Stop My Dog From Barking

Excessive Barking Explained

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It gets very annoying, when your dog insists on barking continuously, below are 7 of the most reasons for excessive barking and tips to stop it.

Reasons Dogs Bark

The first step in correcting this type of behavior problem, is to figure out what triggers off your dogs barking .

1. separation anxiety: is a big player in the excessive barking department along with other more destructive behavior problems.

2. To warn pack members of danger: ie you and your family of danger even if it's just the postal worker.

 _{3. Excitement: when playing normally pup's and adolescent dogs are the offenders here.}

4. Bred to bark: This includes breeds like, hounds and terriers.

5. For fun: Self explanatory  though very annoying.

6. A lack of stimulation: physically or mentally bord.

7. Un-socialized: This kind of dog can become a problem Barker because they have not been taught the required manners.

Also remember dogs have very acute senses, and can see hear and smell far better than us, so it may seem your dog is just barking at the wind but this may not be the case.

How To Treat Excessive Barking

Getting your dogs barking under control will take some time and effort on your part. So i must stress the 3P's which are Patients, persistence and Practise. It's not going to get remedied overnight but with the proper methods you will see positive progress.Most dogs wont understand the words "shut up" when your yelling at them pulling your hair out and waving your arms around like a demented lunatic. So train your dog the word "quiet" or "hush". shouting and screaming will only serve to encourage your dog because in his mind he thinks you're joining in with his chorus. So always speak firm calm tone.

 Method to help with excessive barking

When your pooch is barking excessively, in a firm calm voice say "hush". wait till he ceases to bark even if it's just to take a lungful of air before carrying on, then give him some praise and a treat, this way his attention is of barking, keep repeating this practise till the penny drops. word of warning make sure he has stopped barking before rewarding him else inadvertently you will be rewarding the barking and not the glorious sound of silence timing is the key here. In time he will figure out that the word "hush" is associated with a reward, and will offer his silence willingly.

This method is most effective for
Warning /danger Barker don't worry if there is a real danger your dog will continue to warn you.

hounds and terriers and other breeds that are bred to bark but can learn to control i

t with this positive reinforcement tactic.

The "Just for fun" Barker will also learn quickly this way

If your dog barks because of a lack of stimulation physically and/or mentally then the first things you need to do are take care of those needs, give him plenty of exercise to get rid of that excessive energy and get him some good quality toys to play with then the above method will work a treat. As the old saying goes "A tired dog is a quiet dog."

Separation anxiety this is a hard one if your dog is barking excessively in this instance i believe he will also be displaying other behavioral problems and much of the cause of this will be from panic attacks, your dog may very well  need complete from the ground up training.

if it,s a un-socialized  dog irrelevant of age then i believe you must very seriously consider taking him to dog obedience training classes or at the very least developing his social skills but that's a completely different subject for another day.

If your pooch falls into one of the above categories, the above methods should help stop your dog barking, but for it to work you need to stick with it just remember the 3P's.