2 months back, we lived in a small house, small garden. The dog got taken out twice a day at least for a good long walk and could go out in the garden whenever she liked. We played with her a lot and often went out for all day walks. Seemed happy enough. It should be noted, she didn’t bark much. (Cavalier King Charles, BTW)

Then we moved house. Much bigger house, fricking huge garden. It has two ponds and lots of wildlife. Many frogs. She still gets two walks a day but they’re much bigger and she spends a lot of her time chasing butterflies, frogs, birds etc. There’s a little dog on either side too.

But she’s started barking. All the god damn time. It’s not angry barking and most of the time it’s just standing there barking. Sometimes a frog will lodge itself under something and she’ll bark at that but normally, just barking.

It doesn’t bother me so much but I’m sure it’s pissing the neighbours off. Any ideas why she’s doing it and how to help her stop doing it?

I used to squirt a water pistol at my dogs to stop them barking. They now only have to get sight of the water pistol and it stops them from barking. I definitely wouldn’t give them a clip.

Not sure I’ve read your post correctly – are you taking her out for a walk twice a day – i.e. off the property, or are you letting her out into the (albeit much larger) garden (to chase frogs etc)?

Had some issues with one of our Springers barking. Tried one of the collars that squirt an offensive spray when the dog barks. Be careful with it and research it’s use a bit and it works a treat.

She gets taken out for a proper walk twice a day off the property and then spends most of the rest of the day with full access to the house and to the back garden. There’s so many doors between the house and the garden we just leave them all open at the moment.

Eddie (our Cavelier King Charles) does this too. Luckily it’s not all the time and only tends to be when it’s dark. I think the trigger is other dogs barking. If he starts we just call him in (unless it’s a frog or hedgehog in which case he needs to be retrieved!) If it got bad I think I’d go for the water pistol approach first.

bark collars have worked for mine the minute the collar goes on there quiet and calm

It seems as though the routine is still the same, but in moving house, she is now exposed to a much more stimulating environment (birds, frogs, butterflies etc).

The first thing I’d suggest is to stop her practising the unwanted behaviour – stop her getting too excited in the first place. As soon as she gets excited and starts to chase something, recall her, you do need a good recall for this.

Alternatively, teach her a “look” command or similar – now insted of recalling her to you, you break her chase and get her to focus on you instead.

You might well have to proof these in less stimulating surroundings first before being able to interrupt a chase.

It does sadden me how many people a prepared to immediately resort to aversive methods straight away without training their dog first.

Agree with above in an ideal world… However after various way of ‘training’ and breaking the routine failed for me, I also resorted to the squirty collars. Read up on them and use with care, but worked a treat for us, they work instantly and much more reliably than any command from a human and simply distract the dog (a puff of air on the chin) and break the routine of barking.

They saved my two when a neighbour complained about their barking.

EDIT – the sprays have two refill, either air or citronella. You can buy the refill separately, but just be sure which you are buying. Not cheap.

Could you fence off a smaller part of the garden for the dog?

Remember the opposite of reward is non-reward – not punishment or other adverse reaction (shouting at it to be quiet etc).

In other words, reward good behaviour and ignore bad behaviour. Your dog is in a new environment and is probably unsettled and working out what to do with their new territory.

When it stops barking, make a fuss of them, give them a treat etc. if they start barking again – walk away and say nothing. They will soon learn what behaviour gets attention and what doesn’t.

I’m having a similar problem with my youngest son.. I’m assuming that ‘clipping’ is street slang for emptying a clip of bullets into the dog?
Where can I get a clip?

Does the spray collar work with whining too?

Sorry I read the title as “should I chip it”,moving house is unsettling , maybe you could get her re-mapped 🙂

Do short-haired spaniels not bark ?

Our next door neighbours have a Cavalier King Charles.

They let it out to stand in the middle of their lawn and bark for 20 minutes 3 or 4 times a day.

I did ask them to stop doing it after 8 at night as it was stopping my daughter going to sleep. They didn’t seem to get the hint that maybe doing it at other times was just as irritating but didn’t actually prevent sleep.

To be fair to your neighbors that’s quite a cryptic hint

Yes, I can see this being a bit ambiguous;

“When your dog is in the garden barking we can hear it all through our house if we have any windows open at the back and it stops my daughter getting to sleep even with her bedroom window closed, could you at least not allow it after 8 at night?”

Water pistol or bark collars – either the squirty ones or you can get them that vibrate (not electric shock collars, just buzz a bit).

Would drive me mad if I was a neighbour (and I’m a dog owner myself!)!!

Firstly good on the OP for seeking advice and secondly actually considering their neighbours.
I wish some of the feckers round our way were a little more considerate. I can put up with barking dogs during normal daytime hours, but incessant barking at 11pm or later is totally unacceptable.

Research has shown that dogs bark for lots of reasons but mostly because they are dogs. So our Welsh Springer will bark at anything. We had a long chat with a dog behaviourist about this and other aspects of the dogs psychology.
Her advice was to teach a “watch me” command where you hold a treat in front of your face and reward an attentive, quiet, sitting dog. You won’t stop the dog from starting to bark, but it does control the behaviour. Our dog learnt it super quick and loves primula cheese spread as a reward.

Dogs also bark because they are bored, lonely or stressed. Could the house move have upset her?

There’s a dog resident in the house behind us that howls all day. Proper, lonely sounding wolf type howling. The owners are home, too!

Horrendous. It seems much more distressing than barking.

Many thanks all for the advice. I’m not too keen on the collars as a starter so I’ll have a look at the “look” method of interrupting the behaviour. I did start shouting at her when she started barking but I realise that is counter-productive. Probably thinks I’m joining in.

I accept that this could all be a symptom of moving house, she’s only ever known the original house (and holiday places) so this must be unsettling for her. She doesn’t behave unhappily, always seems very chirpy but you never know. The family on one side said they rarely notice and reckon it’s just her asserting her territory.

Oh and yes yunki, ‘clip it’ is slang for shooting someone/thing 😉 You need to listen to more rap music.