FinnishLapphund
There's no cow on the ice
And it is me who has the problem
not the dogs, though the problem involve dogs.
After my first response on this thread by chestnuttymare Update on dobe and more help needed please , where I mentioned that I try to stay away from threads involving problems with barking dogs, I then today opened this thread by _Charlie_ I admit, I'm flummoxed on this one, need help please not expecting it to be about barking but when it was, I decided to try and write a reply and while I did that I had an Eureka moment!
I try to stay away from threads asking about help with problems involving barking because of some sort of inferiority complex
. I was 16 years old when I got my first spitz Nessie, a Norwegian Buhund, as long as Nessie was the only Buhund she was quite quiet but she barked when e.g. happy or excited, which was sometimes frowned upon by people we met. Then came a Doberman cross that we had to euthanize only about 2 years old, followed by a Smooth Collie and a few years later a second Norwegian Buhund, Humla.
When Humla came I was in my early twenties but not only did the two Buhunds became barky together, Humla also had a lower threshold to wanting to bark, so if I had gotten a few unwanted advices before, I began getting even more. I suppose that is when it really began, my inferiority complex about barking.
I have read every advice about how to stop your dog from barking/teach your dog to be quiet that I've come across and as I came across them I tried them on my Buhunds. Some methods where worthless as far as my dogs was concerned and some worked somewhat but not one method worked 100% on them.
Anti-bark collars was not available when my two, now late, Buhunds was young and when they were old ladies I was more or less happy with their level of barking, so I did not bother spending money on a quite expensive new gadget that I did not know whether it would work or not. However if/when I buy a new Buhund at some point in my future, then if I feel a need for it, I would not hesitate of buying an anti-bark collar to help with the training.
Anyhow all those 4 bitches mentioned are now dead and as said, when my two Buhunds got older, I did feel that I had managed to train them to a for me acceptable barking level. And for situations were I knew that Humla would be tempted to bark to much, I put a Halti on her which muffled her desire to bark somewhat = places like while waiting in the vets waiting room or consulting room.
At a place like at the vets, every time Humla heard a door open somewhere or anything similar, she could not resist saying ''I heard something, what was that? Was it someone? HELLO I AM HERE and I heard something!''
Oh, how I miss that dog, I sometimes thought her barking would make me bonkers but she was so lovely and loving, she is completely irreplaceable.
Though that I've not really gotten any unwanted advices for the last 5 to 10 years and definitely not since I got the three Finnish Lapphunds that I have now, I've realised that what did occur during my first 10 or so years of dog owning is still stuck in my memory and affecting me today.
Things like random people voluntarily giving me their advices/telling me that they sure enough taught their Labrador or similar to be quiet by using tasty treats and this or that method. I will admit that I especially did not appreciate getting not-asked-for advice from strangers, when I was trying to train one of my bitches to be silent, only to be interrupted by someone telling me that I'm doing it all wrong, that I should do so or so instead to teach my bitch to be quiet and if I answered that ''I have tried that, it did not work'', they did often not believe that I really had tried that, because surely with their foolproof method my bitch would be quiet. Humph!
Not to mention the random person saying to another person behind my back that ''Teaching dogs to be quiet is all about the training/I certainly have managed to teach all my dogs to be quiet'', well thank you for that polite encouragement
. One of the times that happened, Humla was just a puppy around 6 months old!
I'm sorry but I did not aim for that my puppies should be fully trained at 6 months of age back then and I still don't today. I shall not say where I thought they could go and take their perfect non barking Border Collie or whatever with them. Grr!
There was times both when Humla was young and when she was older, that I was very tempted to just hand over Humla's lead and say ''Here you go then, show me how it is done!'' Fully knowing that instructors had helped me with her anti-bark training and not gotten any bit better results with her than myself. She was simply never meant to be a 100% silent dog.
But not until today, when Humla have been dead for more than 2 years and Nessie have been dead for 5 years, have I realised that my frustration over people presuming that I was not already trying or doing my best with teaching them to be quiet is still very vivid to me.
I've also realised that these people have made me forget that my ideal is not completely silent dogs and that whenever someone asks about advice about how to stop their dog from barking, this inferiority complex that I've discovered in myself, have made me think I should not say anything because my dogs are not 100% silent.
The worst thing is that though I don't want my lovely Finnish Lapphunds to be completely silent, I actually unconsciously have sometimes judged them negatively for not being constantly silent even though I don't want them to be it, if that makes sense.
Oh well, at least I am aware of it now and instead of going to a shrink, I have eased my heart on HHO and at least it feels as if I'm already feeling more accepting over the fact that I actually want to have dogs that barks a little.
