Oh Those Barking Dogs!
Barking. It's probably the one behaviour I can't tolerate. It drives me crazy.
Step one: determine the cause and there are many: boredom, fear, excitement, demand, frustration, separation anxiety and alarm barking. Each one requiring a different plan. Each plan takes time to work. Be patient. Be consistent. Seek qualified help if necessary.
Fear-based barking: you first need to change the underlying emotion. That is most often changed by implementing a training protocol using Classical Counter Conditioning (change the emotion) then introducing Operant Conditioning (perform a behaviour). This requires the guidance of a qualified Positive Reinforcement trainer.
Raising your voice or punishing your dog will not be effective and will likely make it worse.
Barrier Frustration: This can be see when on leash and a playful, social dog can’t get to anther one or a dog is behind a barrier such as fenced area or in a car.
In order to prevent on leash frustration from developing, maintain distance and feed your dog as you pass another one, either on leash or when passing a dog in a backyard to ensure your dog isn’t stressed by a barking dog.
This is another time where reprimanding or punishing the on leash dog will not change the behaviour but can turn it into a more serious one of leash aggression.
Don’t allow your dog to be outside, alone, barking at passers by.
Boredom: have a plan that includes daily enrichment such as food puzzles, aerobic activity, daily interaction with you, appropriate chews. A dog left alone most of the day will get bored. Older dogs tend to sleep a lot when alone but they still need enrichment. Younger pups and adolescents will need a plan for the day as their needs are different.
Putting the dog out in the yard, expecting him to entertain himself won’t work for very long. You will likely end up raising your voice as he tries to find something to do such as digging, chewing up your flower bed or barking at passers by, sounds and birds.
Demand Barking: I can't stand demand barking. I find it as annoying as a small child pulling on my sleeve and whining trying to get attention. That never worked with me.
This often develops over time because we get tired of hearing the bark and give the dog a toy, attention, food or something to get the barking to stop. From the dog’s point of view, barking is what worked. We repeat behaviour that works.
Pay attention to when the barking usually occurs and try to preempt it. Teach your dog to do something else.
Are you going to make a phone call? Give your dog something to chew or be prepared to reinforce quiet – before any barking begins.
Sitting on the couch trying to watch TV? Did you exercise your dog before sitting down to watch? Is it his active time of day/night or is it when he’s usually ready for a nap?
Does he bark when you are getting his breakfast ready? Prep a stuffed food toy the night before so you he can entertain himself with it while you prep the rest.
Pay attention to him when he is quiet instead of waiting until barking begins.
Alarm/Alert/Watchdog Barking: This is what you get when the doorbell rings, when they hear a sound or sight they can’t identify. Management is important with this type of barking.
Too often I hear from people who say their dog barks at people as they pass by the window. I see this all the time when on walks with my own dog. People will say they let their dog do it because they enjoy it. Think about that though. With alert barking the dog is barking to keep intruders away. He is on alert. He is not relaxed. His cortisol is elevated every time a trigger passes and it remains in an elevated state. That is not an enjoyable state to be in.
In my opinion, that dog would feel much calmer and relaxed if he wasn’t on sentry duty.
A dog who can look out the window calmly, is relaxed and not on edge waiting for the next intruder to approach.
Close the blinds. Do not allow your dog to rehearse the unwanted behaviour. Allowing this to continue makes the behaviour stronger because from the dog’s point of view – barking makes the person/bicycle/car/mail carrier/dog go away.
You can choose to simply manage it for the dog’s life or you can train an alternate behaviour. If you choose to train an alternate behaviour you still need to prevent rehearsal of it until the new behaviour is strong. The new behaviour whether it’s a interrupt cue such as “hush” or go to your bed need, to be taught out of context before using in real situations.
Barking at the doorbell requires a plan that includes management and training an alternate behaviour such as going to a bed/crate, teaching a hand target, carry a toy, bring a toy to toss, find it game, teaching calm for example.
Changing this behaviour can be an article of its own so I am not going to delve deep into it here.
In all of the above cases, prevention is key. The longer your dog rehearses the unwanted behaviour the stronger it gets.
To Summarize:
Some behaviours require training to change and some can be managed.
1) Stop the practice of unwanted behaviour by using management when possible. Think of how you can prevent it from happening.
2) Teach a new behaviour when appropriate.
3) If you are not sure the behaviour is fear based, speak to a qualified positive reinforcement trainer to determine if the behaviour is fear based. *If barking is fear based a different approach is needed.