LOL that is hilarious! Your view is awesome! Loa looks HUGE!!! I can't believe how much she's grown! Where were Maui and Kona? BTW, I think Hilo's floppies are adorable!
Nemo and Whizzer do t his also. Sometimes it goes on for 5 minutes and then I swear they are barking at each other asking what the other one is barking at, and neither of them know.
I agree Brandon. Niko huffs out of nowhere, Sasha runs up front barking, then Niko runs up barking and it goes on forever cause Niko huffed in her sleep or something.
That is so funny Brad, it just takes one dog snuff to get it all going. Kaia had to get up on the couch...that is too funny.
Most of the time they are barking at a bunny or a dog - but sometimes its a horse way way off in the distance - like so far that I can't even see it at first. Ahi gets really pissed off at the other dogs if they get near her when she is on alert mode - its really ridiculous. And who would be frightened off by Kaia's little bark - it cracks me up!
Maui was in the other room - he could care less. Kona I think was with Jen on a trip to the mailbox.
Thanx all for the compliments on our view and house (and windows)! That is why we are not in a rush to get a TV, we have all those windows.
Sounds like our place! Sometimes Tojo will bark IN HIS SLEEP and they all get excited, wake Tojo up, and they're all staring out the window, not quite sure what they're barking at, but positive that whatever it is, they have to scare it away, lol. At least we know they care, right?
Keigo is the only one that barks, unless they're in the front and the mailman comes, then Mika gets in on the whole thing. She did, however, bark at everyone that walked past our door when we stayed at a hotel. She didn't like that at all.
Ron - Those mountains in back are the Sangre de Cristo, to the east of our house. To the north of the house we have a view of the Rockies, to the west (from the front) we look towards Tres Peidras and the San Luis Valley as well as the Rio Grand Gorge (about 2 miles from our house) then to the South we look at the start (or end) of the Santa Fe Mountains and mesa. We are surrounded by mountains, but none are as close as the Sangre de Cristo.
Sujewel - I know exactly what you are talking about, when we moved and stayed in a hotel on the trip to Taos Ahi and Hilo barked at every person that walked by the room - it sucked! I didn't sleep a wink!
Actually, now that I think of it, that whole weekend was both great and sucky. Kurt, Mika and I went to Pittsburgh for Carnegie Mellon's version of Carnival (Kurt's the alum). It seems our little dear showed us ALL of her typical Akita traits. The barking at the door, wasn't great, but what was worse???
The not going to the bathroom. She pooped ONCE in FOUR days and peed three times. Poor thing. Of course, that meant walking her every hour thinking she might burst, but nothing. Fortunately, she peed in the most appropriate places. The hotel room and the production shop in Kurt's school. Good Girl!
Lucy is the same way. She will only poop if we are on a brisk walk or if she is off leash at the dog park and sometimes not even then. If we just go out near the house she won't go. After she was spayed she held it for almost three days and the spot she picked to let it go was the bedroom of my friends apartment that I was helping him move into. It was her house warming present to him.
Oh yea Dave, at least once a day... honestly it is getting out of hand because most of the time they are barking at absolutely nothing. One of them hears a noise and gives one warning bark (usually Ahi, Kaia, or Kona) and then all of them take their positions (except Maui) for full guard duty.
We have not been reinforcing this behavior, just kinda ignoring it... but it seems I need to start correcting them or redirecting them to try and tone it down a bit - I believe this type of thing may have been the root of the issue w/ Kaia when Jen & Tommy visited, like she has fully committed to her watch dog roll.
well... now that I think about it, I probably have reinforced it a bit because I walk out their to see what they are barking at - just me doing that is probably reinforcement of the behavior since they consider me "pack leader" and they are sounding an alarm to warn the pack and ward off intruders. (that's my take on it at least)
Any suggestions? I have never had to deal with this type of thing, i dunno where to start. I don't mind them being watch dogs, I just want it toned down a bit.
Actually, I think Rachael is not that far off. Since they are looking to you as the pack leader to respond to their alarm, what I would do is allow them to bark for a few seconds, then walk in and shout "enough" loud enough that it gets their attention and walk out immediately. That way, you reinforce the guarding behavior by acknowledging them when you walk in, but you tell them they have done their job and should stop when you distract them with your enough command and ignore them by walking out. If you are in the room when it happens, you can still get up and walk out.
I saw something similar to this on "It's Me or the Dog" so i can't totally claim credit for the idea. ;-)
Have you seen this ad on TV; I think it is for Volkswagon, where I guy is setting off the car alarm from a remote location? Every time it is on Piglet goes beserk. I actually have to put the TV on mute when it comes on.
Rachael, Dave - Ok, I will give that a shot... I have tried to say "enough" loudly before but Ahi could care less... but maybe I need to do it louder or something. I see your points, I agree. I also think maybe we should target Ahi since, while she may not actually set the alarm off, she is mos def the most hectic and seems to fuel the fire a bit.
Jessica - That is funny, I can just see you guys fumbling for the remote to mute the TV before she hears it. lol.
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Interesting side note... I have noticed that Ahi has started correcting Kona when he "sounds the alarm". She will walk over to him and put his head in her mouth, as if to say "that's my job kid!" (maybe?). Very similar to what she was doing to him in those videos where she kept stopping him from playing.
I think maybe she is realizing that he may move up above her in the pack order and she is trying to prevent that.
