In the 20 plus years I've been doing this, I've never had a litter of barkers. They are 8 weeks old. Two have left and I have 5 to go. They are fussy and bark non-stop. Yes, they do sleep but they seem to take turns barking. I am expecting the police to show up any time to tell me the neighbors are complaining. They have a lot of toys, marrow bones, flip chips, food, water, blankets, kuranda beds. Did I forget anything? How do folks deal with this? Help!!!! I am begging for suggestions.

They are too hot. Make sure they have cool hard surfaces to lie down on.

Not even remotely hot here today.

Maybe some time outside to play will help tire their vocal cords out?

Even if you think that it is not hot. This litter might have a thicker coat and they are hot. Put the AC 5 degrees lower and see if the get more quiet.
I've had a couple of barking litters and they were both in summer time.

thirsty, hot, hungry, bored? must be something they need. your job to figure it out

I was going to say hot too. My winter pups were fussy and I finally gave them ice packs/frozen water bottles to lay on and they all got quiet. Are they outside with a large area to play in? A kiddie pool? Fresh air usually tires my pups out pretty fast!

How much are you feeding them and how often? I think food first when they yelp that much. Nothing like a full belly to put a pup into nap mode.

Very generous area. Kiddie pool. Temperatures around 68-70 degrees. Fed 3 times a day & switched to adlib. I am at my wit's end. Could this be a temperament related problem? I did ship semen, but have reason to believe the stud is not hyper. Right now my plans to keep a puppy are very much in doubt.

Are they playing or just barking to bark?

My recent litter was like this. I kept 2 pups and after the rest left, no more needy barking pups.
I wouldn't be so quick to sell all until you see what happens until at least 12 weeks with your keeper.

I had the same thing, puppies left later than usual and at 7 weeks they began the constant barking.

Once you're down to 2 it will get better. I wound up keeping 1, the 2nd pick wasn't my cupatea.

Give it more time and more going home, it shall get better. Believe me

Maybe try to feed them 4 times instead of 3. Same as with human babies, some need to eat more often.

If nothing is physically wrong with the puppies (and I would be absolutely sure this is true before dismissing this option), then I would try spending more time training them. Pretty much all barking problems I have had have completely disappear as I spend more time with the puppies--introducing them to new things and doing clicker training with them. I find the barkers to be some of the smartest puppies and best to train.

Once I have a few behaviors on cue, I just ask for thee new trained behaviors if I hear barking. I have not found them to continue insistent barking into adulthood if they are taught to use trained behaviors to get attention. New owners love these puppies because they have learned great ways to get attention.

I start clicker training puppies about 7 weeks. Before they leave me, most have more than a dozen behaviors on cue. They learn really quickly, much more quickly than untrained adult dogs. Rejoice in those barkers. They are probably the best students in the class.

Keep the best to last. Don't let them go for barking.
I agree, even when not that hot mine loves a frozen water bottle or two. Cold wet towel. Are they getting 3/4 to a cup, 3 times a day ?. Most of all at that age set up an x-pen on the grass outside and give them some outside time and fresh air. They will be happy and sleep like a baby. Good luck.

These are smart puppies and they have figured out when they bark, you give them attention. Spend some time to train them. Even if you don't want to clicker train, you can do the puppy 'cha-cha' with them in their pen. When they bark, you step backward. When they are silent, step toward them. Bark again? Backward. Silence? Forward. You'll be amazed at how quickly they learn that if they bark you stop approaching.

Freeze Kongs or marrow bones with peanut butter in them, or give them toys they have to figure out. Teach them to fetch. Is your yard big enough to go for a walk? just walk around and they will follow. Reward them for eye contact and being close to you. The new owners will thank you for the leg up on training and you won't be at your wits end any more.

Good luck!

They are hot or hungry.

How many times a day you feed them is not necessarily the problem. It's how much and what kind.

70 degrees doesn't seem hot to humans but Labradors with a full puppy coat can be very hot at that temperature.

