Why Your Dog Barks – Part 1

If you have a dog, most likely there have been times he or she barks excessively for a reason you are not sure of.

Clear the Air would like to share some helpful tips on learning about the behavior of your dog and why he barks.  This will be a two part blog touching on various reasons your dog barks.

This article was taken from the San Diego Humane Society.

Dogs bark for a variety of reasons:

1) Watchdog Barking serves the dual purpose of alerting pack members that there is an intruder and warning the intruder that they have been noticed.

2) Request Barking is the dog’s way of communicating to the owner that he would like something NOW.

Typical requests are “open the door NOW,” “pay attention to me NOW,” “let me out of here NOW,” “I wanna see that dog NOW” etc.

3) Spooky Barking occurs when the dog is uncomfortable about something in the environment and barks to say “I’m dangerous! Don’t come any closer!”

4) Boredom Barking can result when the dog’s daily needs for exercise and social stimulation are not met. The dog has gone essentially mad from boredom.

Controlling Excessive Barking:

Watchdog Barking

The standby technique is to teach the dog a competing response – such as fetching a certain toy or doing a down-stay on a mat (which cuts barking in many dogs) for tasty food rewards. Practice out of doorbell or “intruder” contexts first and then incorporate the game or command into real-life situations. The dog will need some coaching and prompting the first few times in the real-life situation so prepare to budget some time for that. Even better, set it up with a cohort to play “visitor,” so you can focus on the dog rather than being forced to attend to the person at the door. When the dog is more advanced, you can also incorporate penalties. If he gets it right, he is rewarded as usual. If he barks, he goes into the penalty box – a back room or crate that is far from the action.

Another technique – high effort but great result – is to teach the dog the meaning of the words “bark” and “quiet” (or any word you want to use as an “off” switch). First, you have to teach the dog to bark and quiet on command as a trick. To elicit the barking so that you can practice, you must use something you know makes the dog bark, like the doorbell or a weird noise outside (you may need a helper). Arrange the following sequence:

1) your command “bark!”

2) the doorbell or other prom

3) barking from the dog

4) praise from you: “good bark!”

5) your command “quiet”

6) showing him the treat

7) his (eventual) distraction from barking by the treat

8) 3-5 seconds of quiet during which you praise “gooo-oood quiet”

9) giving him the treat after 3-5 seconds of perfect quiet

10) repeat, gradually lengthening the duration of the “quiet” up to a minute

Do it over and over until the dog knows the game. He knows the game when he barks on the command and doesn’t need the doorbell anymore, and he quiets on the first quiet command without having to be shown the treat (you still give him one from your pocket, you just don’t show it anymore). If ever he interrupts a quiet with even one bark, say “oh! too bad” and start counting the quiet time from the beginning again. Barking during the quiet time will cost him his treat.

You must be able to yo-yo the dog back and forth reliably between bark and quiet before you try out your “quiet” command in real situations. The most common mistake is trying to use the quiet command before it’s well-enough conditioned in training sessions. Think of quiet on command as a muscle you’re making stronger.

When you can turn barking on and off anytime, anyplace as a trick, you may now start commanding quiet after a few barks when your dog barks on his own in real-life situations. The first few times the dog will respond poorly to the command. Don’t give up. Have really good treats handy. Go back to showing him the treat up front the first few times. Practice makes perfect.

If your dog “goes off” for the smallest sounds and changes in the environment, it would help the cause to get him better habituated. Take him out more, invite people and dogs over to socialize, expose him to a wider range of sights and sounds.