How To Stop Your Dog from Barking

Dogs bark for many different reasons such as when they’re unsure of a situation, anxious, excited, or even just out of boredom.

Boredom barking happens mostly with high energy dogs like huskies or german shepherds; they need to be stimulated both mentally and physically. This means you need to develop agility games that can exhaust them mentally and physically.

Once you’ve ruled out boredom barking, you have to find the source of their barking. Most of the time it’s a triggering event or stranger walking across the street; this is known as a territorial bark. You should get their attention off of the thing they’re barking at and onto you. To do this you need a high currency treat; something really tasty and valuable to them. The American Kennel Club has a quick list of treats to find the right one for your dog.

Once you have a treat you know your dog will love, bring it to their nose and let them smell it while guiding the treat back towards you. When their attention is fully off the object they’re barking at and onto you, reward your dog generously. However it’s important not to continue to do this every time because it’ll condition your dog to bark more.

To avoid conditioning your dog to bark for treats, you should command them to do something they’re good at such as sit or look at me. This still diverts their focus from the object they’re barking at by keeping their mind on the task at hand to get the treat.

With other dogs this method isn’t that simple. When you can’t get your dog to focus on you no matter what treat you have, resort back to the spot where they were quiet. If you’re walking your dog and they won’t stop barking at another dog across the street, get out of that area and away from the dog so your dog can calm down and focus on you again.

The main concept of stopping excessive barking is to spend time with your dog beforehand to develop a bond. When this happens you’re able to visibly see when your dog is about to bark and intervene to stop that behavior.

Like many other things, this type of behavioral training won’t develop over night. Train with them diligently and they will break the habit.