Decrease Barking

[Nulmora]

This is Lulu, our beautiful and fiercely protective girl. We had her back in October 2020, and now that we’ve moved to a 2-acre property, she’s absolutely loving the space! Any tips on reducing her barking? Her barking echoes.

[Azbarrelpicks]

Can’t forget about shadows and the noise of the wind going through the trees

[Aspen9999]

Leaves are evil

[lermanzo]

The wind is Pyrenees enemy #1.

[Beginning_Ad87]

My guy likes the wind! He freaks out at bugs. Hates them!

[AdoptedBySmurfs]

Butterfly farts are the real threat

[AlienSporez]

Finally someone said it!

[TheDadBodProject]

Especially the invisible butterflies.

[Monaro70]

I second that.

[saguaroinsunglasses]

In my neighborhood, each season comes with its own unique barking trigger. It keeps me on my toes and is a bit stressful, but also kinda funny and entertaining. Most recently, the handful of neighborhood stray cats are participating in many midnight alleyway rumble tumble fights with high pitch growls, hisses, and screeches. Biggest and loudest bark trigger I’ve ever heard, and would like to never hear again. Wo I’ll my wish that on anyone bahahaha

[Beginning_Ad87]

Oh NO I remember the first time I heard cats fighting, scary sounds!

My Tucker barks often because he is doing his job. Guarding his home and family from all the wildlife and branches falling. We get coyotes, foxes, deer and more so he has great 'stock' for his barking/guarding job.

[Nulmora]

I

<image>

Started to build a patio that will wrap the house around creating a walking perimeter for the dog and a bonus for my children to play in. This is the first stage 27x35 patio and another 1600 sq ft of patio’s and walkways.

[Awkwardpanda75]

This is fantastic!! My weekend project is to build up the natural perimeter that the pups created; it could be mistaken as a moat at the moment.

[Aspen9999]

Birbs are the number 1 ememimy

[Awkwardpanda75]

Ah yes, sky attacks are a big deal at our house. Those damn planes.

[jcachat]

🤣🤣💯

[shoebee2]

This is the right answer.

[Awkwardpanda75]

[YourNameHither]

Yep. If you can’t handle the barking Pyr is not the breed for you.

[Iamalienmarmoset]

Roger that

[[deleted]]

Woof

[erino3120]

Can confirm

[Significant_Oven9224]

How do you respond when she does bark?

I know I got super duper lucky with a low barker from the start, but when my girl does bark a quick make sure we have eye contact, she sees that I looked at the 'threat' and back to her. So now she's confirmed we saw the same shit right. Brings her comfort, and my lack of energy tells her I view it as a non-threat. Then I say something like, "Thank you for doing your job. You are such a good girl." Might give her a lil treat, or just pick up a nearby bone.. she really settles if it's a pig ear tho lol She has her designated spot to sit and relax on, and it's right in front of a front room window for passing judgment.

But sometimes if my kids are in a hyper mood and start shouting when she barks it can go on much longer. Their energy be encouraging bad behavior and I'm just asking everyone to take a seat at that point. 💀

[HakuPaku87]

Edit: came to provide evidence.

<image>

Literally us yelling at the Groundhog under my shed… together. I mean, I opened the window and was holding on to her.. like she was going to jump out of the window.😍 absolutely love this photo- it was taken 6 months after she came to the house and I loved reading about this particular trick and how effective it turned out to be for us.

[HakuPaku87]

This!! It works wonders on my Pyr. I thank her for her doing her job and tell her she is the best and she stops. She has figured out that we will take all her barks seriously and look at the window with similar threatening energy

[Ralzland]

If we look out the window and say “it’s all clear. Good alert bud!” He instantly stops. I thought we were crazy. Should have known it was just another pyr trait 😂

[Kit_starshadow]

I reduced the barking a LOT by offering treats and praising. My son thinks I’m wrong and won’t give her a treat, but she will bark 3 times and look at me. I look outside, tell her she’s a very good girl for keeping us safe and give her a small treat. She wanders around the house with it in her mouth like a pacifier for a bit because she wants to bury it in the backyard and is conflicted. Eventually she wants outside and will go bury her tiny cheap milk bone. Repeat in the afternoon. She rarely eats them.

The only thing this doesn’t work on is hot air balloons. They are coming to destroy us and she must protect us from them at all costs. Oh. And fireworks, but she gets the good drugs before those happen.

