The Dog Site

Sometimes a dog barking can be extremely helpful to his safety or to its owners safety; for example, barking when an unexpected visitor approaches your home. However, a dog’s bark can quickly change from being helpful to just being stressful or bothersome. This can be especially problematic in an apartment or condominium, where you’re living in close proximity with your neighbors and a barking dog can be easily heard. Fortunately, it isn’t too hard to get a dog to stop barking with proper training.

First off it’s important to realize that many dog’s barking stems from his boredom. Proper exercise can cut down on barking. Even negative attention is better for some dogs than being continuously ignored, and barking gets people’s attention quickly. Ensuring that your dog has been properly exercised is a good first step toward stopping their unfortunate barking problems.

The last thing you want to do when teaching a dog not to bark is give him positive reinforcement.  When chastising a dog, address it in a clear, authoritative voice, and after you’ve made it clear they’re doing something wrong, don’t go on to give him or her positive attention. Another tactic is similar to this by immediately addressing the dog, but don’t say anything, simply spray a bit of water on the dog – this may have to be repeated before the dog gets the point. If you find you can’t solve the problem on your own, you might want to find a professional behavior trainer.

Anti-barking products can also help break your dog of their bad barking habits. Electronic collars, citronella collars, sound-emitting collars, remote sound-emitters, medication, muzzles, and debarking surgery might all be appropriate, depending on the situation. Some of these items can also be used in conjunction with training to help make sure the dog gets the message. Some trainers or kennels offer overnight training and will incorporate the owner into the training, so he can uphold the trainer’s ground work.

Taylor writes on a variety of other subjects, including how to select an xlarge dog bed.

Tags: barking, dog barking, dog barking training, dog training, Dogs