At various points through this website, you’ll keep reading about how you are to punish your dog in a gentle way so that he gets the hint that his barking is not right. What exactly is gentle punishment when you’re trying to figure out how to stop dog barking though?

Basically, it has to be like punishing a very small child – a little smack that scares, more than it hurts. If you’ve ever seen a child being smacked by a caring parent, you’ll notice how there is something emotionally upsetting about the discipline administered. The child cries even if he’s not hurt.

That’s the kind of thing we’re talking about. The only way anything like this works is if you do it the moment the dog barks. A moment’s delay, your dog will not be able to connect the punishment to the barking. You’re trying to make barking a non-rewarding activity for your dog, is all.

The stern voice
Basically, you need to be able to cultivate an intimidating or scolding voice that your dog comes to dislike. It needs to be voice that makes the dog realize that what he’s hearing at that point is not affection or love. It has to be an intrinsically intimidating voice that you can use for a short time when your dog has behaved badly. Dogs are intelligent enough to know when they are being scolded. They will do a lot to avoid this.

A light smack on the snout
When you’re figuring out how to stop your dog barking, a light smack on the snout can be a great deterrent for you to put in a bit of practice in. When your dog barks in an unwelcome fashion, you need to make sure that you will go to him in the next half minute or so, use your stern voice to scold him, and then gently, using no more than one or two fingers, give him a smart rap on the nose. It should startle him and he should resent this. But it shouldn’t actually hurt.

Alone time
The “Go to your room” directive doesn’t just work well punishing children who have been bad. Friendly and gregarious creatures that they are, dogs really dislike being excluded from all the fun and being forced into your a room to “think about what you just did!”. Each time he barks in an unwanted way, you just need to find a closet or other boring place where there is absolutely nothing for him to do other than to be bored. Do this right after scolding him and using the smart rap on the nose, and it should work.

Remember, moderation is everything. Your dog has a short attention span. Keep him alone for more than 5 minutes, and he’ll forget how he landed there in the first place.

And finally, if you’re trying to figure out how to stop dog barking for a dog that happens to be a bit aggressive by nature, these kinds of method will work not. You might get bitten or something. You could slap an electronic collar on the dog if you can, and mainly refer all bark control to a professional trainer.

Explore the topic on the Web at places like What to Do If Your Dog Growls or Snaps