# Barking/Biting for Attention



## Jackson2017 (Jul 4, 2017)

So Jackson is a year old now

We are finding that if he hasn't got anything food related keeping him busy or he is sleeping, he will continually bark for us to do something with him or pulling a towel of the lounge or just biting into the lounge itself!

The bark is sometimes just solo but very high pitched , and he is wanting a reaction from us. Same with the lounge as he knows he isn't allowed to bite it

We try to ignore but if it's a piercing bark we will leave the room to let him know he doesn't get any good attention. We then return to the room and ignore him 

He is getting plenty of exercise via walks and games

Is he just testing boundaries in his adolescent stage or is there something I could be doing more or less?


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## cfriend (Dec 22, 2016)

This definitely sounds like attention seeking to me. I would guess this stems from not training calm behavior enough. I definitely made this "mistake" with my girl Zelda. I was so eager to make sure she was getting enough training excerise and stimulation and while that was well intentioned on my part I forgot to make sure to teach her to be calm at home and that she wouldn't be the center of attention all the time. Your approach is good but in addition I would be rewarding when he exhibits calm behavior like laying next to you sleeping etc but reward without making much of a fuss just by walking by and dropping a couple of treats. If he gets up and focuses on you ignor and wait until he lays down again. I would also start doing some Impuls control games. Hope this helps.


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## Jackson2017 (Jul 4, 2017)

cfriend said:


> This definitely sounds like attention seeking to me. I would guess this stems from not training calm behavior enough. I definitely made this "mistake" with my girl Zelda. I was so eager to make sure she was getting enough training excerise and stimulation and while that was well intentioned on my part I forgot to make sure to teach her to be calm at home and that she wouldn't be the center of attention all the time. Your approach is good but in addition I would be rewarding when he exhibits calm behavior like laying next to you sleeping etc but reward without making much of a fuss just by walking by and dropping a couple of treats. If he gets up and focuses on you ignor and wait until he lays down again. I would also start doing some Impuls control games. Hope this helps.


Thanks great advice!


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## Jackson2017 (Jul 4, 2017)

cfriend said:


> This definitely sounds like attention seeking to me. I would guess this stems from not training calm behavior enough. I definitely made this "mistake" with my girl Zelda. I was so eager to make sure she was getting enough training excerise and stimulation and while that was well intentioned on my part I forgot to make sure to teach her to be calm at home and that she wouldn't be the center of attention all the time. Your approach is good but in addition I would be rewarding when he exhibits calm behavior like laying next to you sleeping etc but reward without making much of a fuss just by walking by and dropping a couple of treats. If he gets up and focuses on you ignor and wait until he lays down again. I would also start doing some Impuls control games. Hope this helps.


Thanks, Great Advice!


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