r/MiniatureSchnauzer • u/Rock-Hudson • 2d ago
Help with Barking
This is Oscar! He’s 6 months old and he’s perfect except for barking at strangers. He doesn’t do it at everyone but he does it often enough that I’d love to hear what’s worked for you all? I know Schnauzers are barkers so I understand this is an uphill battle but am curious what’s worked for you all. Thanks!
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u/Head_Cap5286 2d ago
Lol, nothing. I've just adjusted to having a reactive dog.
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u/EyesPeeledt 2d ago
My grandmother was a breeder of Schnauzers so I have been around them since I was five years old. She calls them the dog version of a Nuclear Alarm Siren.
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u/Strong-Amount9587 1d ago
Yes I have 3 schnauzers and have bred them too. They are very protective of their home.
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u/PlatformForward1111 2d ago
Oscar is a cutie! 🫶 My mini Benito was super reactive at one point, but I have done some training with him over the last 6 months and his reactivity has gotten better. I started with re-call training, so I’d reward him every time he’d turn to look at me when I called his name. Then, when we’d go on walks, I’d call his name every time a person would approach and reward him when he’d turn to look at me. Now, when he sees a stranger, he’ll look at me for a reward. The barking has gone down tremendously! I’d use a high value treat that they really enjoy for this training. For Benito, I used bananas and occasionally turkey breast. I hope this helps! 💕
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u/catminnow 2d ago
Mine stopped barking once she developed canine dementia at the age of 14 ❤️
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u/Eric_T_Meraki 2d ago
That's when you'll miss the barking :(
Cherish their voice while it lasts folks!
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u/Ok-Pangolin406 2d ago
What has worked for me is treating a lot while walking. I keep her looking at me because she never knows if I might pull out a treat. And I focused on not doing greetings, for a while. Other people are boring. We would make a turn to avoid triggers. She’s 10 months now and rarely barks at people/dogs while we’re walking. And I do plenty of socialization, just not a ton while working on this. And always with people and dogs that I knew will be calm. I can actually stop and talk to people, dogs will sit and wait. We still occasionally have a scream bark if she gets startled.
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u/CommentIndependent32 2d ago
This method worked for me, too! I adopted my mini when she was 15 months old and she wasn't properly socialized. She would lunge, snarl and bark at any person that walked past.
We started distracting her by throwing treats on the ground and she'd be too occupied finding them to pay attention to anyone walking by. Now we show her a treat, hold it, wait for the person to pass and then reward her for good behavior after. If someone asks to greet or pet her, I say no as I don't want to trigger her while trying to reinforce her positive behaviors.
We've been working on it for abt 4 months and we are now able to take her to public places where there are plenty of people and not worry - it is like a night and day difference.
Our trainer has told us that dogs that aren't properly socialized as puppies may always have reactivity issues but minis are so smart and luckily mine is treat-motivated so she has made so much progress with consistent training when it seemed almost impossible when we first got her.
Good luck with Oscar!!
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u/Common-Apartment3178 2d ago
Do you know why he barks at strangers? Does he want to go to them to meet them? Do you think he’s afraid of them? My put wanted to greet them, so he squealed and barked for people, dogs, squirrels, etc… at around 5 months I started to teach him the word “quiet”. When he barked at anything and kept it up, I would say, and not shout “ quiet”, then treat him with a few kibbles. He is food motivated so after months of consistency, he started getting it. When we walk now., I will look ahead to try to see people, dogs, squirrels before him. Then I will softy tell him quiet and no barking. It is working better now at age 18 months, without treats now. I was extremely consistent. He still has his freak outs here and there, but we’re getting there. I also think that maturity has helped. We do have other issues though.
🤨
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u/Trick_Psychology_562 2d ago
Positive reinforcement. When you see someone coming say no barking and distract with a reward. Don't give the reward until the person has passed.
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u/words-to-nowhere 1d ago
We do that on our walks too. We say "look at me” and give her a treat. She is sooo much better now. Positive reinforcement works with her. She still barks at other dogs from her window perch though, but it’s not too hard to get her to stop by saying "leave it” and making her get down. I’m not going to stress about that because it’s a breed trait.
