How to Stop a Dog from Barking

With barking, as with many other behaviors, prevention is one of the best tools that you can use to keep your dog from barking. Ways to prevent barking are the following.

Exercise: if the dog is barking when you are away from the house, make sure that he is being exercised before you leave. This will usually keep him from barking when you are gone.

Don’t play up your goodbye: This also goes hand in hand with leaving your dog for the day but if you are making a big deal out of leaving, then he is going to think it should be a big deal. When you leave, he will begin crying and barking.

Ignore the barking: When your dog first barks, ignore it. Don’t give him any indication that you heard or care about what he is doing. He will quickly learn that barking doesn’t get the desired response so it isn’t worth doing.

Stimulate your dog: While exercise can go a long way, make sure that you find ways to keep your dog stimulated intellectually as well. Provide him with toys and also spend time training him. This will help with his attention seeking barking.

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Take control: Make sure that your dog understands who is in charge of the household and that it is you. If he is becoming a nuisance barker, put him on leash and keep him near you. Whenever he goes to bark, correct him and don’t let him run off, barking all the way. It may seem like a nuisance but it illustrates that when you say quiet, you mean quiet.

Don’t overuse the word Quiet: If you are constantly telling your dog to be quiet and he doesn’t always have to listen to the word, then he will begin to never listen to it. Only use the word when you can enforce your command.

Socialization: As with many other problems, barking can be prevented with proper socialization. Make sure that he is socialized both outside the house and with guests coming over.

Reward your dog for not barking: When your dog is being quiet, especially after your tell him to be, make sure you praise and reward him for the behavior so he learns that being quiet has good response.

If you can’t prevent barking, it is time to correct the problem. To do this, follow these steps.

Step One: Set your dog up
If you want to stop a dog from barking, you are going to have to set him up. Invite a friend over and have them phone you before they knock on the door. This lets you know that you will need to have control over your dog at this point.

Step Two: Initiate the bark
Once your dog is on the leash, have your friend trigger the barking reflex in your dog.

Step Three: Give the command
When he begins barking, give a firm pull of the leash and say, “Quiet.” Hold a treat in front of him so he can see it. This treat should be enough to break the bark and interest him in something other than barking at the door.

Step Four: Treat
Once the barking has been stopped, praise him and give the treat. As he learns that being quiet will result in a reward, begin lengthening the time between when he stops barking and when he gets the treat.

When you are teaching this, you can train him to bark for a certain amount of time. Instead of saying quiet on the first bark, allow him to bark three times and then give the command. Be consistent and very quickly your dog will learn that three barks are all he needs to do for an alert bark.

If training and prevention proves insufficient, you could try to talk to a veterinarian and find alternative ways to stop a dog from barking.

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