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How To Control Your Dog From Barking
By Matt Unangst
We've all dealt with a neighbor's dog that wouldn't stop barking at all hours of the day and night and cursed the neighbor and the dog for ruining our lives. What if that owner is you and you can't figure out a way to stop your dog from barking despite spending countless hours working on the problem?
The simple explanation for why a dog is barking is that the dog believes that it can gain more by barking than it can by remaining silent. You need to change the situation so that your dog will benefit from keeping quiet and will thus adjust its behavior. Dogs will respond to punishment and will understand what has brought about the punishment if you are consistent in doling it out. When your dog barks, immediately go to your dog (do not call your dog to you - doing so can reinforce his barking behavior), tell it "NO," and reinforce your words with an unpleasant physical action, either spraying the dog with a water bottle or striking the dog lightly on the nose. Do not use too much force when disciplining your dog for barking as it is counterproductive. It is essential, as with all dog training practices, to be consistent in your actions so that your dog will understand what it needs to do to avoid the negative reaction you give it for barking.
The main reason dogs bark excessively is out of boredom. Dogs that are used to getting attention from their owners when they bark will bark to get attention when they are bored. Even if the only reaction you give is to yell at the dog, the barking can sometimes still be reinforced because the dog is happy to get any reaction. You should also take steps to make your dog less bored with its life. Ensure that you walk your dog every day to give it exercise and social interaction that it doesn't get at home.
It is important to give your dog something to do during the day that will distract him from barking. Leave him chew toys hidden around the house or, even better, use one of the several toys available that you can hide food inside. These toys make a dog work to get its food and will distract your dog for hours if it is hungry. If your dog continues barking during the day, find a way to distract him from barking. You can leave for work a few minutes early, then double back around (make sure you are downwind) and make some sort of sharp noise when you hear your dog barking. Another possibility is to hide a phone somewhere in your house and have a neighbor call it, letting it ring only once, when she hears your dog barking.
Many products are available that claim to stop dog barking so that you don't have to go through the process of training your dog. While I can't say that any of them work, I can say that the product my neighbors bought to control their dogs through the use of a high-pitch sound only has the effect of hurting my ears while the dogs continue to bark. Other products available include collars that emit an unpleasant smell when the dog barks.
While trying to stop your dog from uncontrolled barking, take steps to manage the barking so that it is less of a problem. Keep your dog inside of your house or in your backyard while you are away; inside to muffle the sound of its barking and the backyard to reduce the number of disturbances that may make it bark.
As with most things, it's far easier to control your dog from barking if you start training it before the barking become a problem. If barking is already a problem, you may need to be patient and use the methods outlined above for several weeks before you see your dog consistently control his barking. But the wait is well worth it in the increased peace of mind you (and everyone who lives near you) will enjoy afterwards.