# Excessive Barking - and regressive behavior



## bethtaylor003 (Jun 17, 2020)

Hi everyone!

I have a 7 month old Vizsla (Maple), female. My fiance and I got her around 4 months, and truly she is (until about a weekish ago) the perfect dog. Attentive, eager to learn, never ran off, great off leash, never barked... I mean seriously, I thought we hit the jackpot.

UNTIL recent. I will say, my fiance and I both work from home, all day... so she is very used to us being around all day, every day. 

I swear, it was like we woke up one morning... and now she barks _incessantly ... _I will sit at my computer, and she will sit next to me, look at me and bark for minutes on end. This is even after she has been fed, walked, played with, usually even ran..the whole shebang. 

I am worried I have done something to cause her to think that she can demand 1000% of my attention 24/7.

On top of this - she has started to run off. I can't let her off leash out in the back yard anymore because she going into another neighborhood, or up on the neighbor's porches.

I am truly at a loss for this drastic change in behavior. It has to be something I am doing to lead her to act this way... so I am looking for any feedback or advice from an outside perspective.

Maybe puppy/adolescent regressive behavior is normal... I truly don't know.

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP! Thanks so much.

-Bethany and Maple


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## jovellanosj (Feb 1, 2020)

Hi! Disclaimer - I’m not a professional trainer nor have I attended obedience classes (yet).

like you, my boy is 7 months old. He’s my first V, and second dog. Last month he’s started to show signs of testing dominance, more aggressive and hyper behaviors at home and in public.

What has helped a lot is that we’ve become more strict with his discipline. Any little thing he wants at home he has to sit First (Food, come inside bedroom, sit on sofa, treats, Bones/chewing hides.. etc.) .

In public, if he starts to “overact” or get too hyper/out of control, I’ve started enforcing time out times. i force him to sit down and calm down. I rub his back when he’s sitting to help calm him down. Usually he listens as long as he’s been getting exercise everyday.

also in public, we’ve been doing more call training to get him to learn to here us and listen even when he’s distracted. I carry treats with me usually to help get his attention.

It’s been a lot more work right now being more firm on the discipline but it’s been helping a lot. Also I’m paying more attention to his exercise needs. I can tell when he needs to release his energy. He’s most disobedient to us when he has too much energy and when he thinks he can get away with being alpha lol


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## jovellanosj (Feb 1, 2020)

Also with the barking, when he barks at noises outside .. we say no very firmly. And we let him know we mean it. If he doesn’t stop, I stand up in front of him and He usually stops.
hes gotten better.. but also I think it’s because he’s gotten used to / familiar with the noise. Now He’s more picky about what he barks for .. when he wants/needs something or theres people outside our front door


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## Huggytree (Apr 21, 2020)

7month old female? Has she gone into heat yet?

my last dog was female and got weird before her heat cycle. Walking around whining with toys. Piling them up in different areas. 

maybe there’s a Physical reason she’s different right now


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## Sunshinesol (Jul 3, 2020)

Yep that’s the age, expect some regression and “testing boundaries” in adolescence. Agree with the above posters, being more strict and practicing home living is important. If she’s a poop-head in the house, don’t expect her to be an angel outside the house. Work the thresholds/entrances to the house. have her wait and look up to your eyes and be calm before she is to exit and enter the house. Practice more on leash walking, make sure she stays at your side.

she’s at the age where she’s trying to settle into her place in the world and in your home. If you give her any reason to think she’s in charge- she’s going to take it upon herself to protect the house, you, go exploring or whatever decisions she’s making on her own. YOU make the decisions around here!


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