From Barking Hell to a Harmonious Home

How to Stop Your Dog Barking

Effective Training Solutions for Barking Dogs

​Are your barking dogs driving you nuts?  Is your dog barking at your neighbours? Does every sound set your dog off? 

Barking dogs are a nuisance.  They are stressful to live with and a dog that barks at everything that passes your house doesn't make you popular with the neighbours. 
 

Is your Dog Barking at everything that passes by

​After moving house my dogs, Bertie and Velma, found the view from the window and new neighbours and their barky dogs all a bit much. All my previous training went out the window.  The first couple of days in our new house were a bit noisy.   Not what you want when you are trying to make a good impression with the new neighbours. 

Here's how we quickly went from Barking Hell to a Harmonious House.

Here's my Top Tips to stop your dog barking... Fast!

1. Set your dog up for success. 
If your dog spends half the day looking out the window and kicking off every time a person passes,  find ways to prevent your dog doing this.

"Oh but my dog LOVES looking out the window" is something I hear all the time.

If your dog is getting a big kick of adrenaline every time someone passes, they are not doing it for love of watching nature.  They are feeling compelled to look in case they miss out on something happening that they feel they need to have some control over.

Your dogs mental and physical health will thank you for removing that stress from their life. If your dog is barking at the window or barking at birds and squirrels you can;

• Close blinds
• Get stick on/peel off window film
• Rearrange furniture
• Get creative and block access to "perches".

2. Use background noise to mask trigger noises

• Radio 4 or talk radio is great for masking the sound of people talking
• Japanese drumming can mask fireworks or builder noises
• White/brown noises played from spotify (or similar) or a fan running can help some dogs and can be less disruptive if you prefer a quiet house.

​White and brown noise is great way to mask trigger noises that may cause your dog barking at night.
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3. Don’t shout at your dog
Instead gently encourage your dog away from the place they are barking, and redirect them to an activity you would like them to do.  When we shout when our dogs are barking, they either perceive us as joining in, or we just add more stress to an already stressful situation.

In the same vein, tools like anti bark collars or ultrasonic barking collars are inhumane.  They give an unpleasant vibration, shock or squirt of citronella when your dog makes a noise.  However they can go off at other noises and can leave your dog feeling stressed.  They also rarely work reliably.

Muzzles that stop barking also stop your dog panting which is the only way your dog can cool down.  There is a real risk of causing your dog to over heat with a muzzle that prevent barking.
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4.  Keep your dog busy.  
Chilled out, had enough exercises, feeling good dog don't spend a lot of time barking

Adolescent, impossible to tire out dogs do.  Bored dogs.  Dogs who are feeling stressed.

Stress can come about easily.  For my dogs moving house was stressful.  The day after fireworks.  Changes to my work routine.  Visitors to your home.  Learn about what your dog copes well with and what they don't.  Sniffing, licking and chewing are natural ways that dogs can de-stress.

Ways to keep your dog busy;

• Food scatters your dog has to sniff and search for.  A small handful of treats/dried food/breakfast cereal thrown on the floor or in the garden is a really simple way to keep your dog busy at times they might want to bark.
• Natural and healthy chews like calves hooves, dried venison skin, pizzles are also great
• Licky mats, slow feeders, kongs, puzzle mats, and all the other canine enrichment activities are brilliant for keeping bored, lively and stressed dogs busy.

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5. Change how your dog responds to sounds/triggers.
Some of our dogs will bark because they feel alarmed and some will bark because they feel fear or anxiety... Other (my dog Velma is definitely in this category) love barking and appear to get a great sense of satisfaction out of it.

However, regardless, we can change how they respond to triggers and ultimately, how they feel about them too.

The complexities of an effective counter conditioning programme (fancy name for changing how your dog responds to a trigger) for every individual dog are impossible to convey in a blog.  When crafting one for my clients I need lots of information and need to observe the dogs reactions.

However there is a quick and simple tick you can use.

If your dog is barking at the doorbell, throw your dog a handful of small treats onto their bed or into a room for them to search and sniff for, as soon you hear the door bell.  This will start habituating your dog to go to that place when they head the doorbell.

If your dog is barking in the garden, scatter small treats for them to search for.  You can even do this before your let your dog outside, so the nice scent of treats is already there.

If your dog barks at visitors in your home and can't calm down within a minute (a little barking is normal), then take your dog out of the room and let them settle in another room.  Another option is to give your dog an activity to do (chew, kong, snuffle mat).  This allows your dog the option to use natural canine calming activities to help them settle.
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How do I teach My dog a quiet command?

It's a popular myth that teaching your dog a command (or cue) is helpful when they are barking.  If you don't give your dog something else to do when the barking tigger is present, your dog will likely go quiet on your command, eat the treat and go right bark to barking.

My dog Bertie can bark on cue and then go quiet on cue. I taught him it for a dog sport. It's useless when he's alarmed by my new neighbour's dog is barking.  Instead of telling him quiet, I just call his name and throw him a handful of treats to search for.  Now he's sniffing he's not listening to the dog next door barking.
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Does your dog bark during the night?

If your dog frequently barks during the night and struggles to settle there are a few things to consider.

• Health issues, such as dental pain, arthritis or other pain is a very common reason for dogs not settling all night.  If your dog regularly wakes you barking I would discuss your dogs health with a vet.
• If your dog sleeps in another room, background noise such as white noise can help mask triggers
• Some dogs sleep better with a night light on.
• If all else fails, try my suggestions below (keeping a jar of small treats in your bedside drawer can help if your dog shares your room!)

but... My dog is barking right now, how do I make them stop 

Throw them some treats on the ground to sniff and search for.  Hand them a chew.  Distract them with something they love.

"Won't that teach them to bark for treats?"

If you are following all my other advice and you are setting your dog up for success.  If you are providing your dog with other treats, chews and food scatters at times they are not barking, then no, it's unlikely your dog will bark at triggers for treats.

However, you will help your dog feel better about triggers.  You will get out of the cycle of shouting at your barking dog.  Your dog will want to respond to you and recall away from the trigger.  Finally, your dog will have a natural canine way of de-escalating from all that stress, frustration or excitement.

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