It can be really frustrating living with a barking dog. It can also lead us as owners to have feelings of stress and embarrassment, particularly if we’re getting complaints from neighbours. In this post, we’ll discuss why dogs bark and how we can train them to do something else in situations they may be inclined to bark. We’ll also look at how we can prevent barking in the future. If your dog has recently started barking a noticeable amount more than they previously had done, it’s worth getting them to the vet for a health check. Sudden changes in behaviour are often a sign your dog is in pain somewhere, even if they are not obviously limping.
Dealing with a barking dog- why is it happening?
The first thing we need to look at is the motivation for the behaviour. So why is your dog barking? It is a very normal, natural dog behaviour that can have a number of different functions for a dog, depending on the context. Here’s some common reasons a dog may be barking:
- Fearful of something- perhaps a dog, person or noise and barking to ask it to go away
- Bored and attempting to get your attention to help cure their boredom
- Frustrated at being unable to interact with something, such as a dog on the other side of the fence
- Stressed at being left home alone
- Resource guarding food, toys, objects or their home
Have a think about the particular contexts in which your dog is barking and why they may be barking in those situations. If your dog is bored and looking to get your attention, it’s worth thinking about if their needs have been met that day. You can have a read of our post here on helping your dog to be calm in general. A dog who has had sufficient exercise and mental stimulation is much less likely to bark out of boredom.
Management
Once we’ve figured out why your dog is barking, we can think about what kind of management we can put in place to reduce the barking. Management refers to physical barriers or other solutions we can use to manage a dog’s behaviour and prevent further rehearsal of that behaviour before we start training.
So, if your dog has a habit of sitting on a piece of furniture by the window and barking at passers-by, there are a number of different forms of management we could use to reduce this barking. You could move the piece of furniture so your dog doesn’t have somewhere to sit and look out the window. Placing some opaque window film over all or half the window to block your dog’s view of passers by can be useful too. You could also just shut the door to that room to prevent your dog going in there unless you are in there with them to actively train a different behaviour.
Different types of management will be necessary depending on the reason for why your dog is barking. For example, if your dog is barking because they’re bored after being at home by themselves for too long, you might look at getting a dog walker or sitter in to break up the day for them.
Training
In some cases, you might find that management is enough to help stop your dog barking excessively. For example, if your dog stops barking out the window once you’ve moved the chair out from under the window. It’s totally fine to not do any further training if management works for you and your dog. However, there will be contexts in which you need to do training with your dog to help reduce the barking and help them feel calmer in those situations. For example, if your dog is barking at every other dog you see whilst you’re out walking. Also, if your dog is barking at you because they’re resource guarding food or objects at home. In these cases, you’ll want to work with a force free dog trainer or behaviorist.
There is a helpful game you can play with your dog if they bark at things. The game is called open bar, closed bar and was created by Jean Donaldson. You can read more about it in her book Dogs are from Neptune. To play this game, you will need a handful of your dog’s favourite treats. You can use this game in a number of contexts. In this example, we’ll look at how you can use this game to help barking at the television. You’ll want your dog to be in a calm state and ready to learn-not just after they’ve been barking lots! Here’s how to play.
- Turn the TV on with the volume on mute. Immediately start dropping treats on the floor in front of your dog.
- Turn the TV off and stop dropping treats. What you are teaching your dog is that when the TV is on, good things happen for them.
- As long as your dog remains calm and is able to eat their treats, you can start to increase the volume on the TV. If your dog starts to show signs of stress, turn the volume down.
- The key thing is to set your dog up for success. So if they often bark at animals on TV, start with a show that doesn’t have animals on. You can then build up to animal shows as your dog gets used to the game.
The idea here is that you are changing your dog’s conditioned emotional response to the TV. It’s important that your dog is under threshold. So if your dog begins to bark, you may need to be further away from the TV (or whatever the trigger is you are working around). You’ll want to do several short sessions of this game and prevent your dog from barking at the TV when you are not actively training them through management. You can read more about the open bar, closed bar game here.
What to avoid with a barking dog
As much as excessive barking can be stressful and frustrating for us, it’s important to remember your dog is not barking to annoy you or to be spiteful. There is a good chance they are stressed themselves and trying to communicate that to you. Punishing your dog for barking is unlikely to help the situation in the long run. We don’t recommend collars or other tools that claim to stop barking through shock or by spraying the dog with citronella. These tools create a negative emotional response to the thing that they are barking at. This can increase the likelihood that your dog will act aggressively towards this thing in the future and increase how stressed your dog feels. Training using positive reinforcement methods is more humane and effective.
What next?
- Looking for more help with your reactive dog? Contact us to arrange in person or online training.
- Read more blog posts here.
- Perfect Recall: Teaching your dog to come back when called every time. Our guide is free to download when you join our email list- sign up here.