Jersey yipping, barking on the way to birds

[GUNDOGS]

I have never experienced a more birdie pup in my life, this pup lives and breathes to find birds, and i LOVE it..no complaints whatsoever EXCEPT when we put her in her kennel in the van/truck and all the way to our destination until we pull up to a field to go on birds....yipping, barking, almost screaming to get out of the crate while we get ready and while we bring her out and into the field she is SO SO LOUD..ive never seen this with another pup or dog (this loud and intense) its like her switch goes on and she goes nuts..so should i just ignore it and let her be so loud (it sounds like someones killing her) or should i leave her in till she calms down (which i dont see is possible) or give a verbal command for her to be "quiet" ..i dont want to take away ANY of her passion, i want to be VERY careful to do things right...thanks for any advice...ruth

[bhairhoger]

Do you take her for car rides to places other than the bird field? Do you have the birds in view or within smell range of your pup?

[GUNDOGS]

Do you take her for car rides to places other than the bird field? Do you have the birds in view or within smell range of your pup?

Yes we take her lots of other places, pretty much everywhere..and she carries on in the van/truck then too cause she assumes shes going on birds..so pretty much every time we put her in the vehicle now she is doing it..the birds are always in a carrier in the back away from her not in sight..thanks...ruth

[Winchey]

I have the same problem, well sort of, my dog knows when he is going hunting/training/running vs. Grocery store, school, work, wherever. He just sleeps in the car when you are doing the latter, but if you got out of the car to hunt without him he would eat his way out or try to. I have a $2800 bill to prove it. I now put him in a crate when he will be in the vehicle while I am planting birds, hunting another dog or whatever. Any other place he is silent and calm. I don't have any answers for it, I just deal with it, as for carrying on while your not going hunting/training, you have to get him to the point where way more often than not he assumes your not going hunting/training. You do that by taking him absolutely everywhere.

[bhairhoger]

I would try to break her by putting the crate in the car when you are not going anywhere. Go through the same crate training process as you did in the house. Put her in and wait for her to get quite then pull her out and let her run around. When it is time for the crate back in the car.

If you are going to the field for training and you have another dog you can run let the other dog out first. Make her wait her turn and don't let her out unless she is quite just like in the house. As soon as the weather warmed up I started to crate my pup in the truck for a while to get her used to waiting. Also, any time I go out to work the dogs Bella goes on the stakeout until she is quite then she gets a turn. If she barks and carries on she doesn't get a turn and I will go in the house until she calms down.

[Red]

carrier in the back away from her not in sight..thanks...ruth

I bet she cal smell them???

[ACooper]

Have you crate trained her at home? Does she spend any alone time?

[Chukar12]

If you are driving an SUV rather than a truck and you cannot seperate dog and birds I am sure that puppy is on sensory overload and now has a strong association with the crate, car and the smell. I would transport birds in a carrier on the roof, wrap it in a blanket to avoid spectacle and flying feathers. Then, I would think you need to desensetize the dog, long hours in the crate, in the car, without birds if she barks...leave her there. SHe has to quit sometime.

[GUNDOGS]

Thanks for the advice guys, yes she is crate trained 100% in the house, she loves her crate its left open and she goes in it on her own to rest and she goes in it at night at around 9 until 5 am with barely waking up any days in the night..its a different crate that we use in the van and as soon as she sees it when we open the hatch she starts freaking out..the neighbour came out one day looking around cause they thought she was being beaten ..i had to explain the pups excited cause shes going on birds..which you can imagine how anti hunting folks want to hear that she is alone at times but not too often cause i work from home for our business but she has no problem kenneling up when i or my hubby leave she just lays down and is quiet..i will try putting the birds on the roof rack but she does this even with no birds around i assume she thinks of just the possibility of going on birds and gets wound up..i will also try just putting the crate in the van and leave her there until she is quiet, the neighbours are going to need memos first to know whats going on ..hopefully she stops this before we go to NAVHDA training days in 2 weeks, or i can for sure say she will attract lots of attention ...thanks....ruth

[markj]

Sure is a purty dog nice point. You will have so much fun. Nothing like a new puppy.

[GUNDOGS]

Sure is a purty dog nice point. You will have so much fun. Nothing like a new puppy.