When my dogs sound the alarm, I can usually tell them to be quiet and they will. Sometimes, if they are particularly concerned by whatever perceived threat they're barking at, I have to go look out the window myself and sort of say, "Okay, I looked. There's nothing there. We can all relax now." This is especially true with Rakka if it's Duane walking by she's barking at (see the Rakka vs Duane thread for further explanation). I go look, and then I say to Rakka, "Oh, it's just Duane. He's fine," and then I go back to what I was doing. Correcting her doesn't work in this situation, she seems to need reassurance.
Ahi is pretty high strung, like Mika. So a very loud 'ENOUGH' might not do it. I would try one of those sound horn can things....Pretty loud, but maybe you could muffle the sound. I am thinking about getting one. Saw that on 'It's me or the Dog' too. Great show!
Comments
Nemo and Whizzer do t his also. Sometimes it goes on for 5 minutes and then I swear they are barking at each other asking what the other one is barking at, and neither of them know.
I agree Brandon. Niko huffs out of nowhere, Sasha runs up front barking, then Niko runs up barking and it goes on forever cause Niko huffed in her sleep or something.
That is so funny Brad, it just takes one dog snuff to get it all going. Kaia had to get up on the couch...that is too funny.
Most of the time they are barking at a bunny or a dog - but sometimes its a horse way way off in the distance - like so far that I can't even see it at first. Ahi gets really pissed off at the other dogs if they get near her when she is on alert mode - its really ridiculous. And who would be frightened off by Kaia's little bark - it cracks me up!
Maui was in the other room - he could care less. Kona I think was with Jen on a trip to the mailbox.
Thanx all for the compliments on our view and house (and windows)! That is why we are not in a rush to get a TV, we have all those windows.
Wow, that is awesome. The opposite side of the house, is there also another mountain range or is it continued land?
I did notice one thing, all the toys were neatly put away in the box by the window. How do you manage that ? LOL
I just love how NM mountains can look so magical.
Huggs, ...Ron
That is an incredible view! I'm so jealous.
Keigo is the only one that barks, unless they're in the front and the mailman comes, then Mika gets in on the whole thing. She did, however, bark at everyone that walked past our door when we stayed at a hotel. She didn't like that at all.
Ron - Those mountains in back are the Sangre de Cristo, to the east of our house. To the north of the house we have a view of the Rockies, to the west (from the front) we look towards Tres Peidras and the San Luis Valley as well as the Rio Grand Gorge (about 2 miles from our house) then to the South we look at the start (or end) of the Santa Fe Mountains and mesa. We are surrounded by mountains, but none are as close as the Sangre de Cristo.
Sujewel - I know exactly what you are talking about, when we moved and stayed in a hotel on the trip to Taos Ahi and Hilo barked at every person that walked by the room - it sucked! I didn't sleep a wink!
Actually, now that I think of it, that whole weekend was both great and sucky. Kurt, Mika and I went to Pittsburgh for Carnegie Mellon's version of Carnival (Kurt's the alum). It seems our little dear showed us ALL of her typical Akita traits. The barking at the door, wasn't great, but what was worse???
The not going to the bathroom. She pooped ONCE in FOUR days and peed three times. Poor thing. Of course, that meant walking her every hour thinking she might burst, but nothing. Fortunately, she peed in the most appropriate places. The hotel room and the production shop in Kurt's school. Good Girl!
Ahi does that, sometimes she will hold it for days just because she is too picky to find a place she likes to go. It's so frustrating.
Part III - Look at Kaia on the back of the couch and Kona's crazy ear...
Oh yea Dave, at least once a day... honestly it is getting out of hand because most of the time they are barking at absolutely nothing. One of them hears a noise and gives one warning bark (usually Ahi, Kaia, or Kona) and then all of them take their positions (except Maui) for full guard duty.
We have not been reinforcing this behavior, just kinda ignoring it... but it seems I need to start correcting them or redirecting them to try and tone it down a bit - I believe this type of thing may have been the root of the issue w/ Kaia when Jen & Tommy visited, like she has fully committed to her watch dog roll.
well... now that I think about it, I probably have reinforced it a bit because I walk out their to see what they are barking at - just me doing that is probably reinforcement of the behavior since they consider me "pack leader" and they are sounding an alarm to warn the pack and ward off intruders. (that's my take on it at least)
Any suggestions? I have never had to deal with this type of thing, i dunno where to start. I don't mind them being watch dogs, I just want it toned down a bit.
Actually, I think Rachael is not that far off. Since they are looking to you as the pack leader to respond to their alarm, what I would do is allow them to bark for a few seconds, then walk in and shout "enough" loud enough that it gets their attention and walk out immediately. That way, you reinforce the guarding behavior by acknowledging them when you walk in, but you tell them they have done their job and should stop when you distract them with your enough command and ignore them by walking out. If you are in the room when it happens, you can still get up and walk out.
I saw something similar to this on "It's Me or the Dog" so i can't totally claim credit for the idea. ;-)
Rachael, Dave - Ok, I will give that a shot... I have tried to say "enough" loudly before but Ahi could care less... but maybe I need to do it louder or something. I see your points, I agree. I also think maybe we should target Ahi since, while she may not actually set the alarm off, she is mos def the most hectic and seems to fuel the fire a bit.
Jessica - That is funny, I can just see you guys fumbling for the remote to mute the TV before she hears it. lol.
----
Interesting side note... I have noticed that Ahi has started correcting Kona when he "sounds the alarm". She will walk over to him and put his head in her mouth, as if to say "that's my job kid!" (maybe?). Very similar to what she was doing to him in those videos where she kept stopping him from playing.
I think maybe she is realizing that he may move up above her in the pack order and she is trying to prevent that.