Dog Barking Can Be Stopped

Dog Barking Can Be Stopped...

If your dog has a barking problem; it can be difficult finding a solution that works. As with any sort of undesirable behavior, the key to solving it is to communicate clearly to your dog what is acceptable and what is not acceptable behavior.

A lot of us dog owners make the error of rewarding our dogs when they go overboard with their barking. This, rather than curbing the behavior, actually reinforces it and encourages them to keep right on barking. The three things that are the biggest mistakes made by dog owners trying to stop their dogs from barking are these:

1. Yelling at the dog. Screaming at your dog does nothing but give them the attention they were trying to get by barking.

2. Letting your dog inside. If your dog is outside barking up a storm, letting him in will make him think that he will be rewarded for this behavior.

3. If you react to your dog's barking by petting them or dispensing treats, this most certainly encourages them to continue their barking. This shows your dog that he has done something which you approve of. You need to make it clear that this barking is unacceptable behavior.

Give these training techniques a try: Use these dog training techniques:

Don't yell at your dog. After some basic dog obedience training, you won't need to anyway. Excessive barking and many other behavioral problems will be easily corrected if your dog learns to look to you as their pack leader. A properly trained dog will respect you and be eager to please. The 'Stop!' and 'Quiet!' commands, which your dog will learn in obedience training should be sufficient to curb the problem.

If your dog has been barking while you are not at home, you should ignore your dog for a little while upon your return. This is not easy for many dog owners; after all, you are glad to see your dog when you get home. However, you also don't want your dog to associate your return with their barking. Just do some things around the house for a few minutes and wait for them to settle down before paying attention to them.

Dog Barks For Attention Or To Demand Something

This is one of the easiest barking problems to resolve. By establishing yourself as the 'pack leader', your dog will cease the barking problem quickly and will establish a proper relationship between you and your dog.

Dog Barks At Passers By

If your dog is barking at the postman or UPS driver, it is because they see them as threatening intruders on their turf. If your dog's barking drives these people away, your dog believes that they have done well. They will continue the behavior with this enforcement. This can be a sticky problem indeed.

If your dog has this problem of barking at a certain person (e.g. - the mailman), you can correct the behavior by giving the mailman your dog's favorite treat. Your dog will then come to look at this person as a friend rather than as an intruder.

How To Stop Your Dog From Barking

There are those who are proponents of debarking surgery for extreme cases, but in my experience, this is never truly necessary. If you have tried everything else though, you can talk about this with your vet as a last resort.

Stopping your dog from barking, like any other dog behavior conundrum, is best addressed by proper dog obedience training.

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