We all want dogs to have a voice, but sometimes we just want them to be quiet. Constant barking can be annoying to us and our neighbours, and is quite anti-social, especially in the evenings.
But what can you do to stop your dog barking so much?
You may be at your wits end, and do extensive google searches. Just one search brings up 20 million results! Which sites are the best, what advice works, and what advice is not encouraging pain or intimidation of your dog? No wonder owners are so confused as well as frustrated with their dog.
Barking is a common problem with adolescent dogs, and this is why I have devoted a full chapter on this problem.
First, ask yourself – Why is my dog barking?
Instead of just rushing to fix the problem with gadgets such as ecollars, vibrating collars or spray (citronella collars) which may distract or upset your dog for a short moment, you need to instead find out WHY they are barking to then find the most appropriate solution.
Here is an extract from my book for you..
‘To work out what you can do about excessive barking, you first need to find out why your dog is barking or the situations that set them off. They can vocalise for many reasons, and by finding the trigger, you can then apply a solution that will help your dog to understand when they can shout, when to be quiet, and to know that you will also help them out of a sticky spot. The barking can sound different to each reason, so listen to your dog and get to know the volume, frequency and pitch of their barks.
There’s no point in just telling them to ‘shut up’, ‘be quiet’ or keep repeating ‘no, no, no’. They don’t understand the meaning behind our language or words. All they respond to is how you look and your tone of voice, and maybe look scary to them with our angry faces. Or your talking/shouting only makes you join in the conversation where neither side understands the other and make the other one shout louder to be heard.’
Here are some of the key reasons they will bark.
1). They were bred to bark – genetics
Many dogs were domesticated with a job to do, and many of those jobs involved vocalising. Guard dogs alert to intruders, search dogs will often bark at finding their prey, hounds will bark at prey to make them run to eventually corner them and catch them. Knowing what your dog was born to do will help you understand them better.
2) Alert barking
They are telling us when something or someone is approaching, and may be getting too close to their safe place – your home.
3). Barking due to excitement
Having fun is great, and often dogs will bark as an expression of having a good time. This can be even worse when there is an adrenaline spike so will occur when a visitor arrives, or they are high from chasing balls and don’t want to stop. Teaching your dog to be calmer, or banning the high intensity games to more calming sniffing games can really help them manage their arousal and noise levels.
4) Attention barking
Does your dog need something from you? Do they need the toilet, or are they hungry? Often they will bark to tell you they are uncomfortable for a reason. It can be a leant behaviour. When a dog is quiet, we tend to ignore them. When they come up to us and bark, we also react. We give them attention regardless of what you are saying to them, so in order to get you to interact with them again, they bark at you. The cycle goes on. Switch this around so you are quietly rewarding your dog when they are relaxed, and ignore your dog when they bark for your attention (assuming their welfare needs are met).
5) Barking due to fear or frustration
Your dog is uncomfortable in what is happening around them, and you may have missed all the little bits of body language communication building up to the barking. Learning how dogs communicate is key to having the best relationship with them so you will learn when they are not happy long before they feel the need to shout. Rather than tell them off, take them to a quieter place to calm down. When in that state of fear, they cannot learn or remember things very well, just like us. Practice in a quieter spot, build up their confidence (using an accredited reward trainer or behaviourist if you need extra help), then slowly expose them to the more scary situations when they are ready. You cannot train in the heat of the moment, but you can be proactive and prepare them in advance.
6) Distress barking
I see this a lot with dogs that cannot be left home alone without howling, crying, barking and destroying the home. Separation Anxiety is a phobia, so the best way to help your dog is to work with a Certified trainer like myself, and slowly build up your dog’s ability to cope being home alone. During the training, we aim to never let your dog get so upset to start barking, and instead build up their tolerance to being apart from you very gradually. Phobias take time to overcome, but I have seen (and been part of) some amazing results with the training, and owners have been able to go out alone for the first time, be more spontaneous seeing friends for coffee and loving their dog even more. I know, as I went through the whole process myself with my dog. I LOVE this part of my job!
7) Habit, or learnt barking
Think of the doorbell. When it rings, we immediately stop what we are doing, maybe even speak (‘who is at the door?’), then jump up to go to it. The door is a vortex of people and parcels arriving, very exciting. So naturally your dog learns that the doorbell is exciting too. They learn to join in so jump up, run to the door and also speak, and we have inadvertently taught them to bark at the doorbell. However, most of us don’t want them to do that. We expect them to not react, to keep quiet, and stay in another room. This is an unfair expectation so the best way to handle this is to manage access to the door by stairgates, so safety is in mind here, and maybe teach them that the sound of the doorbell means to go to their bed, or hold a toy in their mouths. You can start with a different doorbell noise to begin with, then you can use that sound as your main doorbell in the future. We just need to manage our expectations and teach them to do something else instead, but they will always be excited at the door, just as we are. Maybe we need to change our reaction to the sound…?
All good reward trainers will look at your dog’s routine including rest, diet, activities and ask if any sudden changes in behaviour have been checked by a vet to rule out pain or sickness before they will work with you on exercises and training to help you and your dog.
In summary, we want our dogs to express themselves, but equally want a balanced approached where the barking is not incessant or loud. Finding out why your dog is barking is the key, as there are different solutions depending on why they are making the noise.
Adore Your Adolescent Dog is out on 7 March – get insights and reminders by registering your email with us at https://www.pippinpetsdogtraining.co.uk/adore-your-adolescent-dog-book/