How a Frisco and Plano Pet Sitter can help with Incessant Barking
Incessant Barking
Many of my pet sitting clients have been asking, “Why does my dog bark so much?” which seems like a clear cut, simple question. However, there isn’t one simple answer! It depends on the dog and the circumstances provoking this behavior. I want to review a couple of the most common causes of barking and the techniques I have found to curb that particular enthusiasm.
The first step in modifying this problem is to figure out why your dog is barking in certain situations. Once you’ve identified the cause, you can then go about solving the problem.
There are several reasons dogs bark and you have to remember they are DOGS and barking is how they communicate. No matter how good a trainer you are, you can never remove barking altogether. The goal here is to control their barking to times when you need or want them to bark.
Scenario # 1: My dog goes nuts at the doorbell!!!
More than likely your dog feels it is his responsibility to inform you of someone arriving at “his” door. Take into account that dogs are territorial creatures on top of being breed to either be watch dogs or guard dogs… It is OK for them to alert you, it is NOT OK to continue to bark or lose control and not listen to his master and it is definitely NOT OK for him to think he owns the door.
First step in defusing this situation is to plan ahead…You know eventually someone will ring the doorbell, so desensitize him to the sound in advance. Make a game every day until he performs the way you would like him to. You cannot get angry or frustrated during this game, this has to be happy fun time for him! If you feel yourself getting frustrated he can too! Stop the game and start back up when you are in a better state of mind!
Get a hand full of small bite size treats and take him to the door. Then ring the doorbell with no expectations and give him the treat. Do this every day until he relates the sound of you ringing the doorbell as a time when he gets a treat. You will know when he gets it by him looking to you for the treat at the sound of the doorbell.
Next Step – Have a neighbor come over with the expressed knowledge that they will be helping you with your dog’s behavior. Have them stand outside and ring the doorbell. Your dog does know the difference between you ringing it and another person ringing it so he will not react the same as above. Now move towards the door calmly with him and do not speak even if he is barking. Now watch his reaction when you put your hand on the knob, he will either get more excited or look to you for guidance. If he looks to you for guidance then that is great, have him sit and wait for his treat. In most scenarios he will get more excited because it is a learned behavior. Now when he gets more excited remove your hand from the knob and step between him and the door, facing him block him from focusing on the door all the while you have not said a word! Now walk towards him, in essence you are claiming the door as your own and he will move back which should shift his focus. Try to open the door if he barks make two short and sharp AH-AH sounds and remove your hand from the door and back him away again. Do this over and over until you can open the door without him barking. The very instant he stops barking and focuses on you, you must praise him and treat him. This is a process and it will not happen instantly. The key is it doesn’t matter how smart your dog is it’s a matter of how much they respect your authority. You must own the door and it is your responsibility to greet guests not his. Never ever get angry with him for not understanding what you want him to do because he may very well understand you; he just may not respect you and we all know you must earn respect!
Scenario #2 – My dog barks constantly for no particular reason!
This is the dog who cried wolf syndrome: To me it’s one of the easiest things to fix, in most cases the dog is trying to get your attention or anyone’s attention because he is bored or under stimulated and he has nothing better to do.
Again the first step is to plan ahead: Knowing what the problem is, is half the battle. Everyday at least a half hour a day; they must be exercised by a good long walk or run, for larger breeds this should be more frequent.
Second step is to add mental stimulation: Obedience commands are a good place to start.
Sit, Stay, Come and Heel are the most important things you can teach your dog and they should be started very early on (as soon as you get them), but if you adopted an older dog they can still be taught fairly easily. There are several tools that can be used while teaching commands – voice sounds, hand signals and clickers are most common all used with positive reinforcement work.
I will share my way of training a dog to sit in which the process can be duplicated on to other commands.
Sit on the floor with your dog and have a handful of treats that he is fully aware of. Hold your hand with a hand signal of pointing down with the treat in that hand as well and do not say a word. He is going to work through different things he knows how to do to get that treat, eventually he will sit even if only out of sheer frustration. As soon as he puts his butt on the floor even if its five minutes later give him the treat and say “GOOD BOY”. Repeat this over and over until he figures out sitting on the floor is what you want. After that association is made add the word “SIT” to your hand signal and repeat until he associates sitting with the sound and signal. It should only take a couple of sessions for him to make this association but in order for it to become a command you must repeat it on a daily basis until he will do it on command without the treat.
I must reiterate the importance of not losing your cool because it can be very frustrating at first, step away if you need to and never ever yell! Remember your dog will follow you in to any endeavor; if you are a worthy leader!
Article Written by ~ Laurie Poulopoulos