Barking Up the Wrong Tree?
Last week in our article, we covered the different reasons why dogs bark. This week, we are going to focus on how to prevent your dog from barking. Here at Ash Veterinary Clinic we believe that your dog should not be silent; however, they should know when the appropriate time is to bark. By following a few suggestions, your dog can learn when barking is appropriate.
When you are with your dog, the most effective way to handle problem barking is by using the “come-when-called” behavior. This training may save your dog’s life in other situations too. Begin this training when the dog will definitely come to you. Mealtimes are great times to practice! You can also carry tiny treats when you are out with your dog to practice this command. Develop games that your dog enjoys. Cultivate your dog’s love of your touch and the sound of your voice giving excited praise. All of this means spending pleasurable time with your dog and developing your relationship. Taking the dog through a positive training class will help enormously. Always make sure positive things happen when your dog comes to your call and never negative things. If you need to put the dog into the crate or do anything the dog will not like, go get the dog rather than calling.
Now you may have a dog that comes when called but barks constantly. First identify the reason for barking. This is how you preserve the dog’s ability as a watchdog. Now, call your dog. When the dog arrives, praise the dog. This will develop your dog’s responsiveness to your praise, because you are going to follow the praise with another reward. This association will cause your dog to start thinking of praise as being part of other good things. As you praise, pet your dog. This helps to reduce the dog’s adrenaline rush, as well as switching the dog out of the drive that causes the barking and into a drive where they are focused on you. Quickly now, give your dog another reward. Small treats carried out of view are a good way to start. Align the treat so that the dog looks at your face when you give the treat. The reason we are not dangling the treat in the air in front of the dog, is that we do not want the treat to be a bribe, nor do we want it to become part of the “Come” behavior. We want the dog to come whether a treat is in view or not. So keeping the food out of sight until the dog arrives ensures that your dog is coming to the command and not to the treat. In the future you will also be able to use words and phrases like “cookie!”, “Are you hungry?” and “Want to go for a walk?” as a bridge to the reward. Always keep your promises on rewards to your dog, or your dog will lose its interest.
After the dog has come and you have followed the praise, pet and treat protocol, step away from the dog again and repeat the sequence. Do this three to five times, to sustain the dog’s attention on you. Now your dog’s attention has been completely removed from the reason for barking. Now is the time to release your dog back into the environment. If the dog goes back to barking, call the dog again! Repeat the entire process; including the three to five repetitions of praise, pet and treat after the dog arrives to you. After you’ve done the exercise a second time release the dog again. It is very important NOT to get impatient or angry with the dog! If the dog goes back to barking, guess what? That’s right! Call the dog and do the entire exercise, including the 3-5 repetitions, for a third time. You may have to do the entire exercise many times at first! But eventually you will notice that when the dog barks, they may give a glance over the shoulder at you and will have a fast response to your call. As your training progresses, you should find yourself only having to call the dog once or twice when the barking begins.
When training with your dog, you will also see a dramatic decrease in such symptoms of high adrenaline like raised hackles. You are not only gaining control of the barking, but you are reducing the chance of your dog escalating the behavior into a bite. In the process, you are not doing anything to hurt your dog or make the situation worse before it gets better. The time that you put into training your dog is making a more peaceful environment for you and making your relationship with your dog better and better.
If your dog barks at people or other dogs from the house, or on outings on leash with you, the same technique will work. Step away from the dog and call the dog’s name to move with you. Remember to align the treat so that the dog makes eye contact with you when getting each one. If your dog is focusing his attention on you, it is not focused on barking anymore. A head halter, like a Halti or a Gentle Leader, helps interrupt the habit of barking on leash. It allows you to draw your dog’s attention up to your face even though they are focused on something else. A head halter can be used until your ability and the dog’s training become reliable. Then, for most dogs, you’ll be able to stop using the head halter. If there is a risk of aggression, though, keep using the head halter for the protection of yourself and others. If you are interested in using a head halter with your dog, the staff at Ash Veterinary Clinic can help you fit your dog with it correctly, and to show you how to use it safely and effectively.
You can also use come-when-called to handle your dog’s barking when the doorbell rings or someone knocks on the door, too. This training requires focusing on your dog at the same time you answer the door. It helps to set up practice times with people who will patiently wait for you to call your dog and give treats. An alternative way to solve barking at the doorbell is to teach your dog to take up a particular station away from the door while you answer it. Give treats to the dog on the spot where you want the dog to wait and the lessons will progress quickly.
When someone comes to the door and rings the doorbell, we rush around to answer it and your dog starts barking. You can help change your dog’s reaction to the doorbell by having it ring a lot and ignoring it. You also need a helper for this part to ring the bell while you pretend it is of no importance at all. It is wise to teach your young pup to sit calmly for a treat from any delivery person who comes to your door, too. This is easiest when the pup is young and cute, not yet defensive about territory and not yet scary-looking to delivery people.
If you have multiple dogs, make sure to train them one at a time before expecting them as a group to come when called, do the attention exercise, or be quiet when the doorbell rings. Like humans, dogs in a group develop a mob mentality, which is pack instinct to dogs. To control the pack, you first need to put in the training time with each dog as an individual. One barking dog often causes every other dog in the house to bark more, too. So the more dogs you have, the more important this training becomes.
Some dogs can get plenty of physical exercise scampering around your house, while others need more room to run. All dogs need interaction with their humans, as well as mental exercise. An increase in exercise helps to solve some dogs’ barking problems. Another thing that can help is providing the dog with more interesting toys. There are toys out there that can hide treats or part of the dog’s daily food ration inside. Letting the dog work to get the food makes the dog’s life more interesting.
Barking is not a simple problem. It is not an unfixable problem either. By choosing a dog that fits into your living situation, managing the dog properly and doing some enjoyable training, you can have a great dog and be a great neighbor at the same time. If you have any questions about training your dog and controlling their barking, please call Ash Veterinary Clinic at 734-782-2827.
