Dog Barking Control

Stop Your Dog From Barking With These Easy Tips

If you want a little dog barking control, there are many training techniques you can use to accomplish that. The primary thing to remember when we talk about these training techniques is that they take a bit of time, so make sure you block off enough time to work with your dog. You can't expect to accomplish training in a single 15 minute session.

Basic Obedience…

The first thing you should do for your dog, if you want to teach him anything (especially to stop your dog from barking), is to get him to understand that there is a process by which he can learn new things. You do this with a simple obedience class.

The act of teaching your dog to sit, stay, lie down, or come on command shows him that there is sometimes a system to learning. His master says something and the dog's supposed to figure it out. If he can figure it out and do it correctly, he gets praise or a treat.

This basic dog training gets him ready for you to teach him not to bark. When you command him to be quiet, he'll at least understand that you're trying to teach something new. He may still rebel like a spoiled two-year-old, but he'll understand you're trying to teach him something.

Command Him to Stop Barking…

Once you've taken your dog through basic training you can begin to train him to not bark. When he starts barking speak his name and say, "Enough." He may not understand what you want from him right away, so you might want to try tapping him on the nose with your finger or wrapping your hand gently around his mouth. That will help him get the idea that the source of your displeasure is coming from his mouth, and to associate his unwanted behavior with that specific word. Do not vary the words you use, stick with one word only, as not to confuse him.

After a while, he'll understand that you want him to stop barking.

Dog's Best Friend... the Mailman?

If your dog barks at the mailman like most other dogs do, have the mailman go from intruder to welcomed visitor. All you have to do to accomplish this feat is to give the mailman a large bag of your dog's favorite treats.

When the mail carrier comes to deliver the mail, he should toss a treat to your dog. Day after day he comes to drop off your mail, but before he does, he throws a treat over the fence. In short order, your dog will look forward to the arrival of his new best friend, the mailman. Not to mention you’ll gain some dog barking control.

This tip can also apply to friends or family that your dog might bark at, simply supply them with treats ahead of time. Once you dog gets attuned to seeing them carrying goodies, most dogs will view them as a bringer of goodies, and not a threat.

Nip Barking at the Bud…

So far, we've talked about how to stop your dog from barking when it happens, but is there anything you can do to stop it before it begins? Absolutely, but that will take planned training sessions.

Let's say you want to stop your dog from barking every time the doorbell rings or there's a knock at the door. Ask a friend to come over and help you with a training session.

Have your friend stand outside the door. You'll want a pre-arranged signal for when you want them to knock and when you want them to ring the bell.

Have them knock. Make sure it's loud enough to hear, but not so loud that it's difficult to get your dog's attention. Before your dog can bark, give him a treat. Continue this process until your dog doesn't hesitate but looks squarely at you when the knock comes. Then move on to the doorbell and repeat the training.

This dog barking control process will teach your dog to look to you when the knock comes rather than react to the door by barking.

There are many other methods to gain dog barking control on this site. And since not every technique works on every dog, were confident that you’ll find one that does.

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