I think I shall begin my ''new life'' with posting a thread with links to the two videos my nephew have filmed on his mobile, even though they do bark a lot of excitement in one of them.
Jonna - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Beata - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Blomma
After my first response on this thread by chestnuttymare Update on dobe and more help needed please , where I mentioned that I try to stay away from threads involving problems with barking dogs, I then today opened this thread by _Charlie_ I admit, I'm flummoxed on this one, need help please not expecting it to be about barking but when it was, I decided to try and write a reply and while I did that I had an Eureka moment!
I try to stay away from threads asking about help with problems involving barking because of some sort of inferiority complex
When Humla came I was in my early twenties but not only did the two Buhunds became barky together, Humla also had a lower threshold to wanting to bark, so if I had gotten a few unwanted advices before, I began getting even more. I suppose that is when it really began, my inferiority complex about barking.
I have read every advice about how to stop your dog from barking/teach your dog to be quiet that I've come across and as I came across them I tried them on my Buhunds. Some methods where worthless as far as my dogs was concerned and some worked somewhat but not one method worked 100% on them.
Anti-bark collars was not available when my two, now late, Buhunds was young and when they were old ladies I was more or less happy with their level of barking, so I did not bother spending money on a quite expensive new gadget that I did not know whether it would work or not. However if/when I buy a new Buhund at some point in my future, then if I feel a need for it, I would not hesitate of buying an anti-bark collar to help with the training.
Anyhow all those 4 bitches mentioned are now dead and as said, when my two Buhunds got older, I did feel that I had managed to train them to a for me acceptable barking level. And for situations were I knew that Humla would be tempted to bark to much, I put a Halti on her which muffled her desire to bark somewhat = places like while waiting in the vets waiting room or consulting room.
At a place like at the vets, every time Humla heard a door open somewhere or anything similar, she could not resist saying ''I heard something, what was that? Was it someone? HELLO I AM HERE and I heard something!''
Oh, how I miss that dog, I sometimes thought her barking would make me bonkers but she was so lovely and loving, she is completely irreplaceable.
Though that I've not really gotten any unwanted advices for the last 5 to 10 years and definitely not since I got the three Finnish Lapphunds that I have now, I've realised that what did occur during my first 10 or so years of dog owning is still stuck in my memory and affecting me today.
Things like random people voluntarily giving me their advices/telling me that they sure enough taught their Labrador or similar to be quiet by using tasty treats and this or that method. I will admit that I especially did not appreciate getting not-asked-for advice from strangers, when I was trying to train one of my bitches to be silent, only to be interrupted by someone telling me that I'm doing it all wrong, that I should do so or so instead to teach my bitch to be quiet and if I answered that ''I have tried that, it did not work'', they did often not believe that I really had tried that, because surely with their foolproof method my bitch would be quiet. Humph!
Not to mention the random person saying to another person behind my back that ''Teaching dogs to be quiet is all about the training/I certainly have managed to teach all my dogs to be quiet'', well thank you for that polite encouragement
I'm sorry but I did not aim for that my puppies should be fully trained at 6 months of age back then and I still don't today. I shall not say where I thought they could go and take their perfect non barking Border Collie or whatever with them. Grr!
There was times both when Humla was young and when she was older, that I was very tempted to just hand over Humla's lead and say ''Here you go then, show me how it is done!'' Fully knowing that instructors had helped me with her anti-bark training and not gotten any bit better results with her than myself. She was simply never meant to be a 100% silent dog.
But not until today, when Humla have been dead for more than 2 years and Nessie have been dead for 5 years, have I realised that my frustration over people presuming that I was not already trying or doing my best with teaching them to be quiet is still very vivid to me.
I've also realised that these people have made me forget that my ideal is not completely silent dogs and that whenever someone asks about advice about how to stop their dog from barking, this inferiority complex that I've discovered in myself, have made me think I should not say anything because my dogs are not 100% silent.
The worst thing is that though I don't want my lovely Finnish Lapphunds to be completely silent, I actually unconsciously have sometimes judged them negatively for not being constantly silent even though I don't want them to be it, if that makes sense.
Oh well, at least I am aware of it now and instead of going to a shrink, I have eased my heart on HHO and at least it feels as if I'm already feeling more accepting over the fact that I actually want to have dogs that barks a little.
I think I shall begin my ''new life'' with posting a thread with links to the two videos my nephew have filmed on his mobile, even though they do bark a lot of excitement in one of them.
Jonna - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Beata - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Blomma
