Stop Your Dog's Excessive Barking

Cures for Barking Dogs

Barking is a natural form of communication for dogs.  Barking is a part of their nature so you will never be able to stop barking completely.  This is a fact that you and your neighbors must understand.  However, it is possible to stop your dog's excessive barking and barking that your dog does for no reason at all. 

The first step to stop barking is to find the source of the barking.  Many dogs will bark because they are bored.  They do not receive enough attention and one way to get attention is to bark so much that you yell at them.  To a dog, bad attention is still attention and they will take what they can get.  We are actually rewarding our dog for barking because we are yelling at them.  If you stick your head out the door to yell at your dog while he is barking you are actually reinforcing this unwanted behavior.  The same is true if your neighbor yells at the dog. 

What is most important is to train your dog WHEN to bark.  There will be occasions when you want him to bark! A warning bark when someone approaches the house is part of the dog's natural guarding instinct and a very valuable contribution to the security of the home. The sound of an alert dog inside the house will often be enough to deter any unfriendly "visitors".  The best way to get the right balance between good security behavior and excessive, annoying barking, is to get expert advice. Daniel Stevens is widely acknowleged to be the best. Try him out, by signing up for his Free Newsletter and see what he says about excessive barking at Daniel Stevens Dog Training  

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There is a problem with shock dog collars. If a dog learns, by painful experience, that barking causes stress and discomfort, then he won't bark at all. This is definitely not what you need. 

Other dogs bark at things in their surroundings.  They may bark at a noise they can’t see on the other side of a privacy fence.  They may bark at things they can see through a chain link fence.  They may also bark because the neighbor’s dogs are barking.  If fact, a dog might bark at a hot air balloon in the sky.  To stop barking at particular objects you will first have to identify what those objects are.  You may be able to eliminate barking by removing these taunting objects.  If you are unable to do anything about what the dog is barking at then you can train the dog not to bark.

Many dogs will stop barking if they receive no attention for the behavior.  This is extinction training.  The behavior becomes extinct because it is never acknowledged.  Unfortunately, if you live in a neighborhood someone else may be giving the dog attention for this behavior, which may ensure that the dog keeps barking.  If you are training your dog not to bark, be sure to alert your neighbors and ask that they do not yell at the dog to stop barking.  They will only destroy any progress that you may make.

To begin training, you will want several of your dog’s favorite treats nearby.  When the dog begins to bark, wait until he stops and praise him for being quiet.  Wait until the dog barks again and then give him the “quiet” command when he stops, as well as a treat.  The dog will soon learn that barking is harder work than receiving treats.  They will also learn that they get more attention for being quiet than they do for barking.  During this progress do your best not to yell at him for barking, but give attention for not barking. 

If the dog continues to bark, you can also try spraying the dog with a water gun or squirt bottle.  Whenever the dog barks, squirt him with water and then praise him for being quiet.  This training works best when you can spend some time working with the dog when he is in a particularly “barky” mood.  It is difficult to reinforce this training if the dog is not able to have several repetitions.  This also means that it may take the dog longer to learn depending on how much time you have to spend on the training.  After working with your dog over a period of time, however, the dog should pick up quickly that barking is not fun and should stop barking unless he is particularly perturbed or frightened.

WARNING! If your dog barks and growls and shows his teeth in a threatening way it is getting ready to bite you. Do not squirt water on him. Do not confront him. Take professional advice.

 If you can get the right balance and train your dog to bark only when it's appropriate, then you'll have the best of both worlds.