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Dog Won’t Stop Barking?

I’m housesitting for two dogs. One is older and seems pretty mellow overall, however, the younger one seems to be suffering from severe separation anxiety. She’s been whining and barking at all hours of the day and night. For the first couple days I tried to comfort her and make her more comfortable with me. Sometimes she’ll cuddle up but still bark, other times she’s hostile. I’m four days in now and still have another four to go. I then looked up best ways to handle this and found most responses were to excercise and ignore the dog. The backyard here is big and when the two dogs would play it would work for a little while; however because of the heat the owners don’t want me to take them on walks, and now we’ve been having awful duststorms, which aren’t safe to be out in. So I’ve been trying to ignore her. However, this leads her to moving from barking at me from the door way, to the room, to right in front of me, until eventually jumping on the couch with me and barking in my face, along with nudging her head against mine (she seems to be a sort of pit bull mutt; and I’m 5’1 and admittedly not the strongest person, so it’s not easy for me to push her away something like that) Her bark is absolutely ear-splitting, and the house being rather large and empty cause her bark to project and echo. I’m at the dogs house, and have been letting both dogs sleep with me because I read that should help. However, she still whines and barks at me almost constantly, and now my allergies are pretty awful. That with sleep deprevation from being kept awake all night have really put me at my wits end. Any suggestions or advice is much appreciated!

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I know comforting the dog seems like the right thing to do but what it does is reinforce that whining and crying is acceptable behavior! My rescue dog would whine and whine and whine all day long so I know what it feels like to have that shrill sound in your ears 24/7!

In my experience, redirecting the dog to something else is helpful. Also - excess energy expenditure. Have some playtime, or do some training for mental stimulation, take the dog for a walk. If you can't go outside because it is unsafe, I highly recommend mental stimulation. Find out what that dog is motivated by and use it.

Have you brought up the separation anxiety to the owners? If not - reach out to them and let them know and ask if it is normal behavior.

Hope this helps!

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One, the dog doesn't know you or probably trust you
Two, where is mommy and daddy and why have they left?
Three, the dog sounds like it is looking for love and attention
Four, you need to correct the dog for bad behavior by directing their attention to something else rather than you

We all have experienced sits that aren't the best, all you can do is tough it out. And I find it odd you don't have a sitter profile showing on this post

Comments

Dog needs training, he might be energetic, try to take the energy of the dog out, and then train him, you need to get his favorite type of food, the with you finger gain his atentio lead your finger from he's eyes to yours, the give him a piece of food every time he stay quite over if is for 2 sec