Do you ever get the feeling that your dogs bark just to annoy you? Did you know that the first dogs didn’t actually bark? We have given them the ability to alert us when something is wrong by selectively breeding for the dogs that would make good “watch dogs.” So why do they try to annoy us? Maybe they don’t. What if our dogs are genuinely trying to tell us that they think there’s something we should know about?
One of the most common complaints I hear from dog owners is that they want a way to stop their dog from barking so much. They still want them to bark. Just not when they don’t want them to bark. But they do want them to bark when they want them to bark. That’s simple isn’t it? The one piece of advice I give to owners of barking dogs is that punishing the barking is a bad idea. It can be very confusing to the dog.
If your dog didn’t have a reason to bark, they wouldn’t. Maybe they’re worried about something like strangers approaching. Or something startled them. Or maybe even just because when they bark, the owner pays attention to them. I think the best thing we can do with barking dogs is help them understand when things are ok and when they are not and to be clear about that.
When Rizzo barks out the window, I look to see what it is. If it’s “nothing”, I calmly move him away from the window and gently say, “That’s enough, bud, thanks.” If Tira barks at strangers, I work with her at a distance to reward her for just calmly watching to get her used to that idea. We don’t make a big fuss when our dogs bark. We just calmly address whatever they are barking at and get them doing something you would prefer. We’ve found from our experience that getting upset and yelling (barking?) at our dogs probably won’t help the situation.
I know my dogs bark for a reason. I just want to help them bark for the “right” reasons. And that takes time and training and just being consistent with them.
Eric
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