A friend wrote to me about his dog barking in the kennel: “I may have misled you to think I was correcting my dog barking in the kennel with the collar, I was not. I have only used the pinch collar for correcting the biting as you mention in your other post. For your suggestion of an e-collar, everything I have read indicates she would be to young, 16 weeks, for an e-collar. I have given her the kong filled with treats, she loves it when out of the kennel or in her crate but pays no attention to it in the kennel.
Too Young To Correct His
Dog Barking In The Kennel?
Is it wrong for a dog this young to receive punishment for bad behavior, jumping up, biting, or barking? Should I use the pinch collar this early to administer punishment, to stop this bad behavior? Should I leave her in her kennel run until she quits barking without doing anything else? WE live in the country on our own farm so neighbors are not a problem. Thanks in advance and I must say this dog training website and your dog training books have been a God sent for me. I have had many dogs before as puppies, but none quite this challenging
Why Punishment Won’t Stop His
Dog Barking In The Kennel
I replied to my friend by first pointing out that we never punish a dog: We simply correct unwanted behavior. In the case of this dog: She’s not too young for either the prong collar or the e-collar. Four months of age is typically when I start the formal obedience training. And for barking, you can use the e-collar even earlier, since it’s what we consider ‘avoidance training’ — i.e., We don’t care if she ‘avoids’ the behavior and never barks in the kennel again.
If I was in your situation– out in the country– I would try just leaving her in the kennel until she stops barking, as long as it’s not driving you crazy. See if it stops on it’s own, if this is the case. For some dogs it will, for others it just becomes a self-satisfying behavior, in which case you’ll need to correct it.
Try with prong collar first, as that’s the cheapest remedy. However, if you want an easier and 100% solution, the e-collar is the way to go.
An alternative is to get a bark collar, but with the bark collar you’re limited to using it exclusively for the dog barking in the kennel whereas you can use the e-collar for training other behaviors, too.