Case Study: Barking For Attention
Here is a real-life case study of a dog barking for attention.
It isn’t intended to shame anyone or attack their choices or actions, it’s just to help.
My Nan had a collie who would bark at her for attention all.day.long.
So, she gave the dog a biscuit and she was quiet while she ate, then she would bark again. So, my Nan gave her another biscuit. More barking. My Nan gave her 3 biscuits to make the dog eat longer and be quiet longer.
But she still barked after 3 biscuits. So, my Nan in her sheer desperation tried a handful of biscuits. Then the larger biscuits. Then a bowl of biscuits. Then a box of biscuits – and guess what happened? Yep, the dog still barked at her.
The dog ended up thinking she was making my Nan happy by barking because she was getting treats so she must be doing the right thing! Right??!
My Nan ended up spending a fortune on dog biscuits, constantly feeding her all day and getting annoyed and frustrated.
The dog ended up being very overweight and then started barking at everything else. The door, the tv, the postman, the birds outside, visitors. Everything.
My Nan and Granddad ending up never leaving the dog alone in the house, they took her everywhere with them because they were afraid to leave her at home barking. They ended up walking the dog more often to try and keep her weight down but didn’t enjoy their walks as much anymore – the dog would bark at people on a walk too in the end.
When we subtly suggested they were encouraging the barking by rewarding with biscuits every time, we were met with disbelief and even a little bit of scorn.
We kept suggesting other things and found some information online from a vet suggesting the same thing we did and showed them the information, eventually, they decided to give it a go.
But it was 7 years down the line by this time. The dog was completely immersed in the thought that she needed to bark to please her parents.
My grandparents tried really hard with their dog, and she did improve but it took a while. She never really stopped the barking completely, she would start to bark but then got ignored so she quietened down after a few minutes, but it was a massive improvement from where she was.
Honestly, I do think that my grandparents could have tried to be more consistent with their training, as they were quite hit and miss but it was a hard habit to break.