When it comes to dog barking the first thing I always try to drive home to my clients is ‘am I hearing appropriate or inappropriate barking?’
Dogs are naturally creatures who will bark. That doesn’t mean that it’s always a bad thing. There is no right answer to what is nuisance barking and what isn’t. Truthfully, it all boils down to what you as the owner have decided is okay.
For example, I allow my dogs to bark at people as they pass in front of our house. Part of the reason we have dogs is for protection of the home. I don’t, however, allow them to sit and endlessly bark at construction workers as they work in the street in front of our home or in the fields behind our home.
After deciding what is okay as far as dog barking and what isn’t it’s time to start altering the needless barking that you don’t want. The following outlines some of the major and most common forms of barking:
Bored Barking
This one makes me sad. I see this a lot with dogs that are left alone in the back yard for too long of periods. Often the dog isn’t barking AT anything; rather he or she is simply barking because of boredom. If I were left in the backyard all day every day I may find myself a bored barker as well. With a bored barker you may consider bringing the dog inside. Take him or her on more walks and pay more attention. Get out in the yard and play games. Hide things in the yard and encourage the dog to find them. Provide your dog with plenty of toys that are interesting and time consuming. There are myriad things that you can try but it all boils down to giving your dog more….
More attention…more exercise…more training…more training….more activity.
Don’t every forget. Your dog is an intelligent and living, breathing creature. You can’t just coop up an animal like that and expect that there won’t be behavior problems.
Nuisance Barking- I define nuisance barking as a dog who is barking for a reason.
Just…a very bad reason.
Nuisance Barking
Nuisance barking is a dog who is barking at squirrels, barking at cars, reflections, cats, every noise, and every movement. Sure, the dog had a purpose to bark but it was just a lousy purpose.
This type of barking tends to stem from dogs who are anxious and/or don’t have much structure. A lot of dogs like this are screaming out for ‘micro-management’.
For those of you out there who have a boss you may be hearing the word ‘micro-management’ and it quite possibly may send chills up your spine. Many people hate to have small details force-fed to them.
One the contrary, most dogs love to be micro-managed. They just want someone to tell them what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. In the absence of such stimulation they get anxious and hyper-sensitive to their surroundings.
Many people know their dog needs a job but they just aren’t sure how to do it. Here is how. Micro-manage your dog. When you eat breakfast have him lie down and stay for a few minutes. When you go to your room to make the bed have him follow and sit while you do that. When you watch TV have him lie in his bed for an hour. Before you walk through a door have him wait. Have him walk perfectly on leash.
Basically, require him to do lots of things throughout the day. This occupies the mind and bring structure. Structure is the opposite of frantic and frenetic nuisance barking.
Most dogs who live like this for a while will soon enter into a structured state of mind and will self regulate. That way you don’t have to try to worry about micro-managing your dog for the next 10 years.
Aggressive Barking
Aggressive barking is the most serious and the most difficult to fix.,
Please see our page on how to fix dog aggression for more details.
In a nutshell, though, fixing aggressive barking includes three steps:
- Obtain a high level of obedience. I’m not talking about sitting for a cookie. I’m talking about a dog who is highly obedient regardless of the distractions.
- Use that obedience in situations where your dog barks aggressively. When he wants to bark and lunge at the dog on the walk have him walk perfectly instead. When he wants to lunge at the person coming through the door have him lie down and stay instead.
- Correct the aggression when it occurs.
These aren’t the only types of barking I see, they just happen to be the most common. As with most dog training principles I preach so much of fixing dog barking relies on a solid relationship and healthy doses of obedience.
Image Credit: blhphotography
29 Responses to “Stop Dog Barking”
my dog barks at men who coms in my house.
I love my Shichon. He’s cute, cunning and my wife’s love toy.
But he’s a relentless YAPPER! I’ve tried training suggestions. I tried vinegor and water spray shots to the face after a Hush! I really hate the thought of placing a “shock” collar on Samson, but I’m out of ideas.
Samson lives in a structured environment. We do slack up on treats after commands, however.
HELP! I want Samson to be a welcomed pet in our house, but he goes or I go. The non-stop yapping is driving me nuts. Thank you.
BURKE DAY
Let me ask you, then, if he lives in a structured environment how does he get the chance to yap? If he’ll sit and stay instead of rushing off after something to bark at, if he’ll go to his bed when someone rings the doorbell, if he’ll come when called and leave something he’s barking at how is he barking so much?
Hi there my one year old patterdale terrier dosnt bark at all when im with her, however when i leave her at home alone im told by neighbours that she barks none stop,im aware this is will be due to the fact that she is anxoius to be on her own, HELP! what can i do to reasure her that its ok and that im coming back, i dont know what to do and find myself going out less and less because i dont want to upset my neighbours with her constant barking.
Is the dog crated or loose while you are gone?
she isnt crated but she is confined to the down stairs hall way while im out .
The first thing I’d try is simply crating her.
Shes only been out of her crate about 2 months and she still barked when she was in it, i thought that maybe the reason she was barking was because she was confined to a small area? Was it a bad move removing her?
