Stop Your Dogs Problem Barking
If you have a problem with a barking dog in your home, then you have maybe realised that there are only a certain number of things that you can do to solve the problem.
Let’s face it, barking is as natural to a dog as breathing. Despite many hundreds of years of selective breeding your dog still retains that instinct to bark, either for attention or to attempt to tell you something.
In order to solve the issue, you first of all need to understand why he or she is barking and which types of barking you can control.
The 7 Main Reasons A Dog Will Bark
A dog will bark for a variety of reasons, he may be angry, excited or possibly scared, amongst others.
Here are the main 7 reasons.
- Territorial Barking
- To Sound The Alarm
- To Get Attention
- As A Greeting
- Frustration Barking
- Compulsive Barking
- Injury or Illness Related Barking
You can see from the list above that barking is a huge part of what makes your dog, it’s virtually impossible to stop him or her from barking altogether.
There will be times when your dog will instinctively bark no matter what you do to try and stop them.
How to Stop Dogs Barking
If your dog barks and refuses to stop, you need to first work out if the barking is actually valid. In most cases your dog will bark excessively and should be controlled. When you have decided that your dogs barking is excessive you need the answer these 2 questions in order to work out the best strategy to control it.
- When does he bark?
- What is your dog barking at?
- Does the dog have a particular trigger for his barking?
If you decide that he is barking in order to protect his territory or becasue he’s been alarmed, the absolute last thing you should do is shout or reprimand him. You may find that if you do you’re storing up trouble for later. That kind of negative reinforcement can lead to problems on with things like biting or aggressive behaviour.
You will end up with a dog who is confused, he may well stop barking, but the underlying issue will still be there.
The best way to deal with this kind of situation is to provide an environment where your dog does not feel threatened and so you take away his urge to defend himself.
You do this by taking charge and being the Alpha Dog, by doing this you are showing him that you are in charge, it’s your job to protect the territory and you will keep him or her safe.
You can also do some practical things like drawing curtains so they can’t see visitors like the mailman or deilvery people, if he or she barks at people on the other side of the fence, then get fencing that they can’t see through.
Stop Barking Dogs Who Have Anxiety Issues
You may find that your dog will bark if he or she is anxious about being separated from you. The odd thing here is that you can unknowingly cause this one yourself by doing things you thought were nice for your dog.
For example, you come home from work, and both of you are happy to see other, your dog may well bark and you made a big fuss of him. He will learn to associate that barking may well get a nice fuss made of him, and as you can see you’re now heading for trouble.
You need to learn to ignore your dog when you come in, so go make a fuss of your kids or give your partner a hug first. Then you can make a fuss of your dog when they have quietened down a little.
By doing this you are also reinforcing his or her place in the pack, eg. below you and your partner and kids.
Having a well behaved dog who knows the right and wrong times to bark will help to make your relationship with each other so much better, not to mention removing any possible problems with your neighbours.
You may also consider using one of the many electronic dog collars which are available today and do a very effective job of teaching your dog when it’s OK to bark.
