How To Stop A Barking Dog- Reader Question
The following is a question from one of the readers of our site:
Hello Ty,
I live in an apartment and Charlie barks at the sounds of the neighbors coming and going from their apartments. He also barks at everyone he sees when he sits out on the balcony. How do I stop the barking please?
I must say that your videos have helped me enormously. Charlie was hugely leash aggressive but he is now around 98% improved after only a week of me implementing your training methods!
Thanks so much,
Jenny,
Melbourne, Australia.
How To Stop A Barking Dog- Diagnosing The Problem
There are two main types of dog barking that I typically see. If you are going to know how to stop a barking dog it’s important to first understand the ‘why’ and the motivation behind your little buddy’s barks:
- Barking for a purpose- This is a dog who runs to the window to bark at passers-by, barks at people or dogs on walks, barks when someone rings the doorbell, etc. In other words, there are very clear and visual triggers that cause the dog to bark.
- Nuisance barking- This is a dog who barks to hear themselves ‘talk’. They bark at every other sound, bark when lonely in the crate, bark at leaves rustling, etc. In other words, there is no clear and present threat, trigger, etc. they are simply barking because they want something and aren’t getting it.
How To Stop A Barking Dog- The Solution
As I mentioned previously, if you want to know how to stop a barking dog, first diagnose why it is happening. Once you know the motivation then it’s important to address the problem head on:
- For dogs that are barking with a purpose it’s important to replace the bad behavior with good behavior. For example, have your dog lie down and stay rather than rush to the door when someone knocks. Have your dog heel properly by your side instead of barking at dogs and other people. For most dogs and owners this will require an increase in obedience training and perhaps even an advanced level of training. Our clients will typically use the foundation obedience or advanced e-collar obedience programs to help solve those issues.
- For nuisance barkers I typically just correct the barking. This may be with a leash correction, squirt bottle, or e-collar correction. Following the correction I’ll praise the silence.
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