouldn’t stop for a while!
Bain barely barks unless there’s something extremely unusual. Recently, he has been howling. Its been too hot to walk him after work, so I wait till 7:30.
So he howls sometimes if we haven’t gone. It was funny at first, now it’s turning into habit. A stern “hey” or “no” thankfully works well for him and he is slowly stopping.
I perfected this when we had 9 dogs and they would set each other off and it was a mad, and I do mean MADhouse. Now we are down to only 2 Great Danes, but their bark is so big that it sounds like we still have nine dogs. First, I set out trying every method in print, and each failed miserably. So, I set out to find my own method. After a few years, I finally found the method, and it has worked well each and every time. It even worked the first time. It must just be a natural instinct or something because it took absolutely no training at all, it just worked. I know by now you are all dying to learn my method so I won’t make you wait any longer, and by the end of the day, you all will have a bark-free house. The first step is really important. You go through entire house closing all the curtains so nobody can see out. Then the second and last step which is every bit as important than the first step, you go thru the house and turn on every television s loud as can without getting a noise complaint. VOILA instant well behaved dogs and it has worked for many years now
You are hilarious! And it’s so true. Trying to take the bark out of my Maremma is like Me trying to stay quiet and not talk for 10 minutes…I think my record is 12 seconds?… trust me, it ain’t gonna happen!!
Love your matter of fact attitude on this one! Refreshing!!
We have been mostly successful training with the phrase ‘quiet time’ in hotels. Mostly. Somewhat. Ok … Sometimes! We used treats, our instant displeasure, and lots of loving for instant quiet. Gracie gets it that we are not in her territory and that the rules are different. Plus she gets lots of exercise, new smells, sights, sounds, food, other dogs, and tons of people fawning over her. I think she considers it a reasonable tradeoff! If we stay more than one night, though, our room gradually becomes her territory to be defended. Ok, not so gradually. We’ve even been able to generaize this to home at very early hours when one of us is up with her and the other is sleeping in. Sometimes! ???.