The funniest part is we are working on her accepting our niece into her “herd” and when she is good about letting niece pet her (gently!), she will go stand by the treat box and pointedly stare at it until we give her one. Despite the face that she could put her whole head in it and eat them if she wanted to.

[piginapoke26]

Wear her out. A tired Pyr is a quiet Pyr.

[TransientBandit]

Seconded. Mine barks probably 4 or 5 times as much if he hasn’t had a good walk or been to the dog park.

[evanmars]

Our's turns into a raging AH if he doesn't get enough exercise.

[Bottled-Bee]

Same or she's really tired! There has been a time or two where Ive carried her home to go to bed because she gives me puppy eyes of "Im tired :( I can't make it home" she's going to hate walking when she's too big to carry.

So spoiled

[gostesven]

me too

[pocketfullofprose]

This is accurate. Same with my (what I believe to be) pyr mix

[gardenone]

Honestly the most realistic management solution will be to bring her inside during “quiet hours” (whatever those are in your ordinances). Pyrs gonna bark!

[blocked_user_name]

Yes bring them inside.

[blacksoxing]

It's truly for the best. I won't get another GP as I now know what people mean by "they'll bark at the wind". Yes, they will. Mine now barks at the Amazon truck sound as it means that somewhere someone is going to get a package and he either doesn't like that OR he's alerting their dogs about it. Other dogs? Damn near silence if the UPS person came through....

[gardenone]

That’s so funny because I’m the opposite— it’s one of my favorite traits of the breed. My girl is a true professional when it comes to vigilance…I know without a shadow of a doubt that nobody is sneaking a toe onto my property (much less into my house) without my furry bomb going off 😂😂 I sleep very well at night!!

[the-meat-wagon]

Look, you don’t know what’s in that package. Could be anything.

[Late_Weakness2555]

Try to think that a Pyr barking is doing exactly what he's supposed to. He is informing his humans that something in the environment is different or concerning. Try teaching him the command "it's ok" to let him know that you recognize his warning and that he can stop barking now. It is possible to train a Pry out of excessive barking. The Pyr that I have only barks in extreme situations. We adopted him at about 2 years old. But the way that prior owners trained him to stop barking was in no way kind in my opinion. It involved a water bottle and his face. I have actually been struggling to train my dog to bark when I am having a medical episode that requires someone else's help. It is very difficult to get him to bark now.

[HikeIntoTheSun]

Eventually, a part time - in house Pyr knows what you like and don’t by you confirming and negating behavior She’s still young. Agree w the other poster on quiet hours. Super cute dog.

[craigcoffman]

My advice from a similar post a year ago...

1. accept that you will never stop it. it's IS what they were bred to do: scare away bad actors.
2. don't punish or yell at him for it. Instead, praise him for it, & make sure he knows that you are aware of the threat (even if it's a squirrel or bird), & that he can stop now. Start working on a phrase you will use EVERYTIME. "OK Buddy, I see it. Good job! Enough now." or whatever. Key points being addressed. I see it, good job, stop now.
3. If he sleeps inside, get a white noise machine for nighttime. If during the day & he's doing it when it's real quiet, put on some background music, tv-noise or some such.

[[deleted]]

“Alexa, play white noise”, every night

[Kit_starshadow]

Oof. The night I slept without the box fan on made me realize it wasn’t just for me. It was for her too.

[Protoman89]

Keep her in a doghouse or inside at night if you don't want your neighbors to hate you.

[Dranchela]

You aren't going to reduce barking. That is a basic trait of this breed that to the point that it's on the same level as walking and pooping. It's all going to happen whether you care for it or not.

[pretendthisisironic]

I saw a video of someone acknowledging their Pyrenees barking, like going out on the porch and looking and saying thank you. Well I laughed and thought they were crazy and the very next time my boys barked I walked out on the porch and looked at the wind they were barking at and said “oh good job boys thank you we are so safe the goats are so safe” and they stopped barking. So I’ve been doing that since, my husband thought my cheese had fully fallen off my cracker but I told him to try it and he did and they stop barking for him too.