Thanks, weve had her about 6 weeks now and lovin every minute of getting to know her....ruth

[snips]

I would rather have one excited than not caring Pup will settle down I think the more she grows up....Just don't overdo the pen birds....Enough to get pup going good, hunting, pointing...But too many can just turn into some bad habits.....

[GUNDOGS]

I would rather have one excited than not caring Pup will settle down I think the more she grows up....Just don't overdo the pen birds....Enough to get pup going good, hunting, pointing...But too many can just turn into some bad habits.....

Thanks Brenda, i agree, i love she is so passionate and i do hope she will settle down but only the noise not the desire ...thanks...ruth

[GUNDOGS]

Well i went out this morning and started working with Jersey on being in the crate quietly in the van, she took 15 minutes in the van alone to become quiet and when she was quiet i started to drive to take her to tim hortons(coffee shop for all who never heard of it) ..we got out and sat out front with the regulars havin a coffee(i normally take my boxer with me every morning) and when we went to leave she started yipping and barking and got SO excited so i let her sit alone in the crate again until she settled down(which keep in mind was 530am) and the gentleman (joe) that i was talking to who has 4 gsp's and has hunted over 30 years said " now thats a bird dog with desire, will you take 1000 for her? "..not in this lifetime.. ruth

[JKP]

How old is this pup? What does she do when you kennel her at home? How is she when she is left alone at home? Is she quiet in the runway? If she's in the house, is she quiet if she sees you outside? Does she bark in the field? ever bark at game?

The pup has a calmness issue...IMO, it has about a 50-50 chance of going away on it own at best. I might put her in the truck and let her live there for a while...maybe on a long road trip. At some point, it might be advisable to put a bark collar on her if its that important to you. I've had 2 dogs like this over the years...I got rid of both...it wasn't about birdiness...it was about the dog just being excitable and lacking composure...was an absolute PITA in the duckblind as well.

[Vman]

At some point, it might be advisable to put a bark collar on her

BINGO!!!!!

[GUNDOGS]

How old is this pup? What does she do when you kennel her at home? How is she when she is left alone at home? Is she quiet in the runway? If she's in the house, is she quiet if she sees you outside? Does she bark in the field? ever bark at game?

The pup has a calmness issue...IMO, it has about a 50-50 chance of going away on it own at best. I might put her in the truck and let her live there for a while...maybe on a long road trip. At some point, it might be advisable to put a bark collar on her if its that important to you. I've had 2 dogs like this over the years...I got rid of both...it wasn't about birdiness...it was about the dog just being excitable and lacking composure...was an absolute PITA in the duckblind as well.

She is almost 4 months old, she is fine when kenneled in the house never makes a sound in the house, she is fine home alone when i put her in her crate to leave she lays down with no problems, she dont care to see us outside although i dont let the dogs look out the front cause i hate barking if strangers walk by but if she looks out the back door when i go out she just looks with no sound, we hunt waterfowl alot here and we are training her on waterfowl as well so being calm and quiet in the boat or blind is important..she absolutely only does this loud carrying on when she goes to get in the crate in the van/truck and all the way to the destination..once we let her go in the field she is fine again, doesnt make a sound once she is in the field..i called the obedience instructor i take my dogs to (mainly for socializing) and she said i should pull over to the side of the road and get out of the van and leave her in the van while she is loud so she associates her barking with us stopping, so if she wants to go forward she has to be quiet, i would have to be consistant and patient and pull over alot which isnt always convienient to do but i will give it a try..do you think 4 months is too young for the bark collar? and do you think she would associate the bark collar with going in the vehicle and then hate going?..thanks for the help guys....ruth

[snips]

I would not put a bark collar and any dog under about 7 mo...I have put it on mature dogs at trials that already know what it is for.......

[Vman]

I will admit that 16 weeks is young for a bark collar. But if plan A fails, the bark collar would be plan B. You could try the spray bottle or you could try the Dogtra ys 300 and use the Page only, so the pup learns how to turn it off.

[Cajun Casey]

With a reactive loudmouth, I find grabbing the scruff in conjunction with a meaningful, "SHUT THE HECK UP," often makes them rethink their reaction strategy. My psychoyapper is aging out of it now at eighteen months. Bark collars and letting him wear himself down did not work.