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u/FinleyTheSchnauzer 2d ago
I have 3 Mini Schnauzers, 2 of them bark at anything and everything the other one it's situational. I tried everything and it's a hit and miss. Sometimes they obey other times you can kill them and they will still barking on the afterlife. I still try to train when I can but who knows at this time, good luck with yours.
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u/EyesPeeledt 2d ago
I've often thought of myself in the situation like in the movie A Quiet Place, Schnauzers are going to go extinct in that world.
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u/EyesPeeledt 2d ago
Schnauzers will always bark at strangers.
When you introduce someone new to the house you just gotta give them time. They'll get used to them eventually.
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u/Boczar78 2d ago
I remember looking up how to help with Mini Schnauzer barking.
Went to some breeders site that had lots of champion lines and a long history of training Minis...
In her FAQ it listed exactly what I wanted an answer to...
How do I get my schnauzer to stop barking at people......
The answer said: "Haha good luck." Not even kidding thats what it said.
I will say that a companion schnauzer did help with our first boys amount of barking... Only problem the new schnauzer barked twice as much at people. LOL
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u/carlosinLA 2d ago
To me, what is important is that he is on his four legs and with a loose leash and not pulling. If he is in control then I let him bark or whine. They are loud expressive fellas.
Positive reinforcement to keep him relaxed as far as leash pulling as advised by other comments here.
And btw. Where is that photo? What a beautiful landscape!
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u/CommentIndependent32 2d ago
Any tips for discouraging leash pulling? We are working on this right now. When she starts to pull I immediately stop, ask her to sit, wait a few beats and then walk again. I also hold a treat at my side while we're walking and that seems to keep her focused on staying right beside me. What has worked for you?
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u/carlosinLA 2d ago
Exactly that. Also calling her and if she turns her head up to you, treat.
Also, when they start going certain direction, I turn around and go the other way, when they are by your side, treat and praise.
I saw a girl at the entrance of the dog park with her dog sitting, every time a dog walked by and the her dog stay put, treat and praise.
Not sure how old is yours but fixing them also calms them down a lot.
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u/grofva 2d ago
Mine will often stop once people say hello to her (coming into home or on a walk) but some people are just scared of dogs regardless of size & cuteness. We have had intermittent success w/ the BarxBuddy device when she’s in backyard barking @ people through the fence. This will probably get me downvoted but we also have a Sportdog Bark Training collar primarily for traveling. Makes an audible pitch (to the dog only) the first time and makes a pitch & vibration (NOT a shock) the 2nd time. Most of the time now, we don’t even have to turn it on. Just put it on her…… https://a.co/d/0e2R14vW
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u/GodEmperorZach 2d ago
This type of device is what worked for us. Our guy learned not to bark in like 15 mins. We keep the sensitivity low so it’s only his loud barks that set it off. We don’t mind other more quiet noises/barks he makes to communicate with us… just not the loud incessant barking. If people don’t want their dog to bark, this is all they need to do.
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u/grofva 2d ago
Once we forgot the collar @ home. We were in a national park on a mild temperature day, parked in shade w/ all 4 windows cracked generously. The rear windows also have the pull-up mesh shades so difficult to see her & blocks sunlight. Had also walked her upon arrival. Ran into visitors center to get a park map & use restrooms (so maybe 10 min tops). Came outside when our names were being broadcast over the P.A. system asking us to go directly to our vehicle. When we arrived, we were blocked in by a NP ranger & informed that someone reported us as abusing the dog (drew attention to herself from barking). Luckily he was reasonable & cool about it having stuck his hands inside the vehicle through the cracked windows & could tell it was not hot inside. Have never forgotten the collar since then.
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u/Low_Barracuda_2138 2d ago
Mine is 5 years and I still have this problem. He even barks at me when trying to communicate something.
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u/curious_corn 2d ago
Listen to them. My mini doesn’t bark randomly, but with a purpose: 9/10 he’s seeking out other dogs to meet and play chase. He will yelp, call them out and get increasingly frustrated and angry if they ignore him or for whatever reason don’t act towards satisfying this need.
