Dog Training – Barking
One of the biggest challenges many dog owners face during dog training is barking.
Uncontrolled excessive barking can be aggravating to neighbors, annoying for you and can actually be a sign of stress in your dog.
While many think the right way of dog training barking or howling dogs is to give them some form of shock or spray collar, this can actually teach your dog incorrect behaviors and cause other issues.
When you use a spray collar to stop your dog barking, you’re teaching it that it’s never good to bark.
Click Here To Learn How To Train Your Dog To Stop Barking
Barking is a natural behavior for dogs to communicate. When you punish them for doing it at all, they can become confused and distressed. Besides, what would happen if your dog was trying to warn you against an intruder in your yard or home, but he wasn’t allowed to bark for fear of being punished by the spray collar?
The most effective dog training method for barking is to teach your dog some control.
Always remember that there are several reasons why dogs bark. It’s important to understand the reasons why your dog is barking before you apply the solution.
Boredom Barking
If your dog is left outside in a small yard or run all day on its own with nothing to do, of course it’s going to get bored. When a dog is bored it may begin to bark to see if it can rouse a conversation from other dogs in the neighborhood. After all, it has nothing better to do.
Give your dog plenty of mental stimulation. Mix a beef or chicken flavored stock cube in some water and create small ice cubes from the mix. Put these inside a rubber dog toy so your dog has to work at getting his treat. If it’s too cold for ice cubes where you are, put dog biscuits inside the toy.
Leave other toys for him to play with, such as a rope or chew toy, and encourage him to play with it.
The biggest cure for boredom barking in dogs is to take your dog out for more exercise. This stimulates your dog mentally and physically and helps him to feel a little less bored.
Territorial Barking
Many dogs will bark only when people or other dogs pass by their line of sight. This is often territorial barking. In order to get your dog to stop barking, you will need some training methods that show him when he can and can’t bark – at your command.
The first step is to teach your dog to bark on command. It sounds strange asking your dog to bark when you’re trying to teach him to stop, but it works. Teaching your dog to ’speak’ on command takes patience, but once your dog understands that he is supposed to bark when you tell him, you can begin to teach him the command ‘quiet’.
When dogs are barking out of a sense of territorialism, they can often become very defensive, perceiving everything outside as a potential threat to the family. Never yell at your dog to be quiet, as he will immediately think you’re barking at the stranger too!
Simply say in a low, calm tone of voice, “Okay, thank you, good dog”. You might give your dog a pat on the head as you say this, but turn away from the dog and continue to talk calmly and slowly, saying anything you like. The tone is what matters with dog training. Your dog will begin to understand that if you’re not feeling defensive about whatever’s outside, then he probably shouldn’t be either.
When your dog stops barking, immediately say “Quiet” and praise him lavishly. After a few times of doing this, your dog will start to realize what the command ‘quiet’ really means and he should stop barking when you tell him to.
Remember, it’s okay to allow a dog to bark if he’s warning the family of impending threat, but you should teach him to stop again once he’s done his job.