If your dog is barking like that when you are gone there are only a few options:
- A bark collar
- A citronella collar
- An ultra-sonic trainer
The bark collar offers perhaps the biggest guarantee of stopping barking. The citronella collar is likely the easiest on the dog. The ultra-sonic trainer has the worst track record of actually working.
Ok i will give those a try, thankyou for your advise.
I have a chain in both my front yard and back Whenn i chain him up in the front yard he will sit up there for hours alone wont bark for me. When i chain him to the bark yard and leave to go inside he will bark for me, soon as i hook him to the front yard chain hes fine again.. any reason why he might be doing this?
I have a Bishonpoo, he’s 2 years old. He is very stubborn, and especially quite hyper. It’s difficult to get him to sit still too long. The problem is his loud barking. The main problem is when he sees someone outside or go to the door, he barks loudly. Most time a minute or so, then he’s alright. My dad feels embarrassed, because people think he’s a vicious dog when he’s not. We would even get up to go outside, it’s like he’s expecting someone on the other side. He would start barking, when there isn’t anyone there. Even if visitor is over he would growl/bark, thinking he is a watch dog. My dog CoCo would even bark out of a blue, when it’s quiet and nobody there.
People say when the dog barks to ignore him. The problem is my dad has health problems, and can’t deal with pressure. He would yell at CoCo, which I believe makes it worse. I tell him this, but he doesn’t believe me. We’ve tried the no command, spray him, and give him a toy to occupy him, but nothing works. He is very nosy, and has to know who is at the door. We even have the anti-bark collar, but after a few minutes he barks again. How do I stop him from barking when he sees someone approaching the door. Any suggestions would be really helpful.
Hello. As already mentioned in the article, you’ve got to achieve some really nice obedience training before you can solve this issue.
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Ty - Is it safe to use our electric fence collar at the same time as a bark collar?
It should be. I’ve never heard of the two interfering with each other.
Hi Ty,
I have a 10 yr old female Chihuahua. She has always been a barker as far as to alert me when someone is outside, but for the past several months, when my husband & I are watching TV & my husband puts down the recliner she literally acts like she is gonna eat him up! She also sleeps in her bed in our room & when my husband rolls over or just moves she barks at him continuously! HELP! What can we do??
Thanks,
Renita
1- Probably a good idea for her to not sleep in your bed.
2- Your husband needs to be doing training exercises geared towards achieving leadership. He needs to be working on things like proper leash walking, recall, stay behaviors, etc.
No she doesn’t sleep in our bed, she sleeps in her own bed in our room! She loves him & she loves to sit on his lap but for some reason she always barks at him every move that he makes!!!
The reason is because of a lack of respect. I think you are confusing ownership with love. She feels like she owns him so that it’s okay to tell him off if he’s not doing exactly what she wants how she wants.
I have a 2 year old Cavapoo , he is a rescue dog. We have had him three weeks now and he is adorable. However, he is petrified of men, my husband included. He will constantly bark at him when he comes in from work. Eventually he will settle and let my husband stroke him and pet him. If my husband leaves the room it starts all over again?? Last night he constantly barked when he came out of the bathroom, yet as soon as my husband sat down he jumped on his knee and settled down. He is very protective of me and follows me everywhere. He has had little training but is ok on his lead when out for a walk. He will sit when asked but won’t stay.
Have your dog on a leash and have your husband handle the dog and leash over the next few weeks while he’s home.
We have a german shepherd that is fearful of visitors, she barks at them constantly - I tell people to ignore her and don’t make eye contact or touch, she then gets alittle more confident after a while and tries to go to people but she then gets scared and starts the barking and fearfulness again - she is an obedient dog, and will stay and wait and down when a visitors arrives but when you release her and she goes near the person the barking starts and she never relaxes when visitors are here she is always on edge. Any suggestions please. much appreciated
How long are you waiting to release her?
One of our strategies that works well is to have the dog do a down stay (which it sounds like you’re doing) but we’ve got to wait for the dog to visibly calm down and relax before releasing them from the stay.
This may be 5 minutes it may be an hour. What happens, though, is that the dog’s ‘recovery time’ tends to get smaller and smaller if you work this correctly.
So are you having her in the down stay long enough?
I have a rescue german shephard of 3 years. She is welltrained and good recall.her problam is barking.if ileave her in the car even with my husband or he leaves she barks Excessively. Or if a dog passes.also at postman or anyone coming down the path( agressively )
The dog barks just while in the car? Or in the front of the house when someone’s coming down the path?
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I live in a townhouse setting. My adjacent neighbors have two dogs. They leave the dogs at home alone, even at night sometimes. The dogs are barking and howling, sometimes for hours. Even thought the dogs are insight, they’re pretty loud which causes a lot of nuisance and disturbance to me, sometimes waking me up in the middle of the night.
I’ve tried to talk to my neighbors to no avail. The police doesn’t want to get involved, and the dog warden who works for two or three towns has been useless. (You can trust me on this, as I have tried so many times in the last three years).
So my question is: How can I stop my neighbor’s dogs barking in this situation (sound, smell, etc.)?
I’ll really appreciate your reply. Thank you.
Sorry. You’re out of luck. There is nothing you can do to get a dog to stop barking while in your neighbor’s home.