How To Stop Barking

Having a dog barking incessantly can try the patience of the most devoted of dog lovers. For your surrounding neighbours, who might be accused of loving your dog a lot less than you do, it can be regarded as an absolute nuisance up to anti-social behavior. If the barking is allowed to continue unabated without any serious attempt from the dog's owners to make the dog cease it might even result in intervention by the local police.

Dogs bark. That is an undisputed fact, as it is the only way of communicating that they have. They bark normally if they have a message to pass on, such as.

  • You forget to feed me today.
  • I wouldn't mind a drink.
  • I want to go out!
  • You are standing on my tail.
  • I'm excited!
  • The mail man is here!
  • I'm guarding the fence and talking to the dog on the other side of the fence, we are playing
  • I'm chasing the squirrels in the trees, I can't get them!

However if the dog barks constantly, then that is an entirely different problem. The first step would be a local to your veterinarian to have the dog checked out. Maybe there is something bothering him that needs to be attended to, and the dog is letting you know about it. As in all other cases, the best time to train your dog that excessive barking is not approved of is when it is still relatively young, ideally between four to six months, If the behavior is ignored the dog will start to believe that it is acceptable. Dogs should be taught that barking is acceptable, but in acceptable doses. Dogs at that age are old enough to absorb training of this type, and should be rewarded for ceasing to bark without the reason. It may take some time for the dog to understand exactly what you want from it, but the message will eventually sink in. Excessive barking is a real problem issue and should be nipped in the bud, to prevent a very serious problem later.

There are many experts that claim that the dog is barking because he is bored, and needs more exercise as it isn't burning enough energy. Owners should take this information seriously, and up their dog's exercise schedule accordingly.

For whatever the reason the dog suddenly decides to set off on a protracted barking exercise, it has to be dealt with, and if all else fails, then some fairly drastic but innovative methods may have to be called for.

There are many dogs that suffer from anxiety attacks when left alone, and this can be a really problematic issue. Punishment, in any form, is rarely effective in this instance and the owners have to find a method that will help the dog to remain calm when the owners are not at home. In this case, every dog has his own way of calming down and should be studied closely by the owners. As the saying goes it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks and if for some reason a dog begins to bark incessantly and without any apparent reason, and then more tangible methods have to be brought into play to force the dog to desist.

Remote controlled bark control collars have been found to be effective in these cases. Either the collar emits a scent or a sound that the barking dog will find unpleasant. If the collar is activated every time the dog barks, it won't take the dog too long to link together the following factors-

Barking= unpleasant sounds or smells= should stop barking.

These methods, whilst sounding flippant, can largely reduce the problem of incessant and annoying barking. If the dog still continues to be a nuisance, they may have no option to turn to more drastic methods. However to be fair to their neighbours they many have no option.

If these methods do not have the desired impact you are forced to consider more controversial methods. There are collars that can be trained to respond to your dogs bark only and give a warning sound for the first bark. Continued barking induces a light shock. Some collars step up the shock if the barking continues. There are also collars that emit a high pitched sound when the dog barks. Supposedly one they find unpleasant. This is also said to stop or decrease barking with some dogs.

Some dogs are barking for joy and just have the unfair disadvantage of having a high and annoying bark. Closer supervision will help, giving the dog a time out when they get too wound up in play and are barking too much. Some learning will occur over time from this strategy but it will not cure it and constant reinforcement is needed. Increased exercise to tire a barker can help as well.

The last solutions are rehoming a dog or moving to a less urban or debarking. While this final solution is not for everyone, some vets will recommend surgery to "debark" your dog. They retain a husky voice but lose the high pitched bark. Vets will tell you aside from the cost and recovery time for the dog, this can be a very humane method as the dog is allowed to bark as much as they want without the negative ramifications.