Doggy Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘tips to stop dog barking’

How to stop dog barks, is one of the most asked question by dog owners.  It’s important that you properly train your dog not to bark before you end up fighting with your neighbors or going to court.

Your dog is communicating with you when he barks.  He might be telling you that he is bore, lonely, or hungry.  At times, barking can come in handy, for example when he warns you that someone is breaking into your house.You would not want to dog to be quiet, correct? Then there are those times that he barks for any little sound and you wonder why you got him in the first place. But overall you enjoy your dog. The thing to do, is to teach him how to communicate with you depending on the situation.

Before attempting to start any type of training, take your dog to the vet to make sure the barking is not due to a medical condition. 

Teach Dog To Stop Barking
Fortunately, you can stop dog barks or limit the dog barking sounds with the appropriate training. The following tips to stop dog barking should get you started on your way:

• When the doorbell rings and he begins to bark, throw a magazine in his direction. The instant he stops barking give him a dog treat and a praise.Every time the doorbell rings repeat these steps until your dog associates the treat with staying quiet.
• If you prefer not to throw a magazine to get his attention, the use a clicker devise instead.Here is how it works. Next time the doorbell ring and he barks, call him name.Immediately when he turns and looks at you, press the clicker and give him a treat. After he is quiet for few seconds say something like “quiet dog” (always use more than one word) and click again and give him a treat.  He will begin to associate the cue words “quiet dog” with the treat.  Visit and read Dog Clicker Training to learn how to train your dog with a clicker.
• Aways figure out why your dog is barking.Don’ automatically tell him to stop barking because he might be discouraging someone from breaking into your home.  Since at times barking is useful, you might want to teach him to bark for a specific number of time and then be quiet. Begin by allowing your dog to bark three times and on the third bark say “ that is enough” (you determine the number of barks and the cue words).Give him a treat and a praise when he stops barking.  If he doesn’t stop barking throw a magazine in his direction once you get him attention repeat the above steps.
• When dogs don’t get enough exercise they also start barking.  If he is barking and has an agitated demeanor such as restlessness, fidgeting, or aggressive behavior. Then exercising in the morning will make a huge difference.  If walking the dog is not an option, you might want to hire someone to do it for you.

As with any training make sure to practice, practice and practice.On a daily basis use these ideas as often as possible. As your dog grows up, obedience training will get easier and you will build a stronger relationship with him. 

To learn more ideas on how to stop a barking dog or any other unwanted behavior check out the dog obedience training reviewson the top training products currently available online.

Some types of dog barking, for instance- when your dog barks to warn you about a stranger, or when he is greeting or playing with you and barks that aren’t a problem and don’t need correction-maybe just a command to stop if if gets out of hand. On the other hand, if your dog barks for any of the reasons listed in below, you will need to work with your dog to correct these barking problems. The problem of excessive barking can be corrected, but it does take some work on your behalf.

Here are several examples of common bad barking behaviors-use whatever tips work for you, depending on which of these dog barking problems your dog has.

• In order to solve this problem of dogs starting up with their barking due to a visual stimulus, try to find a way to remove the view out of your yard. If you have a fenced in area with no view to the outside, this would be the ideal place to move your noise-offender. However, if your yard has no area with a solid fenced area, maybe you can restrain your dog with a lead in an area of the yard with no outer view. If your dog stays indoors, keep the curtains closed to block his view.

• One method of solving the problem of your dog barking in response to neighborhood dogs, is by taking the matter into your own hands-literally. For instance, as soon as your dog begins to bark, put your hand over his mouth and hold his mouth shut until he has completely stopped resisting. Your dog won’t love this, so it will probably be necessary to use your other hand to hold onto your dog’s collar to prevent him from running off. Another good trick that will startle him out of barking is to spray him in the face with a small blast of water from a little spray bottle. A can of pebbles is also good for startling your dog into  stopping the barking for a bit. These tricks all work to temporarily stop the barking for the time you are using them. While you do any of these tricks to stop him from barking, you must also tell your dog something like “quiet” or “no barking” to verbally imprint the command to your dog. The goal of the training is for your dog to stop barking just by using your vocal command.

• Correcting the problem of a dog barking too much due to stress and insecurity will require you to give your dog lots more attention by exercising him, playing with him and training him. By keeping your dog more active and happy, his anxiety level should go down enough to alleviate his problem barking.

• Once again, to correct a bored or lonely dog’s barking issues, will mean giving him much more exercise, playing and training.  Obviously if your dog is left alone most of the time and doesn’t get enough playtime and attention from you he is more likely to have this type of barking problem. It is wise to give your dog at least the hour and a half minimum daily exercise time he needs.

• Correct the problem of your own dog barking for attention by saying a firm “no” and then turning your back to him and ignoring him for a few minutes. You should not let your dog get away with bullying you. The reason for this, besides the annoyance of a steadily barking dog, is that you are the Alpha dog. You cannot be the Alpha dog and get your dog’s respect if he is able to bully you through his barking.You must be seen as the Alpha dog in order to be able to successfully train your dog.

In addition to these correction techniques, you can find some bark prevention collars available at your pet store. The first of these prevention collars is a Citronella oil collar-this works by spraying a mist of citronella oil into your dogs face when it is activated by the dog’s barking. The idea behind the second type of prevention collar is that it produces a very high pitched sound when your dog barks . Each of these collars works to stop the dog from barking due to his aversion to either the smell or the noise.

A third type of prevention collar that is available in the store is the electric shock variety of collar. I won’t use this type of collar on my own pets, so I won’t recommend it to you, either.Although I have read and heard it is quite effective for stopping behavior problems such as barking, I would rather stick with more humane methods of correction with the dogs I love.

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