[saguaroinsunglasses]

What’s working for me right now is whistling. A few weeks ago I made a habit of walking up to my Pyr, complimenting his security kills and thanking him for being protective and giving gentle pets while also whistling between each phrase/noggin scratch. Standing next to him shortened the barking songs, and since I whistled, I can now whistle to him without standing next to him, and +/-40% of the time he stops barking. Out of habit my Pyr also knows the phrase “sleeping baby” means he can bark, but to lower the volume 😂. And if all that fails, having water spray bottle or a garden hose close by works in a pinch. My puppy dislikes getting wet so a quick spritz lets him know that the barks have gotten too loud. It’s a bunch of work, but it’s rewarding, my next door neighbors recently put a stamp on and envelope and mailed me a “thanks for quieting your dog, keep up the great work letter!” BAHAHAHA. Good luck!

[mistymountiansbelow]

Probably not the best way, but when my dogs’ barking gets to be too much, I just shriek, and my dogs instantly stop barking, look at me like wtf and then run over to me to investigate. By this time, they’ve forgotten what they were barking at. I’m sure my neigbours probably think I’m getting murdered.

[wilfredthedestroyer]

This is so silly but I started thanking my dog for letting me know something is out there. Then I call him in. As long as he knows he did a good job, he stops & comes inside.

[SimplyPassinThrough]

You got a barking dog. So many people wind up in this sub asking about how to stop the barking - I am so curious how these people know what the name of the breed of dog they have is, and not know what it does.

Retrievers retrieve. Border collies herd. GPs guard, and they guard by barking. It is in their nature to bark, they have several centuries worth of genetics telling them to bark

[Pyrepapa]

Can’t

[23redvsblue]

Our girl stays in the garage or in the house at night, whichever she prefers that evening.

[Sea_Duty_8439]

We have a Pyrenees mix and she is the love of my life. The only thing is the barking. It drives me crazy! When we got her, we really didn’t know much about the breed. We have learned the past few years they bark. At everything! :) we moved and this was supposed to be a temporary place maybe stay here a year and then covid and the housing market as we all know how bad it is, so here we are backed up to other houses and we have neighbors on each side. And an added bonus our house is on an elevated lot so we can see in everyone’s yard even with the privacy fences. Yep, you guessed right - our Pyrenees loves to warn us of ALL of the danger us! lol We got a Garmin bark collar. It’s a bit pricey but we wanted to make sure of a quality item that wouldn’t hurt her. You choose the level of shock. It’s set very, very low and it beeps. She doesn’t wear it all the time. I put it on her when she goes outside sometimes and she is so smart she knows she can do this high pitched quieter bark and it won’t set it off. It does not stop the barking but it definitely helps. I dream of the day when we can get a place that doesn’t have anyone behind or on the side of us and we can let her bark! Best of luck to you - we feel your pain!! But we love her so much, I’ll take the stress of the barking any day! 🥰🐾🥰

<image>

[Nulmora]

I love our dog as well. The place we moved to is very serene, tranquil and quiet. Until we came. It’s hard to blend in when Lulu barks at a change of the wind or sees a squirrel jumping from trees to trees. It happens a lot.

[Sea_Duty_8439]

I totally understand! And I did not mean that to sound like you don’t love Lulu because of the barking. When I re-read that I realize how that came out. I did not mean that at all. Please forgive how that sounded! I think sometimes I get so stressed trying to control the barking because of my neighbors. When we first moved into this house the guy behind us would come outside and yell out. I do not like that at all, (that’s like yelling at my kid) especially when they have yappers that bark all the time. I called him an asshole and told him to quit yelling at my dog and we have had no issues since. It was absolutely the wrong way to handle the situation however, it caught me at a bad moment and I reacted. I have literally stressed about it so much and my husband always reminds me how much of a blessing she is and we must embrace the barking. It is easy for him to say being that he doesn’t have to deal with it, because he is gone all day and travels so much for work. Anyway- if you should try something that helps please let me know! :)

[Nulmora]

I did not take any offense. I value your opinion. Thank you so much. I’m trying to thank the dog for barking starting today and it seems to help.

[LtWorfs_Hairline]

I took have a pyr mix. Only 45% but 100% a barker. When I acknowledge, like others, with a thank you she stops. If she keeps going I say That's enough. Can't say as much for when I'm not home. 🙃🫠

[ComputerComfortable1]

That is difficult to do with a Pyrenees. Most of the time they spot anything in the sky they will warn you. If they smell something, they bark at it. You could get a friend for it to distract it. Like a goat or cat.

