How to Control Dog Barking

Posted by Puppy Trainer on October 2nd, 2009 filed in Dogs

Sometimes your dog  may start barking because he gets overexcited to see you, or really wants your attention, or is barking to protect you-these are all minor barking problems, and you should be able to stop them with a simple command to quiet down. You will have some work to do to correct any of these dog barking problems from the list below if your dog has one of them. The problem of excessive barking can be corrected, but it does take some work on your behalf.

Below are some examples of dog barking problem behaviors, and some ways to correct these dog barking problems-use whichever tips apply to your dog’s problems.

• In order to solve this problem of dogs starting up with their barking due to a visual stimulus, try to find a way to remove the view out of your yard. If you can move your dog behind a solid fence you will have blocked that view. However, if your yard has no area with a solid fenced area, maybe you can restrain your dog with a lead in an area of the yard with no outer view. If your dog stays indoors, keep the curtains closed to block his view.

• To solve the problem of dogs that bark in response to hearing nearby dogs barking, will require you to interact directly with your dog. For instance, as soon as your dog begins to bark, put your hand over his mouth and hold his mouth shut until he has completely stopped resisting. Since he will not enjoy this at all, you will need to grab ahold of his collar to keep him from moving away. Another trick you can try is to spray him in the face with a small spray bottle of water as soon as he starts barking. A can of pebbles is also good for startling your dog into  stopping the barking for a bit. Any of these 3 tricks should work for stopping the barking temporarily-at least while you are actually applying them. As you have your hand over his mouth or spray him, you must also command your dog to be “quiet” or say “no barking”. At the end of a successful training to stop barking, your dog should stop when just given your verbal command.

• You can correct this anxiety type of behavior by giving your dog a lot of attention-play, train and exercise with him daily. All the activity should make your dog a happier, more confident dog, who won’t need to express his anxiety through barking.

• To correct the dog barking problems cause by a bored or lonely dog, also will require increase attention by you in the way of exercising and playing and training your dog.  A dog that is often left alone all day, without plenty of playing and exercising, is definitely more likely to develop this behavior. By giving your dog at least one and a half hours daily exercise, you will help a lot with his feelings of loneliness and boredom, and hopefully cut way down on his need to bark for long periods of time.

• Correct the problem of your own dog barking for attention by saying a firm “no” and then turning your back to him and ignoring him for a few minutes. You should not let your dog get away with bullying you. Besides the fact that the barking gets annoying, you must be seen by your dog as the boss-the Alpha dog-of the relationship. Your dog will not give you the respect you need to be the Alpha dog, if he is able to bully you around with his barking. You must be seen as the Alpha dog in order to be able to successfully train your dog.

You can also find some types of  barking prevention collars at the pet store. The Citronella oil collar works through the activation of a fine mist sprayed into your dog’s face when he starts barking. The idea behind the second type of prevention collar is that it produces a very high pitched sound when your dog barks . Each of these collars works to stop the dog from barking due to his aversion to either the smell or the noise.

A third type of prevention collar that is available in the store is the electric shock variety of collar. Some people have had good success using these when other methods have failed.

For more dog obedience and dog behavior problem articles to help you train your dog at home, please visit http://BehaveDoggy.com.

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