Does your dog bark a lot and you want to teach him not to bark? Here are our practical tips on this topic.
If you have a puppy or an older dog, your dog may barking a little too much for your liking. In this context, you must ask yourself how to teach your dog not to bark. We will guide you a little about this problem, on the one hand to understand the reasons for the barking, but also to know how stop your dog barking. Here we go.
First of all, why does my dog ​​bark so much?
Above all, well before you teach your dog not to bark, you should always understand why your dog barks. Does he bark to get out or to come in? Maybe you have dogs barking at the gate or fence when someone walks by ? There are also plenty of other scenarios, almost endless, such as the dog barking when a guest rings the doorbell, playerif you forbade him something, etc.
In any case, remember that your dog is a living being, with a brain, an intelligent animal that never barks without reason. It will therefore be necessary identify causes of barking before you try to stop them.
Note that there are two aspects to the barking: the dog, that bark for good reasons, this is the case where its behavior is normal (we will talk about it in the next point); and the case unwanted barking. It is the latter that is truly disturbing and can be reduced. These are the ones that need to be worked on.
There are two main reasons why barking is not normal (untimely): there is barking in response to an action, barking from lack of education (rings the doorbell, wants the door opened, barks of impatience, barks of loneliness).
And there is the second the bark of incomprehension (when the dog hears a noise in the garden and barks constantly, etc.). Above all, observe your dog to determine the cause of his barking. There can be several reasons if your dog barks in more than one situation.
SEE ALSO: Puppy Blues: this phenomenon that many dog ​​owners suffer from
Differentiate between natural barking and nuisance barking
As you have probably understood, there are therefore two types of barking to distinguish between: natural barking and nuisance barking. In fact, if you don’t want your dog to bark, there’s no secret: don’t get a dog. A dog barks, it’s in its nature and you can’t do anything about it. At least as far as natural barking is concerned. These are just natural. his means of expression.
Barking is a means of expression for the dog!
In our society, a barking dog is almost frowned upon. As a master, you feel guilty when your dog barks and potentially disturbs the neighbors. But what you must understand and above all get out of your head is that the dog, to express himself, must bark. So, for example, when your dog barks when he sees someone walking by your house, it does not mean that he is a dangerous dog. The dog warns you that there is potentially dangerous incoming.
The dog is well behaved at this time, he warns you. But mostly the masters try to suppress this behavior yelling at the dog. But it’s not a bothersome bark. It is one if the dog bark “for nothing”that is, he barks for a long time, even after the person has left, if he barks behind the fence hearing a car start, a bird, etc.
Understand your dog: observe normal barking and accept it
So how can you tell the difference between an unwanted bark and one that is normal? Once you know they are normal, you don’t need to work on them. In general, normal barking are these:
- When the dog barks player or in one moment of excitement (goes where he runs, etc.).
- When your dog sees a passerby, he warns card (it must not be long, otherwise it is untimely) of potential danger.
- Short bark if he wants you to open the door.
SEE ALSO: The 5 commands to teach your dog to go everywhere with him
Understand the root causes of nuisance barking to treat them
Here are some cases where barking is considered untimelywhich it will be necessary to work with:
- When the dog barking in the garden hear any noise long after the passerby has passed. In this case, your dog cannot put a picture on the sound, he does not know if the passerby is still there and was mean or not. In short, he has one misunderstanding of behavior that generates anxiety. Often this means that the dog needs more physical and mental expenses, more socialization, but also to know certain sounds, situations, etc. better.
- When the dogs bark long wait for you opened the door. In this case, it has precisely no behavior of patiencehe doesn’t really know what you call frustration in dogs.
- If your dog barks frustration at not getting anything (food that belongs to you, you take too long to give him his bowl, you don’t want to play with him anymore, etc.). Here, too, it is therefore a question of a bad apprenticeship out of frustration.
- The dog barks when you are not there, he feels alone and reacts to the slightest noise. In this case, it may mean that the dog has not yet learned lonelinessfrustration, but also, maybe it isn’t not used and socialized enough (you may not be meeting his needs enough).
SEE ALSO: Why does my dog ​​lick me all the time?
How do I teach my dog ​​not to bark?
So, specifically, how do you teach your dog not to bark? As we told you, for normal barking (therefore not annoying and natural), you have nothing to do, you have to let the dog express himself. On the other hand, for the time being, you will be able to work on it.
Know that the path will certainly be long, especially if the dog is no longer a puppy. But your dog is just waiting to learn from you so that it is possible to reduce the barking. Just teach him community rules, in the human world. Here are some things to do in nuisance barking situations. NB: for all the suggested exercises, keep calm, don’t shoutotherwise you will lose credibility in your dog’s eyes.
Teach your dog not to bark: Learn patience, frustration
If the dog barks because of a bad coping with frustration, there is no secret: you will have to teach him that yes, sometimes you have to give up, you need patience, you have to wait to get what you want. In this sense, try toteach your dog to wait and that it is you who decides when he can do this and that. You decide when you open the door, when we go for a walk, when he eats, when we play and when we stop. Here is some exercises daily to do:
- Teach him e.g. to wait while you try before he can enter, before he has his bowl, etc. Make him sit down, and if he does, he will be rewarded for his gesture and his waiting (wait a little sooner, let him sit for a few seconds) by opening the door and grabbing the bowl. Teach him that he will get what he wants if he waits. Do the same with the food that belongs to you, but show him that he doesn’t always want it too (don’t give orders to wait, sit, for example. And if he does it because he’s figured out the trick, don’t give it to him).
- You can teach him too commands such as “be quiet”, “wait”. For this, here are two exercises that I do with my beauceron. For “shut up”, bring a treat, have the dog sit down and show it a treat, then move away from it a few steps back while saying “shut up”. If he doesn’t move, reward. For “wait”, same principle, but put candy in front of his nose while you say “wait”, if he doesn’t eat it, reward.
Deal with barking due to lack of expenses, knowledge of the world, socialization
If the dog barks at everything and nothing, let him barking out of boredom finally there are not 36 solutions. You have to make him discover things, make him discover sounds, different situations, all while sharing the present moment with him. Here are some tips in this regard:
Teach your dog not to bark: Some practical exercises to deal with the barking in the moment T
- Teaching your dog not to bark when it hears any noise while in the garden is quite complicated because it is a reaction to a much deeper problem than the noise itself. For example, you can try to throw him a toy when it does it to distract, but this is only a temporary solution.
- You can also teach him not to bark by integrating order into daily life. For example, in the same way you taught him to “sit”, try teach him the “bark” command. when he barks and praise him when he barks. Then try to teach him the command “quietly” when he stops barking, reward him to show him that carrying out the order is a good thing.
Give life to your dog, he needs to see and hear enough things on a daily basis
- Another thing that will help you deal with the problem more sustainably and especially to deal with other auxiliary problems: take the dog out just to teach him not to bark. Show him several situations, places: go to the city, then to the forest, etc. It is also necessary meet other dogs of all ages and sizes, people of all ages and sizes.
- The dog must too have enough experience, do sports for example, smell enough odors. Seeing cars start up, seeing birds, seeing someone pass the lawnmower with the accompanying sound… In short, experience enough things that he is used to such and such a noise and knows what the noise corresponds to. distance from the neighbour.
You got it, because teach a dog not to bark, you need to understand the reason for the barking. It should also be understood that some barking is normal and some is not (they are the result of another concern). If you have other exercises in mind, share them with us in the comments. Likewise, if you have questions, an experience to share, for your keyboards!
