So here is a good way to start – before you try to answer to yourself how to stop dog barking, perhaps you should ask yourself why a dog would want to bark in the first place. Why indeed?
Well, there is an amusing video on YouTube about where there is a hidden camera in a regular living room in someone’s home. There’s a small child on the carpet, all alone in the room, playing by himself . The moment someone walks into the room, he starts crying and throwing a tantrum. The person just passes through completely ignoring the child, and the child quiets down right away. Each time someone walks into the room, as if on cue, the child starts kicking and screaming. In short, the child is doing it because he has been led to believe that as a child, when he throws a tantrum he’ll be rewarded with attention and cuddling.
It isn’t much different with a dog at home. Your dog is bored, he has more time on his paws than you do, and he wants to play. You, on the other hand, don’t have that much time on your paws – er hands, and you’d rather go about your business. But your dog has come to notice something really interesting though (see, he’s intelligent). Every time he barks, you take notice of him. In other words, he’s discovered the Golden rule – barking gets him what he wants.
To anyone who can’t understand how to stop dog barking all the time they only have to see this from the dog’s point of view. Barking all the time is actually what an intelligent dog would do, if attention was what he wanted. And what dog doesn’t want attention?
The only way to stop dog barking would be to make it rewarding for him to remain quiet. Find a way to reward him when he’s quiet and you’ll have your quiet dog.
Well, now that you understand why your dog feels the need to bark, how exactly do you show him that this is the wrong sort of attention seeking?
You need to learn the technique of gently punishing him each time he barks. It’s not to hurt him. It’s just to show him that what he’s doing is not going to reward him. Whatever kind of punishment you have in mind, he needs come to associate attention barking with it so that he gives it up. You need to be quite consistent with this sort of punishment, and before long, your dog will stop barking. It’s as simple as that.
So what kind of gentle punishment?
Well, you could write an entire article about that. And we have. The gentle punishment we have in mind could be as simple as a spray bottle with clean water sprayed in his face. Or it could be a little gentle one-fingered snack on his nose. You intend this to discourage, and not hurt. If the dog you’re trying to get to stop to barking is more a puppy, be sure to be very gentle. Puppies can be like children – very emotionally delicate when young. Remember, when you are done training in this way, that you want him to still like you.
But do remember that in your anxiousness to not hurt, you don’t want to make your punishing him too mild. It does absolutely have to be unpleasant to him. It should be something he’s not happy to experience it at all.
So now that we are clear what kind of punishment it is
So, we’re clear. Now you also need to know how to time it. It’s no use showing up a few minutes after he’s done his barking to spritz him in the face or to gently smack him. You have to do it in such a way that he associates the punishment with the barking. It has to follow within 5 seconds of his having barked. And of course, you can’t call him to you to smack him. That wouldn’t make any sense. He has to see you take initiative to come and punish him. That’s the only thing that’s going to get the point across.
And you have to reward positive behavior too. Be sure when he’s been quiet for a half hour or so, to reward him with a treat or a little fun play.
This is a highly simplified introduction to the process of learning how to stop dog barking. You need to read further to make sure that you don’t make a mistake of some kind and get bitten or something.
There’s a lot of great information elsewhere on the Web, too. Check out End Wild Barking at the Door, for instance.
Read ahead to know.