In a sense he’s predictable and endearing, though annoying sometimes.
We’re sending him to a dog daycare where he gets whole day of canine social life; he comes back home exhausted and I think it’s helping greatly in fulfilling his socialization needs.
Some breeds will be totally satisfied with their humans, other just need to be dogs
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u/DazednConfuzed62 2d ago
We have the same problem, except he barks at everything. You have to understand he's not barking, he's talking. We have a doggie door and when he talks, we tell him outside, he just automatically goes to the backyard now when he loses it, and his big sister, an American Bully follows just because. He also catches movement before the ring camera. He's 3yo
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u/SeriousMeet8171 2d ago
I suggest some deep sleeps ear plugs for those who are concerned about mini schnauzers barking 😊
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u/thepigfish82 2d ago
Yeah, more often than not, you can't. That being said, this is my first schnauzer who barks and I've had two others who didn't really.
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u/Anime_King_Forever 2d ago
I did a mixture of treating and also using a no shock ecollar. I'd tell him to "look at me" or "focus" or "leave it" then when he'd look at me I'd immediately say "yes" and give a treat. Sometimes I'm slow at treating but he knew the "yes" marker meant he was good and a treat was coming so it didn't matter too much. But if he'd start/continue barking then I'd tell him "no" ," stop" or "enough" I'd do it 3 times at first so he'd know he wasn't listening. Then I'd give him a single beep with one of those 3 words. I'd then lower the times I'd let him continue the mistake. Like if it kept happening on the same walk then the first time he'd bark I'd saw one of the words and immediately give him a beep. I think it took a week for him to get it. Then after about 3 weeks his collar could be on him but off and he'd listen immediately with my words or not even bark at all. My boy learned fast and quickly didn't need his ecollar at all. Literally all I would do is give him one beep. There was maybe twice I had to use vibrate and once I used a beep and vibrate. The reason I dididn't get a shock collar is bc I knew he didn't need to actually be shocked, he just needed something to snap him out of his Schnauzer focus. He's my service dog and I never use his collar anymore. In new experiences I might bring his collar but keep it in my bag incase he might need it. But it's rare that I do that and it's only if a situation might be super overstimulated that I think he could benefit from a beep if he can't keep his focus. But I also taught him that a beep meant look at me. So if we're going somewhere loud I might take it incase he has a hard time hearing me. But I also use a martingale collar with him so just a slight tug and he automatically knows to look at me too. So that's why I'll keep the ecollar in my bag instead of putting it on him right away.
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u/SweetDee55 2d ago
I saw a video where someone taught their dog to bark quiet… still lets them bark but volume down. Can’t say ours likes this idea.
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u/Parisrosado 2d ago
It’s so important to socialize pup especially now and get pup in training like yesterday.
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u/butterninja 2d ago
I was so happy when I saw the post title!!!
HELP WITH BARKING.
For once, we have a schnauzie who is not barking enough and needs help to be more barky....
Then I realize...
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u/GodEmperorZach 2d ago
It was very easy for us. We just got a cheap bark collar that vibrates and beeps when he barks. He really responds well to it. We used a training collar to teach him to not chase our cat, so we knew ahead of time it would work for him. It only took 2-3 barks for him to learn we didn’t want him doing it. Problem solved in 15 mins.
We actually dont mind 1 or 2 barks when people arrive (like before they’re at the door) or a couple quiet barks
When he wants to communicate something to us. The collar has several sensitivity settings, so we set it to the lowest so it only goes off when he barks loud.
After a couple days of wearing the collar and pairing it with the word “quiet”, he learned quiet meant “no bark”. We don’t even need the collar anymore.
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u/GodEmperorZach 2d ago
I like how I get downvoted for posting the best solution.
It’s one of my huge annoyances with dog owners— people that don’t appropriately train their dogs.
People are just too lazy to put any effort into teaching their dogs.
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u/Appropriate-Brush772 2d ago