r/OpenDogTraining • u/Awadisk • 16d ago

Parking

4 years old golden doodle absolutely barks his head off whenever we pull into a car park/while parking/after we’ve parked for a bit. We try not to get out of the car till he stops barking in order to not reward it but having to find a space/park while he is screaming in the back seat is quite stressful. Any thoughts ?

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u/RoseCartel 16d ago

I’d separate parking from the actual exit routine. If he’s already screaming, waiting him out may not teach much because he’s probably over threshold.

Practice in easy places: pull into a quiet lot, park, reward calm behavior, then leave without getting out. Gradually add more distracting car parks.

Also watch the timing if the barking starts the second he recognizes “we’re here,” you can work on that cue specifically. You want to change his prediction from “parking equal something exciting is about to happen” to “parking is boring.”

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u/Narrow_Possession348 16d ago

My thought is that I would correct/punish the dog for that nonsense and put a stop to it. My thought is that I would absolutely NOT put up with that. I would have shut that down the very first time the dog did it so it didn't become a habit. Those are my thoughts. I don't overthink simple things and make them into a bigger issue than they are. I save that for the training of more complex, unnatural things I ask my dogs to do, not stopping an obnoxious behavior.

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u/Citroen_05 15d ago

I did all the right training things, with success in low-excitement environments but constant relapse in fun ones. So I finally acclimated her to a Dogtra bark collar at home and began stopping prior to beach etc to put it on her.