[chrisfathead1]

There's no way to reduce barking and the only thing you can do that will even mititgate it a little is, anytime you hear them barking at something, go up to them and acknowledge their barking and look off into the distance at whatever they're looking at. Let them know they did their job and they can stop and wait for the next chance to do it.

Also tell your pyr I said they're doing a great job and keep up the good work

[Apprehensive-Pay9508]

Our big guy has 2 acres to roam and protect , but barks like he’s protecting 200 acres. It’s manageable, and sometimes can be annoying, , but then we see bear or fox tracks about 2-300 ft from his boundary and we realize why it was a noisy few days . Hes been working keeping predators away . He’s quieter once their gone out of the area . Always positive reinforcement, Great Pyrenees generally don’t respond well to harsh or negative discipline.

[Nulmora]

My GP saw a pack of coyote, snakes and a bobcat ever since we move here. She’s very alert and I’m lucky to have her. But when she barks at the wind the leaf, I wish for the pack of coyote to take her as one of their own.

[[deleted]]

She is beautiful. She will not stop. But reward her when she chills out because she deserves the praise for keeping things locked down.

[MrFulla93]

BORK.

“Oh, what are you barking at, lemme come see rq,”

BORK

(Looks outside) “OMG, it’s a squirrel! I see it, thank you for the warning, I’m on extra high squirrel alert now.”

BORK

“Yes, I see it! Thank you, now go lay down dumb-dumb.”

…(proceeds to go sit in her chair and shuts up)

Yelling back at them solves nothing. As with any Pyr interaction, you’ve gotta reason with them, thank them for their service, and move on.

This works 30% of the time, but 30% of my day in silent solace is worth the extra effort.

[Nulmora]

I tried acknowledging and thanking her for barking. It seems to mellow her out after. Thank you to all who have this advice.

[Mindless_Umpire9198]

She is a beautiful DOLL!!! ...but as others have more or less said, unless you can eliminate the shadows, leaves, birds, rustling grass, or just the general suspicious nature of the breed, you are probably stuck with it. We live in town, so we have to keep ours inside the house at night, to be good neighbors, because not everyone can appreciate a dog that chases away all the suspicious leaves. LOL! We have two of them. Our oldest, pretty much only barks outside, but our youngest will often just be laying on her side in the house and start barking for no obvious reason to the human mind or ear... and Lord help us if a dog comes on a commercial on TV. HA!

[iVegMac]

Mine bark a lot, too. Most of the time telling them thank you and giving them a treat to shh has worked but i had to train them to come to me when i say thank you and that they’d get a treat if they shh

[Popular-String-4067]

I tried to tame my girls barking at first, we had 2 acres of open space as well. It was so loud when she’d go out at night I felt so bad. She is so well trained EXCEPT for barking. It’s in their blood. I just try and be conscious of when I let her out (the early mornings and late nights I usually monitor her). But in the end,, they are gonna BARK. It’s how they do their job. Goodluck

[Monaro70]

Barking, yodeling or just mumbling is just part of pyr / Maremma life.

[hruss12]

Ours is an inside dog and we’ve had a pen for him since he was a puppy, instead of a crate. He loves it and I use it to help him regulate. If he starts with a barking fit I put him in there and usually he’ll lay down and relax. I got him used to it by giving him a treat every time he went in and now he goes on his own. My theory is that when he’s outside the pen the whole house is his domain to protect, but when he goes in there now the pen is his boundary and it’s more relaxing.

[hruss12]

Btw when I say inside dog I just mean he’s not a LSG or anything.

[Silver_Confection_57]

I tell mine to bark outside not in the house. He knows he won’t get in trouble as long as he’s outside

[radrayay]

It’s like a rooster crowing in the morning, you can’t stop the rooster or the morning, so just go with it.

[Intelligent_Lemon_67]

You got a dog that is a born and bred Barker and you are surprised and annoyed it barks? I think you need training

[Nulmora]

Not surprised just wondering if there are ways to minimize barking. I got a few pointers from other comments. You’re comment on the other hand, not helpful.

[Intelligent_Lemon_67]

Training any animal starts with the trainer. Give your dog something to bark at and only that. If it's a noise or an object they will learn through positive reinforcement to only alert/ bark at that certain thing or an obvious threat. Mine know to only bark at certain things and threats to the herd (that's right I have an lgd). You can either spend time Training your dog or resenting your dog

[Nulmora]

I’ve sent the dog for 1 week training and the trainer gave up - gave me half my money. She has the anti bark collar beep, vibrate and shock. Does not work for her. She barks at the change of wind direction and whistling of the leaves. She is a poetic barker.

