How To Stop Dog Barking Quick
March 22, 2010 by Dog Trainer Filed under Barking Dogs
A barking dog can be very annoying to everyone around. Not only are you irritated by it, but your neighbors can’t stand it either, and may report your dog if they get too fed up. Barking is a very natural and normal things for dogs though. You can’t stop a dog from wanting to bark, that is their form of communication. However, you can control a dog’s barking behavior.
Here are the reasons why your dog might bark:
They’re at home alone for a long time: Boredom happens to dogs who are always at home alone. They tend to bark simply to keep themselves entertained.
You unknowingly trained them to bark. Because people are often very inconsistent in their training, they sometimes reward bad behavior – or they just don’t punish it on a consistent basis.
Dogs will also bark if they’re defending their territory, if they’re lonely, or afraid.
A dog in pain because of a health problem may bark a lot.
How do you get your dog to stop barking? Easy, just teach them to bark. Yes it sounds counter productive, but it’s effective.
Here’s what you do:
- When your dog begins to bark, let it happen for a few seconds. After a couple of barks, praise your dog for barking.
- Then, tell them ‘No Bark’ or ‘Stop Barking’ (or any other phrase you want to use), and display a delicious treat in front of your dog to distract them. This will stop their barking. After they’ve stopped barking for a couple seconds, give them the treat.
- Do this over and over, and with each practice, extend the amount of time they’ll have to be quiet before receiving their treat.
- If your dog barks again after you’ve said the ‘no bark’ command, shout NO loudly to startle them. If it doesn’t cause the barking to stop for at least a second, find something else that’ll make a loud enough sound to stop their barking for at least a split second. Immediately follow this noise with the stop phrase again, and a yummy treat, before they bark again.
With persistence, this will be very effective. It’ll take more than just one or two practices for it to stick. Make sure you are consistent in your training, and soon enough you’ll be able to quickly stop your dog’s barking at any point by using the stop phrase.
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