Guard Dog Training

Bark! Bark!! BARK!!!

The dog barked the neighbor boy right off of his bicycle last week, and they complained. Other people have complained about his barking, and it’s getting hard to sleep through the night without getting woken at least once by his barking fits. GRRR! WOOF!!

Can anything be done?

Some problem behaviors are more straightforward to deal with than others. Learning how to deal with your dog’s excessive barking problem can seem difficult on several levels. It’s absolutely possible to correct and deal with this type of behavior, but you have to take a few things into account. There are a lot of reasons that dogs bark, and you can’t stop them from ever barking. You wouldn’t want to stop your dog from barking when it’s appropriate.It’s important to be aware of the possible causes of excessive barking so that you can approach and correct it in the right way. There are 3 or 4 reasons that dogs will bark.

BOREDOM

Your dog may bark because he isn’t getting enough mental or physical stimulation. Just like a little kid acting out, your dog may bark because he’s bored. Make sure that he’s getting the exercise and attention that he needs. Don’t give him attention when he barks for this reason. A direct reaction to this type of barking, even a negative reaction, will encourage your dog to behave in the same way later.

BREED

Your dog may be bred to bark a lot. Many herding dogs and hounds have this trait because of the job that they were bred to do. If you have one of these breeds of dog, he may be barking because it’s in his genes. However, you can still train him to bark only when it’s appropriate.

SEPARATION

Dogs are pack animals. Your dog may bark too much when you leave him home alone because he’s separated from his pack (you) and doesn’t know how to find you again. This can be one of the most difficult barking problems to solve, but it can be done when you know what’s causing the problem.

The main pitfall to avoid, is rewarding your dog’s barking when you come home. If your dog is barking while you’re gone, and you come home and immediately give him attention, he’ll think that it was his barking that caused you to return. To break this cycle, you have to ignore your dog if he’s barking when you first come home. Once he settles, you can initiate contact, praise him, pet him, and give him the attention that he wants.

STRANGERS

Your dog may bark when a person he doesn’t know comes near the house. This could be anyone that your dog perceives to be a threat to her territory. It can be particularly difficult to eliminate this behaviour if your dog is barking at the mailman or other delivery person because these people are guaranteed to reward the behavior every time. The mailman comes, the dog barks, the mailman leaves. It’s not an impossible cycle to break, but it takes some work.

Certain breeds, boredom, separation from the pack, and strangers will sometimes make dogs bark too much. Although it can be annoying, there are times when it’s appropriate for your dog to bark. Barking is one of the ways that dogs express themselves. They just need to know when YOU think it’s appropriate, or not.

4 Barking Reasons:

* Strangers (intruders into the pack)

* Certain breeds

* Separation

* Strangers (intruders to the pack)

Bark, Bark! GRRR!! GOOD GIRL!!

AVOID DISASTROUS Blunders with your pooch. NOW REVEALED: 3 POWERFUL, humane, and loving ways to train your friend: 3 Dog Training Plans reviewed, Amazing results from 1 method! Or browse excellent, helpful FREE pooch training articles. I’m Scott Erickson, and am an enthusiastic long time pooch fan, trainer, and author.