Hi all,
I have a 2 year old American Bulldog and have recently (2 weeks ago) got a now 14 week old bitch as his companion. They get on absolutly great and play/wrestle on and off during the day. My problem is that the pup will sit yapping when she is bored and the older dog is asleep/not interested. I have tried playing with her and ignoring her but she still yaps on! Today I have tried shouting my other dog and praising him when she is yapping, whilst ignoring her until she is quiet...as yet doesnt seem to be having any effect but it is early days I know - any other suggestions???
PS I think she was spoiled by her breeder as when I asked questions like what is she fed they said which brand of food but then she had whatever they had for tea too- also she slept on their bed!

Have you tried distracting her with a treat and asking her to sit nicely and concentrate on it for a few seconds before she gets the treat? You could maybe get your other dog to demonstrate- puppies are very good at copying. If there's good food involved most dogs will come to sit in front of you and once you've got her sitting there and quiet you can praise her for that and reward her.

We've got up to about 3 minutes on the 'leave' command with a piece of dried black pudding for Molly now- although I recognise that puppies aren't going to have that attention span (and some breeds aren't as well suited to that sort of thing as GSDs either).

Whatever path you decide to take you'll have to be consistent with it or she'll end up confused if you chop and change.

I have tried to distract her with a treat although not making her sit and wait as she already does for her food, good advice there - will start tomrrow! Watch this space! Thanks Medusa x

Hi Banjo,

Is she yapping at you or the other dog?

The other dog is training her - he's ignoring the undesirable behaviour in order to make it stop.

If you were to press a doorbell and nobody came (yet you were convinced they were in), you'd press it again, then maybe press it harder before knocking and then finally give up and walk away.
That's the process of extinction -before the behaviour dies, it gets stronger (pressing harder, knocking louder etc) and then stops.

Your pup will do exactly the same, however - it must be consistent. If she sits yapping, ignore her - just like your other dog is, when it gets worse, continue to ignore her when it stops, reward her by playing or something. You must do the same every time though - if you ever inadvertently reward the yapping, you will strengthen the behaviour and possibly even teach her that yapping louder works better.

Good luck! If there's a time you can't ignore her, distract her but don't feed the treat straight away, give the treat/game for her carrying out a behaviour you like.

Hi Lotti,

She just seems to yap into thin air which is what made me think she was doing it for attention, I will carry on with the ignoring her and see how it goes (my neighbours will love me!).

Thanks for your advice x

Good luck Banjo, it's so difficult when there are other people (ie. neighbours) involved because you feel terrible disturbing people but it'll work quicker being consistent and ignoring it (because even negative attention is attention!) than if you try to keep her quiet.

I've been there and I'm suffering because of it now! With much more work to put in to stop unwanted behaviour because I tried to stop it for the sake of others and ended up making it stronger!