I agree with this. Feed them so they all get their fill, and still have food left over. And make them cooler.

Glad to hear there is hope. 2 will leave this weekend, another will go next week. That will take it down to 2, which seems to be a good number. I started feeding them adlib on Monday, so food is available at all times. It is ProPlan Performance. The barking is not during play. A puppy will simply stand and bark. I've never had puppies like this, but I do have a good friend who has a 7 year old son who has been difficult from day one. Very demanding, seldom happy. Her 2nd child was a typical smiling baby. I am going to see if I can get another friend to come over today to do temperament testing. Thanks for all the ideas. Chilly today, but the bottles are in the freezer.

Barkiness does run in some lines. I've slowly weeded out the barkers from my kennel but had one mom whose litters made so much noise. Kept a pup that we sold at 1 year due to barkiness.

I am thinking they are hungry or hot
feed 4x a day and make sure they get enough so the slowest eaters still get a full belly, my pups are too fat at 8 weeks but all slim down once new owners do portion control
also take the whole litter outside for a nice walkie around the yard for 1/2 hour or so several times a day, they get bored
Put down a cold wet towel so they can cool their bellies if they want to
My pups get noisy if the temp gets over 65 or so, I swear they have malamute blood!
Finally, give them a "snack" cottage cheese mixed with plain unflavored yogurt mixed with come evap milk before bedtime, nice bedtime soother
I hope this works, yelling pups are stressful

Sorry for pulling up an old thread, I'm hoping the OP will post an update on her puppy from this litter. I am stressed too as I have a very noisy litter that is much younger. It started with a few puppies and now almost everyone is joining in. They sound like a pack of wild coyote puppies. All are apparently healthy and growing fast. I am going to try increasing the amount of food first. They are really chow hounds and I think this might be the problem. Can I cause issues if I overfeed them? I have additional worries that they might cause problems for my puppy buyers but most are saying that changes once they leave home.

"Stressed" if you read this will you please contact me by email, I have a few private questions for you.

You'll get loose stools fast if you overfeed. They may be hot. I was putting in cold packs (frozen water bottles work great) even when my pups were 3 weeks old. They were much happier!

If the puppies are still in the house and they are not hungry or hot then I would think they are bored and need to get outside. Mine are outside at 8 wks as long as the weather is agreeable. When they bark after that point then I figure they are bored and need some training/attention. They are like little sponges at their ages and love having a "job".

It is genetic - I had a litter like this two years ago from shipped semen also. I trained and sold my initial keeper as a service dog for conformation reasons- she's done very well, not barky at all after training. I recently received her now 2 year old brother back - terribly barky but also very smart, we've now trained it out of him. I clap, say "quiet" and treat as soon as they are quiet, but this doesn't work as well when they are still very young. I think it's genetic, but as they get older it can be trained out. Also, the barkier seem to be quite smart and as someone already said, this type likes a job to do - they love to train and are great obedience dogs, so not all bad.

My barky litter loved the radio on near them, they liked the stimulation of a variety of sounds.

I would think that clapping and saying quiet then treating would lead to more barking. These animals aren't dumb. I bark, she claps and says quiet I stop and get a treat. A friend used to tell me of her cat who would scratch the oriental rug at the door--she would say NO! and open the
door and toss the cat out. When the cat wanted to go out she would go to the door and scratch the rug. Be careful what you are teaching!

Just placed a 4 year old girl. She is the sweetest thing, snuggly and demure. Much to my surprise, once she was gone all the barking stopped. I had no idea she was the one who got everyone started.

I know what I'm teaching, been at it 10 years. I clap, treat for quiet, come back soon after when they are still quiet and treat again "good quiet!" I slowly extend time between treating. I even treat my crowd out in the exercise acreage. Sometimes only once a month, but it's "GOOOOOD quiet!" and treats. My hubby recently commented how quiet our dogs have been compared to our original crew. Our neighbor hasn't called for almost 10 years and he built facing us almost on the property line.