Teach dog not to bark

Teach dog not to bark

You can’t sleep because your dog is barking at night?

Your neighbour is complaining about it?

If this is sound familiar keep reading. During this article we will try to give you some techniques to assist you to stop your dog from excessive barking.

But:

Don’t expect to succeed over one night. Unfortunately, it will take longer time to teach your dog to stop barking if this is an old habit. There are many reasons why your dog is barking.

However, some of the advises below may required that you know the reason that your dog is barking.

Below are some tips before starting the training:

• Don't scream at your canine to make him/her stop. He/she will think that your are also barking.
•  Training sessions should be short.
• You and your family should keep same training methods so your dog is not confuse.

1. Try to find what is triggering your dog to bark and remove it.

Your dog is not barking for no reason (ok sometimes when he/she is very bored).

Some of the reasons why your dog is barking are:

• Humans or animals are passing by the street.

If your dog is indoor close the curtains or take him to another room. If he/she is outdoor then take him inside the house.

2. Ignoring  him/her during  barking could make him/her stop since you are not giving him  the attention that he craves.

Your attention could only reward your dog and make him/her bark even more.

I know its hard but:

Don't speak

Don't touch

Don't look

After he stop barking even for some seconds it’s the right time to reward him with a treat and then praise him.

You have to be consistence and wait as long as it takes.

For example if your dog bark for half hour and you can not take it any more and you start screaming at him then next time he will bark for one hour. Because he learns that he will bark till you pay attention to him.

If your dog is in a restricted area such as crate or a crate room then:

Wait until he stop barking. Remember Don't speak, Don't touch, Don't look.

As soon as he stops praise him and give him a tasty treat. Slowly he will understand that being quite will get  him a reward.

Try increasing the time that being quite before giving the treat. Start with 2 sec , 5 sec, 10 sec and so on.

3. Little by little your dog will get used to the objects or sounds that make him/her bark.

At the beginning place the thing that makes him bark far away. Normally he will not bark so give him treats.

Then slowly bring the stimulation object closer and keep giving him treats. Lastly move it out of sight and stop feeding your dog.

The bottom line of this exercise is to teach him that the stimulus object can lead  to good tasty treats.


Real example when another dog is involved.

Ask a friend who has a dog to stand out of sight so your dog wont bark. Ask your friend to come toward your dog and at the same time keep feeding treats to your dog

Stop feeding him when your friend go out of sight. Perform this exercise many times.

Your dog might take days or even weeks to stop paying attention to the stimulus object.

4. Teaching your dog the quite command can be very challenging.

First step is to teach him to speak on your command even if it sounds strange. Say the command  "speak," and  wait till he start to bark.

Then place a treat in frond of his nose and wait till he stops and sniff. This is the right time to give him a treat.

Repeat this method  many times during the day.

As soon as he learns the command 'speak' you have to teach the 'quite' command.

Find a place with no distraction maybe in your backyard or inside your house. Ask him to  "speak." As soon as he barks say "quiet" and put the treat in front of his nose with your hand closed. Give the treat and praise him for stop barking and being quite.

Real example when the door bells.  

Ask a friend to ring the bell. Normally your dog starts barking towards the "intruder" .  As soon as your dog learns the 'quite' command practice in places with more distraction like outdoors.

5. Redirect his barking with something else.

For example if someone is at the door toss a treat on his bed.

Normally your dog will go after the treat. At the same time open the door. Repeat this exercise until he remains on his bed.

To make the exercise more difficult have your friend to ring the bell while your dog is on his bed.

6. Your dog has huge storage of energy especially if you have a dog like Labrador of Golden retriever.

They need a lot of exercise to loose this energy.


Tired dog bark less.

So try by making your dog tired daily. Play games or go for long walks with him.

Best of luck training your dog not to bark.