Miniature Schnauzer Dog Training: 2 Steps To Total Barking Control

Step 1: The owner should ask someone to make sounds outside the house or apartment, walk a dog outside the door or fence (if the pup is in a yard), or otherwise visually stimulate the pup in a way that has caused the problem barking in the past or may do so in the future. As soon as the pup barks a few times, the owner quietly calls the animal to different parts of the house. In other words, the pup is taught to sound the “alarm” and then to seek the owner.

It is a desirable trait for a Miniature Schnauzer that will function well as a watchdog to seek out its owner in the event of trouble. When the pup responds, the owner quietly praises it and remains silent thereafter. If the pup turns again toward the stimulus, it is quietly called back until it settles with the owner. Make sure that the outside assistant does not create unnatural situations to stimulate barking. Heavy foot-steps, jimmying the door, trying to open a window, etc., are good agitations, but they must not be overdone either in volume or duration.

Repeat this procedure until the pup automatically seeks the owner after a couple of barks. Allow at least 2 1/2 hours between training sessions. Hold at least 2 sessions per day until the puppy seeks the owner and remains quiet after the alarm barking, without being commanded to do so. In this procedure, the owners should avoid:

Scolding or otherwise loudly or angrily reinforcing the behavior.

Holding shut the pup’s mouth (this only frustrates the pet and may cause problem barking in the owner’s absence).

Physically punishing the Miniature Schnauzer puppy, as this may reinforce the barking.

Step 2: The Miniature Schnauzer puppy that continually barks when alone must be dealt with after the barking is brought under control in the presence of the owners. When this is achieved, a second person should create a situation that triggers barking. Immediately following the bark stimulus, the owner must introduce a distracting stimulus that the pup associates with a feeling of well-being. Some quieting distractions can be the rattle of a dinner dish or a door knob, a radio coming on, etc. (anything associated with quiet behavior). A distraction that has stimulated barking in the past should not be used.

In any of these situations, the interrupting stimulus must be one that is practical to apply until the puppy quiets for longer and longer periods, up to several hours, even when additional bark-inducing stimuli are introduced.

This procedure may be time consuming and laborious only if the owner neglects that first step in the correction procedure: to control barking when at home with the puppy. Pups have been successfully silenced with this method in only 1 day; others have taken as long as 2-6 weeks. If the procedure is applied regularly, both night and day, an acceptably non-vocal pet will result.

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