How To Teach Your Dog To Stop Barking
For many pet owners, the constant
barking of an alert dog 
is a great annoyance. Controlling that dog behavior becomes one of the
main priorities of the dog owner, and many even go so far as to remove
the dog’s voice box or get a shock collar.
Both of those
methods are not only
less than ideal, they are extremely cruel. There are ways to train your
dog out of barking that should be used instead, and if those
fail consider not owning a dog at all because dealing with barking is a
natural part of being a dog owner.
Notes
About Barking
It
should also be noted that some dogs cannot control their barking
completely. Shetland Sheepdogs, for example, were bred near the Shetland Islands
– right near an extremely loud sea. Their only method of communicating
was through barking, and as a result trying to get a Sheltie to stop
barking completely is a near pointless task. It can be done, but do not
be surprised if your dog still sounds the alarm on occasion.
In
addition, remember that barking is your dog’s way of communicating. It
can be loud and interrupt your day, but it is often one of your dog’s
only ways of telling you something.
Training
Your Dog Out of Barking
That
said, it is perfectly safe and acceptable to try to train your dog out
of barking. For this, there are a variety of methods:
-
Punishment
– Rarely recommended by any dog behavior expert, verbal punishment is
still effective for some dogs. Dogs that are sensitive to noise, for
example, a loud shout is a good command to get them to stop barking.
However, one of the things you need to remember is that you have to
pick a word and stick with it. Don’t say “no” and “stop” and “quit it.”
Say one word, like “Shush,” and only use that word when you are trying
to control your dog’s barking.
-
Teach
Your Dog to Bark On Cue – A neat little trick that seems less effective
than it is, training your dog to bark on command is a great way to get
them to stop barking. How? By rewarding them for barking when you ask
them to bark, they will experience less joy barking when you are not
asking them, because you are only giving them the treat when you use
the command.
-
Don’t
Reward – If your dog barks at you every time you throw it the ball,
don’t throw the ball until your dog has stopped barking. Barking is
often self reinforcing – sometimes your dog barks to get your
attention, and when you yell “no” you are giving your dog that
attention. Or your dog barks before you give it food out of being
excited, and then when you put the food down your dog’s barking is
rewarded. Try to avoid this as often as possible.
Barking
is how many dogs communicate. Training a dog out of barking is
sometimes like trying to train an infant out of crying. However,
barking can be minimized by using some of the above tools. To learn
more tips and tricks for controlling dog behavior, read about my
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