Dog Training, Barking Does Not Have To Be Tolerated
Birds sing, cats mew, dogs bark. It is a perfectly natural thing for the dog to bark. In fact it is often a valuable reply to territorial threats and threats for your own security. A simple bark can persuade a prospective intruder or mugger to back away.
So you must not make an effort to stop your dog from barking altogether. It is uncontrolled barking that’s the problem. Nuisance barking could cause problems between neighbours and frequently brings about official complaints and also the involvement of animal control officers resulting in fines, and perchance imprisonment and/or the destruction from the offending animal.
Dogs bark for any number of possible reasons:
Loneliness
Fear
Stress
Aggression
Boredom
Hunger
Excitement
Attention Seeking
Insecurity
Too Cold
Too Hot
When your dog is left alone for hours on end then generally he barks uncontrollably because he’s bored and seeks attention. He may be also frightened that his owner is not gonna come back. Sometimes he simply enjoys barking; it breaks the silence. Whatever the reason is, it is important that you already know why if you are planning to stand a chance of stopping it.
Excessive barking may be due to you unintentionally training your dog to do this. He speaks and also you obey. ‘Woof’ and you also allow him to out of the door, ‘Woof’ so you allow him to in again. ‘Woof’ and you also take him for the walk. ‘Woof’ and the man receives a treat. You get the idea, your canine has learned to get attention from you through barking. It’s easy to do, the very nature of your bark gets your attention but for the same reason it is easy to forget to praise your canine when he doesn’t bark.
Shouting at your canine when he barks seldom solves the problem either and will make it worse – whatever you are doing is encouraging the barking by barking back!
The option is to train your puppy the ‘Quiet’ command. There are four easy steps.
Get your dog to get started on barking (not normally a problem though the doorbell is normally a good initiator)
Hold a treat over the dog’s nose and also at once say ‘Quiet’
When he stops barking to sniff the treat give it to him and praise him
Repeat this but each time make your puppy wait longer being silent before he provides the treat
As a rule, to prevent excessive warning barks, (door bell and visitor barking as an example) express gratitude towards the first bark and after that command a ‘Sit’ plus a ‘Quiet’.
To keep your dog content take him out for regular walks. If he’s alone all day long then make certain you provide him with plenty of play time when you’re in your house. All dogs need mental stimulation, puzzle games and toys.
Finally electric bark collars can be extremely useful, especially the automatic variety which are employed in your absence. There is some controversy on the collars which administer an electrical shock but there are more sorts of collar without any issues attached like ultrasonic collars and citronella spray collars.