[Vman]

Something for everyone about bark collars.
I recently sold my vet a bark collar. I asked him if it worked? He kinda shrugged his shoulders and said not really.
I asked what setting it was set at? He said High!
Well that was the problem. I have seen this too many times.
When using a bark collar start low and work your way up. If you just strap a collar on the dog and it is too hot and makes the dog vocal like an e-collar it will become a chain reaction. Dog barks, collar corrects to hot and the dog howls and the collar goes off again. It will go on and on. Then the people say the collar did not help.
I put the collar on the dog{vets} and set it at 2 and the dog barked. Went to a 3 and the dog got corrected and it was over. Now the dog knows that if he barks he is going to get a correction. But it is not hurting him, only correcting him. Just like a properly used E-collar. we can make corrections without making the dog vocal. That is correct useage of both collars.
That is the beauty of the Dogtra ys300. I start out on page only and the dog learns to turn it off by not barking. Not hurting the dog either, just a vibration. Once the dog is used to that I can begin to move on to electrical stimulation moving up to setting two. The collar will vibrate first and then give an electrical stimulation. Overlaying what the dog has already learned.
I have done it on hundreds of dogs and have yet too see it fail.

[volraider]

This is why she's barking.

Yes we take her lots of other places, pretty much everywhere..and she carries on in the van/truck then too cause she assumes shes going on birds..so pretty much every time we put her in the vehicle now she is doing it..the birds are always in a carrier in the back away from her not in sight..thanks...ruth

Putting birds in the van with her is what caused the problem. Even if they are out of sight she can still smell them. A lot of times we create problems without even knowing it. With a pup everything is new so we have to be really careful of what we teach them.The way you fix it is by not putting birds in the van and taking her to different places in the van without birds. The van and birds is the dogs cue she's going hunting, take away the cue and the barking will stop, it may take awhile but it will stop. By everything you said I don't think it's a hyper active problem.

[GUNDOGS]

This is why she's barking.

Yes we take her lots of other places, pretty much everywhere..and she carries on in the van/truck then too cause she assumes shes going on birds..so pretty much every time we put her in the vehicle now she is doing it..the birds are always in a carrier in the back away from her not in sight..thanks...ruth

Putting birds in the van with her is what caused the problem. Even if they are out of sight she can still smell them. A lot of times we create problems without even knowing it. With a pup everything is new so we have to be really careful of what we teach them.The way you fix it is by not putting birds in the van and taking her to different places in the van without birds. The van and birds is the dogs cue she's going hunting, take away the cue and the barking will stop, it may take awhile but it will stop. By everything you said I don't think it's a hyper active problem.

Thanks brian, we will be putting the birds on the roof rack covered up when we take her out next but we have only been taking her to other places for now..we were taking her on pigeons only 2x a week which is not alot compared to all the other times she was in the van to go other places, as you know we take the dogs everywhere..jersey has already been to the states probably 5 times and a few of the times was to ohio 3 hours a way and also to waterloo which is 3 hours away also so the amount of times shes been out on birds compared to the amount of times shes been in the van without the birds is not comparable..it will take some time for her to see we are not going hunting so theres no need to be anxious..last night i put her in to take her to bring my daughter to her friends house and she cried and barked when i opened the hatch of the van so i left her in there for about 10-15 minutes and when she stopped we got in to leave, i got to the corner and she started so we got out and left her there until she was quiet which was like 5 minutes then got back in and she never made a sound all the way to the kids house..shes coming along great..i definitely know and agree shes not hyper active just a typical GSP and this is the only issue with barking or extreme anxiousness that she is exhibiting.. other than this issue she is a bouncy, happy pup but definitely not hyper..it will all come together, shes already showing improvements in just a few times of pulling over and stopping when she starts being loud so i think the trainer nailed it when suggesting this because she is now learning that loudness means stop and quiet means go forward, shes REALLY smart so i dont anticipate it taking long at all...thanks again, shes an awesome little pup....ruth

[JKP]

This is a young pup...for some reason I though the pup was older. I would put a regular collar on her and find an "uncomfortable" level not a punishing one, and use it now. This kind of behavior can be self perpetuating, in that the dog barks until you let the dog out, proving to the dog that if it barks long enough, you will come let it out. It is the theory behind the dead game baying the Germans do. IMO...you need to stop this now. Make sure you collar condition properly and then use it after a few days...put it on every morning whether you use it or not. I don't think this is a nervous, weak nerved dog...its just highly insistent pup which is doing its best to train you.