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Post by Andreina on Sept 9, 2011 13:47:00 GMT -5
Hi guys, hopefully you can help me out with a little issue Scarlet is having with car rides!! Scarlet loves car rides, never had a problem with them, and i know she is still a baby @ 5 months old, but... recently she has developed this issue of barking at the wind coming in from the car windows when they are down. It's almost like she's trying to catch the wind by biting it, realizing nothing is there and then barks. This repeats on and on. When we come to a stop she is fine.
She is in a harness in the back seat, and her window is never down enough that she could potentially get out nor does she hang her head right out of the window. It's cracked a few inches to give her some air and that's it. Even if it's mine or Julian's window that is down a few inches, she is barking in that direction trying to get to that air as well.
I guess people could say (and have said) it's as simple as "well roll your windows up then?" This is not always possible in the warm weather and I need her to get accustomed to not freaking out at the air coming in. For the past 3 months, the wind didn't bug her at all, and now she just started this barking habit out of nowhere and I can't figure out why! I can't even crack my window the slightest bit, because she starts freaking out. So I end up rolling them back up and she stops, I don't really know what else to do?
Any advice you can offer as to what I should do?
Julian sat in the back seat with her the other day and treated her every time she sits quietly or puts her nose to the window not barking. It worked, but it's impossible to have someone in the back at all times and I would really like to have my windows down when I want them down!! lol.
Is this weird? Has any of your dogs done this?
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Post by toyzshopgary on Sept 9, 2011 15:28:02 GMT -5
I haven't had that issue, but my widows are always up and air on or heat on. Inbetween weather i just have the heat turned off so it vents air through the vehicle. My truck has terrible resonance with the windows down even slightly.
Maybe that's it?? You have that resonance but you don't notice it with your hearing but Scarlet does with her more sensitive hearing?
Good luck maybe someone else has some ideas?
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Post by Andreina on Sept 9, 2011 18:11:36 GMT -5
hmm yeah that could be a possibility Gary. I just want to fix this habit and not have it get worse for the future. I don't need the windows down always, but I do want the option to roll a window down when I want to and not have her get scared or barking, etc.
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Post by hooligan on Sept 16, 2011 9:45:35 GMT -5
Oooh, that sounds major annoying. I haven't experienced exactly this, but our previous (adopted) Dobe was very stressed in the car at first. He was always harnessed in the back seat, and he threw up a couple of times, so we always made sure that he didn't have food in his tummy when he went on car rides. He would also whine and howl constantly, but this improved greatly when we loosened the harness enough so that he could lay his nose on the console between the front seats. As he learned that car rides meant going somewhere fun, the whining stopped completely.
Gary may be on the right track. Perhaps it has something to do with the noise or a change in air pressure when the windows are down. Does Scarlet do it at a particular speed?
Have you tried rolling down only one window at a time to see if it's a particular window that triggers the behaviour?
Or taking her for a quick trip around the block and practising rolling down a window (or windows), then rolling them up before she starts barking? Or rolling down the windows when the car is stopped, then rolling them up as you start moving slowly forward? Then gradually increasing the speed?
And . . . something else that may be worth considering -- how much attention does she get when she barks like this? Is it possible that she doesn't like being confined in the backseat, where she's away from you, and has hit upon this as an attention-getting strategy? These dogs are smart, and they'll do anything that works.
It may be small comfort, but I suspect that the coming of winter may solve the problem. You're less likely to want the windows down, and by the spring, she may have forgotten this behaviour.
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Post by Andreina on Sept 16, 2011 11:30:05 GMT -5
Oooh, that sounds major annoying. I haven't experienced exactly this, but our previous (adopted) Dobe was very stressed in the car at first. He was always harnessed in the back seat, and he threw up a couple of times, so we always made sure that he didn't have food in his tummy when he went on car rides. He would also whine and howl constantly, but this improved greatly when we loosened the harness enough so that he could lay his nose on the console between the front seats. As he learned that car rides meant going somewhere fun, the whining stopped completely. Gary may be on the right track. Perhaps it has something to do with the noise or a change in air pressure when the windows are down. Does Scarlet do it at a particular speed? Have you tried rolling down only one window at a time to see if it's a particular window that triggers the behaviour? Or taking her for a quick trip around the block and practising rolling down a window (or windows), then rolling them up before she starts barking? Or rolling down the windows when the car is stopped, then rolling them up as you start moving slowly forward? Then gradually increasing the speed? And . . . something else that may be worth considering -- how much attention does she get when she barks like this? Is it possible that she doesn't like being confined in the backseat, where she's away from you, and has hit upon this as an attention-getting strategy? These dogs are smart, and they'll do anything that works. It may be small comfort, but I suspect that the coming of winter may solve the problem. You're less likely to want the windows down, and by the spring, she may have forgotten this behaviour. That's what I'm thinking about the winter, she will hopefully forget this habit by spring. Honestly, she is not anxious in the car, she LOVES car rides. I take her with me to the car sometimes to get groceries, etc, she hops in the back seat like "where we goin mom?!! Let's go!!" until she realizes we are going back inside lol... I don't think she's lonely back there, I'm always talking to her, and she has her bully sticks, some toys, etc. She doesn't ever try to hop in the front with me, she has her little play area of her own in the back and she is quite content there. Really, I think the issue is that air is flowing in and since air is not an object, she is barking at it and trying to bite it and catch it in her mouth. She is wondering where it's going and she is getting pissed off that when she bites it she can't catch anything!! lol. It's not a certain window, it's all 4. She could be soo quiet in the back minding her own business chewing on a bully, my window goes down 2 inches, and she is out to "get" that air!! I even have the rain guards on all my windows too so that cuts down a lot of the noise and air flow. We've tried rolling them up before she barks and praising her, it works sometimes. When we come to a light I roll her window down, she looks outside not making a sound and as soon as we start going and she catches some wind she's trying to attack it. I don't think it's a noise bugging her or anything, she is just trying to get a hold of the air. If your dobe loves catching water from a hose or fountain and makes that chomping/bitey face, that's what it's like. I don't let her have tons of space to hang out of the window either, it's only open like 5 - 6 inches? Well for now I guess we will just have to deal with how annoying it is. It's not like I need my window open all the time, it would just be nice to have the option you know. And let's face it, they are still dogs, and they sometimes STINK!! lol
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dobedaddy
Junior Member
Prinz Auguste Vom Dobereich
Posts: 64
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Post by dobedaddy on Sept 19, 2011 8:55:46 GMT -5
it's "funny" how sometime little things gets on our puppy's mind... For us, it's the central heating. There's a dock close to his bowl and now that cold weather has come and the heating has started, he doesn't want to go eat or drink because of the "wind" from the heating dock. I thought he would be hungry sometime and would finally get there but... he started growling and barking at his bowl Finally I started to play ball and pitched it close to this area and after few tries, the ball didn't come back ;D and he had started eating lol
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