The most common complaint that you might hear from the dog owners is that the dogs bark every time. Most of the dog owners get rid of their dogs due to this reason among many others, keep them away or give them to a pound or daycare. There are several reasons behind a dog barking. Here’s the list of some main reasons behind your dog barking:
- Your dog might be excited & it wants to play.
- Maybe it is unsure about something.
- Or it is confused for some reason.
- Or maybe it is feeling protective or territorial.
The detailed reasons for barking have been discussed. Now that you know the reasons behind excessive barking let us tell you the ways to handle this matter.
Appropriate exercise:
Providing sufficient and appropriate exercise to your dog it one of the best cure to barking that occurs due to excitement, frustration or boredom. If your dog is extra energetic, then you should play the exercise that is more exhausting and tiring. These exercises might include playing fetching and long hikes. The main objective is to divert the dog’s attention from whatever is making them bark to us. And this diversion must be as voluntary as possible. Here are some fun ways to exercise.
Removing the motivation:
Remove the thing that provokes your dog to bark. Maybe he is getting some reward from barking. Think of this way, your dog is barking, and you gave it a biscuit to stop barking. It stops barking for a while and then starts all over again. All this barking thing is because of a single biscuit. Stop rewarding it, and it will stop barking. The other contrary situation is that your dog might bark on any person passing by it. In this case, change the position of your dog and keep it in the other room for a while.
Ignore your dog:
The dogs usually bark to gain your attention. If you do not give it the attention that it wants, it will stop after a while. Wait for this moment. If your dog stops barking, even for a second to breathe, reward it by giving attention or any reward. But the key to success of this method lies in your patience. Wait for your dog to stop for a while. If you yell at it after an hour, your dog will bark for an hour and a half to gain your attention because it will think that it is worth barking and waiting as it will give the dog your attention (out of frustration though).
Desensitization to the stimulus:
The thing that is making your dog bark is called the stimulus. One easy way to stop it from barking at the stimulus is to desensitize your dog. The method to do this is by introducing the stimulus at a fair distance. At such a distance at which the dog might see the stimulus, but it does not threaten the dog. Treat the dog with reward when the stimulus appear and remove the reward when the stimulus is gone. This thing will make the dog believe that the stimulus is a good one because it brings good things with it (the rewards).
Teaching the quiet command:
It might sound a little crazy but order your dog to bark at first. Once that it starts barking, wave the food in front of it, make it sniff the food. Then command the dog to keep quiet. Once it stops barking, reward the dog.
Repeat the process again and again. Say “speak” again and again to let your dog understand that it needs to bark when the owner says “speak.” When the dog learns the speak command, calm it by saying “quite.” Keep on repeating this process until the dog starts understanding that “quiet” means to stop barking. When the dog stop barking on your command, reward it with a treat. The quite command might be difficult to understand and implement for the new owners.
Induce your dog into doing conflicting action:
Do something that forces your dog to do something other than barking when a stimulus is presented in front of it. The stimulus that makes it to bark will now force it into doing things that are way let frustrating. For instance, if your dog barks when the door opens. Throw the meat on the mat and let it eat the food. Now open the door and see what the dog does. If it gets up immediately, close the door. After something repeat the process. Then increase the difficulty by ringing the doorbell. When the doorbell rings, throw the meat on the mat, so that the dog starts eating the treat instead of barking. Barking and eating treat are two contradictory and conflicting things.
Making it tired:
One of the most obvious ways to stop a barking dog is by making it tired. Barking extracts a whole lot of energy from a dog. If you exhaust your dog by involving it into doing heavy exercises and games, it might feel tired and prefer sleeping over the barking that he does.
Use an electronic bark collar:
The latest way has been introduced to prevent a dog from barking and making immense noise which works on the principle of interrupting a dog from barking. These collars start producing a distraction as soon as the dog starts barking. There are two types of dog collars, the ones which produce noise and the ones which produce electric sensation on the point where the dogs wear it. It might be the latest and the best way to stop a bark, but it needs an expert to handle. So, this is how to use bark-collars.
More ways to deal with barking dogs.
