Sometimes a dog barking can be extremely helpful to his safety or to its owners safety; for example, barking when an unexpected visitor approaches your home. However, most of the time we don’t want our canine companions to bark at every visitor. Especially troublesome for owners who live in an apartment or condominium building and have been the unfortunate recipient of neighbor complaints. Fortunately, it isn’t too hard to get a dog to stop barking with proper training.
First off it’s important to realize that many dog’s barking stems from his boredom. Proper exercise can cut down on barking. Even negative attention is better for some dogs than being continuously ignored, and barking gets people’s attention quickly. Ensuring that your dog has been properly exercised is a good first step toward stopping their unfortunate barking problems.
The last thing you want to do when teaching a dog not to bark is give him positive reinforcement. When chastising a dog, address it in a clear, authoritative voice, and after you’ve made it clear they’re doing something wrong, don’t go on to give him or her positive attention. Another tactic is similar to this by immediately addressing the dog, but don’t say anything, simply spray a bit of water on the dog – this may have to be repeated before the dog gets the point. Behavior training is always helpful when owning a dog and this issue can be addressed in class.
Anti-barking products can also help break your dog of their bad barking habits. These products include: electronic collars, citronella collars, sound-emitting collars, remote sound-emitters, muzzles, debarking surgery, and medication. These items, except for surgery, can be used temporarily while training is still in the process. Some trainers or kennels offer overnight training and will incorporate the owner into the training, so he can uphold the trainer’s ground work.
Taylor writes on a variety of other subjects, including how to select an xlarge dog bed.
