Stop barking dog

Dogs are pack animals and use barking to communicate with other pack members. Barking serves a useful purpose but if excessive can cause a problem for their owners and neighbours.

A dog will bark for a variety of reasons, to gain your attention, to warn the pack (family) of danger or just because he's bored.

Because a dogs barking does serve a useful purpose we don't want to stop the dog from barking we want to stop it barking inappropriately.

Why do dogs bark excessively? The following reasons are the most common.

• Your dog is lonely
• He is bored
• He seeks attention (linked with being bored)
• He is guarding his territory (you want this one!)
• Their is something wrong with him

  
  

Some of the solutions are obvious; if your dog is bored, why is he bored? Do you spend any time with him? Is he left alone a lot while you go out to work? You can not correct any inappropriate behaviour in your dog if you are never there! Consider getting someone in to mind and walk your dog frequently when you're not at home. This has the added advantage of making sure your dog is good and tired. A sleeping dog does not bark. Make sure you leave him with a comfy bed and some of his favourite toys. Although dogs don't play much on their own...

If your dog is an attention-seeker he will seek any attention, even negative. So shouting at your dog is not going to help. Ignoring him by turning your back on him and walking out of the room is much more effective.

Get your dog (ideally if you can start when he's a puppy) used to being on his own Put him in another room or ideally a crate. Start with 30 minutes and slowly increase the length of time your dog is confined. This gets him used to you not always being there. A crate also has the advantage of removing a lot of the triggers that bring on the barking. Always make a fuss of him and give lots of praise when you return.

Leave a radio on whenever you leave the house.

One of the best methods of getting your dog to stop barking is to actually teach him to bark on command! Every-time he starts barking say "Speak!". Eventually even when he isn't barking saying the work "Speak!" will get him to start barking. Not so useful so far, as he already knows how to bark, but now you can teach him to be "Quiet!". Get him to start barking by saying "Speak!", then calmly start saying "Quiet!" when your dog stops barking even for an instant, and immediately reward him with a treat. If you do this often enough you will be able to silence him anytime you wish.

You can purchase a shock collar which will give your dog an electric shock each time he barks. I don't like this method as it only works while the dog is wearing the collar and it might deter him from barking when an intruder approaches the house! It's the lazy person's method as it requires no time or effort. Reward is by far the best method of training your dog not to bark.

Excessive dog barking like a lot of bad dog behaviour can nearly always be eliminated by positive reinforcement. Reward your dog when he follows your instructions and ignore him when he doesn't.

You could also consider employing a dog training expert to help you. Don't be surprised though if he spends most of his time training you and not the dog! The old adage "there are no bad dogs, only bad owners" applies here (for bad read ignorant).

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All the best,

Laura

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