A dog barking can be very irritating; however, you must remember that barking is a way for a dog to express itself. So, always be sure you listen and not just hear your dog when he barks. Also, make sure you are your addressing your dog’s needs when he barks. Once you’re sure your dog is okay and has no medical issues, you can begin to address the barking.
There are many methods to stop or prevent barking. Some methods such as a bark collar can be a good tool; however, is typically just a Band-Aid to the situation. Here is a true story where I would recommend using a bark collar. So, when my dog was only a year old, we went on vacation. At this time, I had not had any issues with barking, so the need to train him to stop barking had not came up. One night at the beginning of the trip I was eating dinner in the hotel, my dog quickly learnt that if he barked, I would do anything to get him to stop, including giving him food and while I knew this in the long run was a mistake there wasn’t much I could do in the moment. While we were staying in a hotel that allows dogs; the hotel did have policies against dogs barking a lot. Plus, I didn’t want to bother other guests with his barking. While I wished at the time, I had already taught him not to bark, it was obviously to late for that. So, the very next day I went to the local pet store and bought a collar that would vibrate when he barked. One thing I would recommend is trying the collar on yourself to make sure it doesn’t actually cause your dog any pain. This particular collar simply is unpleasant for him and causes him to stop barking. Once we were home from vacation, I was able to teach him to stop barking using the following method.
The first step in teaching your dog to stop barking is to teach him to start barking. While this may seem counterproductive it is a necessary step, you will see how as you continue to read.
There are somethings you must do or decide before starting. The first thing to do is to find something that makes your dog bark. For some dogs that can be a particular sound such as knocking or whistling, it could be an action such as leaving or coming home, or for some dogs, while it seems silly, barking at your dog can make him bark. I will call this the barking action. You will also want to choose what your command for bark will be. Some common options are saying speak, bark, or talk. I always like to have a visual cue and audio command. Some common visual cues can be having your hand in a fist and opening it which is my preferred way you will see why later on, opening and closing your hand by touching your four fingers to your thumb, or touching your pointer finger to your thumb and opening and closing. These are just some common ways, but you can choose any command you like. I will call this the bark command. Lastly make sure you know your dog’s favorite reward. Most dogs a treat is enough. I’ve found there are some other things that can be just as good as a treat. One thing is over the top praising, I will get really excited and say what a good boy and act like he just did the greatest thing possible. Some dogs are also obsessed with balls or toys, some dogs do even better than a treat by throwing their toy.
Start by using your bark command and immediately doing your barking action. As soon as your dog barks reward him. Repeat this step, depending on the dog it may take a few times, or it may take multiple sessions. Repeat this until your dog barks as soon as you do your barking action. If your dog hasn’t started doing this in 10 to 15 minutes, stop take a break for at least a few hours and come back to it. You’ll also want to keep your total session time to under 30 minutes with a break of at least a few hours. Once your dog is barking immediately after doing your barking action, you’ll want to try simply using your bark command. Ideally your dog will now bark, however you may need to encourage your dog a bit, by doing it a couple times. Once your dog does even the slightest bark, praise him. Repeat this step several times over several sessions. When you leave and come back to training you may have to take a few steps back and start with the barking command followed by the barking action. Once your dog doesn’t need the barking action any more you can practice by just doing the barking command, randomly through out the day, be sure to still reward though. Once your dog has this down your ready to move on to teaching your dog to stop barking.
To teach a dog to stop barking, again you will want to come up with a command. Common commands can be quiet, hush, enough, or stop. Common visual cues can be closing your fist, touching your four fingers to your thumb and keeping it closed, or touching your pointer to your thumb and keeping it closed. Again, you can use any command you’d prefer. I will call this the stop command. So first you will want to use your bark command. Once your dog barks you will want to use your stop command. As soon as your dog stops barking you will want to reward him with his preferred method. You will want to repeat this step over several sessions, over several days. Once your dog gets pretty good at this you will want to practice throughout the day. Now whenever your dog barks, and you’ve addressed any issues, you will want to use your stop command. Your dog will be used to you using your bark command first so it may take some practice with him barking at other things. But over time he will learn that this cue means to stop barking any time. Now you should have a happy, quiet dog!
There are many methods for training a dog to stop barking, this is simply my method. I hope you enjoyed my first canine article. Let me know in the comments if this helped you, or just taught you something new. Be sure to subscribe, to receive our monthly newsletter and be notified when my next article comes out. If you have any questions, or need training advice, leave a comment, or send me an email and I will get back with you as soon as possible!
Jaynie Kiel
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