Tips for dealing with demand barking

[Bangagin]

We are fostering a greyhound who is perfect in all respects - apart from demand barking around food. If we dare to eat our breakfast before we feed him (which is our usual routine) he starts panting, then whining, then full on barking and we have not found a way to stop him! We have tried "no", we have tried ignoring him - but this is difficult at 7.45am with neighbours who are semi detached!

I have contacted the rescue and the behaviourist just asked me if it was bored barking or attention seeking barking. I don't think it's either. Last night we had family round to eat supper, celebrating my son's engagement - he was good at first, then came round the table trying to poke his very elegant long nose everywhere. When I told him to go and lie down in his bed he did, but then barked and barked continuously. I am on the spectrum, so find the barking particularly difficult to cope with.

Anyway, he's a wonderful boy, but we do need to find a way to cope with this habit. I can't give him a chew whilst we are eating, as we have a second dog, so we would have to monitor them closely with their chews which would also be quite stressful for me.

 

[Clodagh]

Shut him in the car? (Maybe unpopular but I would absolutely be unable to listen to it).
Does he have a crate you can cover? Would that help?

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Dogs are always fed first here! But demand barking drives me nuts. I would shut him somewhere on his own with a chew-toy/stuffed Kong and give your other dog something as well. If he can use a crate, I would put him in there

 

[Bangagin]

Dogs are always fed first here! But demand barking drives me nuts. I would shut him somewhere on his own with a chew-toy/stuffed Kong and give your other dog something as well. If he can use a crate, I would put him in there

Yes - it drives me nuts too! In all our years of fostering and adopting we have never had anything like it.

He had been fed before the barking extravaganza yesterday evening. I will try shutting him in the kitchen with a stuffed Kong and our other girl can stay with us with a nice venison chew. Not sure why I didn't think of that myself! Thank you!

 

[stangs]

Presuming he's ex-racing, he's been in kennels all his life where barking at feeding time gets rewarded by the arrival of food so it's no wonder that he doesn't know that it's the wrong way of trying to get what he wants.

If I were you, I would start reinforcing calm/silent behaviour as he's getting in the panting stage and slowly building up the duration of time between reinforcement.

If it was more sudden outbursts of barking, then maybe it would worth looking into timeouts but, at this stage, he's giving you the time you need to work with him before he escalates to barking. And if he does start barking, interrupt, reward the silence and then build up duration again.

Management wise for events like the dinner, I agree with PaS provided he's still calm at the time you put him away so you're not rewarding him kicking off.

 

[CorvusCorax]

I'd normally say don't give in to said demands it but easy for me to say in a bungalow. For what it's worth, my dogs rarely, if ever see me eating, it's none of their business and similarly, unless I am hand feeding, I leave them to it. I also feed at random times so there is no set pattern/I don't get whinged at as they never know when it is coming. I prep it in the house and feed in the kennel or vice versa, depending where they are, again, so there are no major cues. It works here in Chaos Towers

My friend has a greyhound and she is hilarious, we'll be eating a Chinese at the table and I'll suddenly find a very long nose in the crook of my elbow.

 

[Teaselmeg]

Teach him that lying down on a mat/ in his bed etc gets rewarded, barking doesn't. If it is a longstanding behaviour from his previous kennels life, then it will take a lot of consistency.

If you can in the mean time, have him elsewhere whilst you are eating or preparing your food, so he doesn't get to rehearse the barking behaviour.

 

[Amymay Again]

Yes - it drives me nuts too! In all our years of fostering and adopting we have never had anything like it.

He had been fed before the barking extravaganza yesterday evening. I will try shutting him in the kitchen with a stuffed Kong and our other girl can stay with us with a nice venison chew. Not sure why I didn't think of that myself! Thank you!

Shut both dogs away. We always shut the dogs away at meal time.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Shut both dogs away. We always shut the dogs away at meal time.

Which in a normal household with well behaved dogs shouldn't be necessary. Obviously the greyound needs the training.

 

[Clodagh]

Which in a normal household with well behaved dogs shouldn't be necessary. Obviously the greyound needs the training.

This, ours just sleep through mealtimes. Putting the cutlery down may get an ear twitch but that’s it. Your cage and treat idea was a good one, I hope OP updates.

 

[Amymay Again]

Which in a normal household with well behaved dogs shouldn't be necessary. Obviously the greyound needs the training.

Granted.

 

[Sandstone1]

Maybe give him a snuffle mat or licki mat when you eat. It will keep him quiet and let you eat in peace.

 

[Jenko109]

My whippet demand barks.

When he had Meningitis and was on a really high steroid dose, he started it because he just felt so very hungry all the time. He doesnt bark while we are eating, but he will bark when he is hungry.

Honestly, I find it really endearing and it makes me love him even more he hangs himself over the back of the sofa and kicks off

 

[planete]

I think the problem with ex racers is that they never saw humans at table in their previous life and any food around meant they were going to be fed. It takes some time before the new awful truth sinks in: not all food is theirs any longer! They do twig after a bit, do not despair.

Our grey does demand bark but it is usually because it is time to go for a walk, or he has found a door he cannot open and needs to get to the other side, or it is time to get up. He has toned it down a lot now he is settled.

 

[Bangagin]

This, ours just sleep through mealtimes. Putting the cutlery down may get an ear twitch but that’s it. Your cage and treat idea was a good one, I hope OP updates.

Yes ours have always done this! I don't believe in shutting dogs away as it's never been necessary before. He hasn't been in kennels for years - he has been in a home that wasn't suited to him, and the more I am getting to know him the more I think his behaviour is due to them feeding him titbits.

I arrived home from work yesterday to find my son eating leftover Chinese takeaway with both dogs sleeping quietly in the same room. When we had our supper last night he was as quiet as a mouse and just lay in bed watching.

This morning he was quiet as I was eating my breakfast - but started to bark just as I was eating the last mouthful. I think he will soon learn to be quiet from us being consistent, and from our other lurcher modelling good behaviour! He's getting better day by day, and yesterday he was almost angelic.