Category: Common Problems ¤
  Author: Shirley Chong ¤
   Title: Interrupting Barking with a Click ¤

> 
> She barks nonstop at anything she's unsure of - mostly strange dogs.
> During our first few visits (still getting her puppy shots), there was
> absolutely no way I could interrupt her long enough to get in a c/t
> 

   As I'm sure everyone will recall, Ruby quit with the barking
yesterday, so the following is really a moot point--pure speculation.
   In that situation, seeing as Ruby is clicker wise, I would have
suggested using the clicker as a classically conditioned stimulus. Try
just clicking repeatedly for nothing until it catches her
attention--won't take long!
   I can hear the cries now: "oh no! wouldn't you be reinforcing her
barking?" Well, maybe. She's a clicker wise puppy, she understands that
what she's getting clicked for is some part of her behaviour but not
necessarily the whole thing. So Dani could pretend she was clicking for
tail movement (remember, everyone, I lie to my dogs all the time...). My
observations of other dogs lead me to believe that using the clicker as
a classically conditioned stimulus will tend to stop the flow of
adrenaline inside of her, which will lead to her disengaging mouth and
re-engaging brain.
  Even if her barking WERE reinforced by the clicker--so what? She barks
originally about stuff she's unsure about. If she started barking as a
way to be clicked, Dani would have pulled off that infinitely magical
stunt of changing Ruby's motivation to bark. Ruby would then be barking
in order to get Dani to click and if Ruby is trying to manipulate Dani,
that puts Dani in charge of Ruby's actions. Is that cool or what? <G>

M. Shirley Chong
The Well Mannered Dog