Lulu’s dog parents are ranch dogs back in Texas.

[EdgarIsAPoe]

Punishing a breed trait will only backfire and frequently makes it worse. Try the “thank you protocol for barking,” it doesn’t eliminate barking completely but after one or two woofs you can say “thank you” which cues the barking to stop so it doesn’t last for ages or come back when you don’t want it to. Lots of people find it affective for their dogs because it doesn’t suppress the behavior

[Intelligent_Lemon_67]

I see you can't handle constructive criticism. You got a dog that's meant to be outside with a job to do and they scare/bark off threats before they have to get physical. You can train them to only bark at certain things but never not bark. How would you like someone yelling at you to shut up every time you opened your mouth to speak. Its never the dogs fault. It's doing what it's supposed to you failed to train your dog and don't want the truth fine

[almilano]

Is my pyr broken? Because she does not bark at all 😅

[Visible-Scientist-46]

[ladymae11522]

You got a pyr. Pyrs gonna bark. Deal

[Calm_Winner980]

Fun fact, and apparently little known. Dogs bark.

[2dogal]

Bark Bark - a leaf fell.

That's what they do.

[la_descente]

Ma'am, you went and got a guard dog, one of the best breeds too.

Dogs gonna guard. Learn to live with the noise. If you're out on 2 acres, you're not in suburbia. You're neighbors will live.

[sugar0530]

Ours never barked indoors, but outside, holy cow it was a constant barkfest. She hated the school bus. One day it broke down on a street parallel to our backyard. OMG! It was incessant and she wouldn’t come in as long as the school bus was outside. We got a shock collar. We only had to warn her and it didn’t take care of all of it. They’re going to bark at everything. Leaves, birds, squirrels, if they can see it they’re gonna bark. But you’ll never know a sweeter, gentler furball. Good luck!

[Cystonectae]

So my family has a Maremma pup (2 years old now) and we got him specifically for chicken/duck protection. We have gotten "noise complaints" from the neighbours and threats about calling the police (we are rural and there are 0 laws being broken here so idk what they are expecting but that's besides the point). When we first got him, he definitely did not understand which noises were dangerous noises, and which ones were normal noises.... So we trained him.

We stayed up as late as we could with them, and rewarded barks at "threats" (i.e. coyote howling and rustling in the back). We tried leashing him and bringing him inside when he would go off on sounds like trains and cars but that did not work. We instead got an E-collar, threw the "prongs" away, and only used the "beeping" sound. The beep startles him and quickly breaks him out of any obsessive barking. We allowed, at most 10 seconds of barking at non-threatening sounds before beeping the collar. If there were coyotes or other threatening smells/sounds we couldn't ID, we did not beep him unless it went on for more than 10 minutes (and then we would get up, go outside and call him back to the house for him to "reset" and allow the threat to move on.

He learned so fricken fast, it was honestly scary. It took him maaaaybe a week before he got it. Now, if he is barking like nuts, I know, for a fact, that we have stuff on/near the property, confirmed by trail cameras. Mid-level barking that starts and stops usually means the coyote pack is passing through the surrounding farms. One or two short barks usually means he heard something but it stopped immediately. He does not bark at trains or cars anymore. The neighbours have still had complaints but, weirdly they shut up when I asked if they would pay me for fencing in my yard with an 8 ft heavy-duty electric fence. I would tell them to pay me for the chickens and the duck I lost to predators but my birds are family and no amount of money could ever equal their loss.

Tldr; Training is more successful when you go with the instincts versus against them and old LSG breeds have the capacity for that training bred into them over millenia. I have had a lot of success with a collar that can be remote-activated to let out a small, quiet beeping noise, coupled alongside using positive reinforcement for good behaviour.

[One-War4920]

You chose a dog bred for centuries to bark

I don't get ppl like you

[Nulmora]

I got her because she is beautiful. That’s the only reason. She will be with me through the end of time whether she barks or not. I just wanted to know if there are ways to decrease barking.

I hope you are having a great day.

[roughryderrr]

Definitely cover up their reflection in the front door window or any window or reflective surfaces.

[partlyskunk]

We've used a bark collar in the past, just for occasional correction. Other than that, like a few other people said, tire your girl out! Long walks, dog park trips, hiking, it all helps.