Barking Solutions for Dogs
Dogs bark for many reasons, and no one should ever expect a dog NOT to bark.
When dogs bark, you should understand why they’re barking. It’s a way for them to communicate with us.
Reasons why dogs bark (1):
Call out to other dogs
Expressing emotions such as excitement!
Territorial, Anxiety or Fear
In pain
Getting owner’s attentions
Seeking attention or food
BOREDOM
You should understand why your dog is barking and work to improve the situation for you and your dog. Dogs bark for different reasons so it’s important to understand why and if they have needs that are being unmet. If you feel that your dog is barking excessively or in the wrong situation, you can absolutely work with your dog to reduce barking.
WAYS TO REDUCE YOUR DOG’S BARKING
When your dog barks at passerby
If they bark at people or animals passing by the living room window, manage the behavior by closing the curtains or putting your dog in another room. Try crate training them.
Separation Anxiety
If your dog is barking out of separation anxiety, try exercising them or try a pet friendly CBD to help calm their anxiety (make sure there is no THC in it).
Boredom
Try giving them toys or treat puzzles to keep them entertained.
Tire Your Dog Out
It might simply be that your dog is bored because they’re home by themselves all day, you may want to have someone come to the house to play with the dog for an hour. Alternatively, you can consider taking your dog to daycare, take up some training (obedience or agility) classes that allows the dog to be more active! The more they’re able to use up their energy with playing or training, the less likely they’ll have energy to bark.
Train Your Dog (2)
You can work with your dog to know when they should be quiet. You can teach your dog to understand the word “Quiet.”
You’ll want to say “Quiet” in a calm, firm voice. Alternatively, you can also hold your finger to your lips (as dogs do pick up body signals faster than voice commands)
Once they stop barking, you can praise them and give them a treat.
Do not reward them while they are barking
Humane Bark Collars
If all else fails, you may want to utilize an anti-barking collar that will help you deal with excessive barking. A no bark collar can only help, however, if used appropriately and always alongside a training program. Only buy collars with dual sensors. These only get activated when both the bark sound and a throat vibration are picked up by the device. AVOID the cheap kind at all costs. Here is the kind I use (linked) and I like it for the following reasons.
It uses sound and vibration to up to 5 sensitivity levels and does not shock the dog
It only detects the bark of the dog wearing the collar, so there’s no false triggering if another dog barks
It’s water resistant so it’s safe to use in rain or snow
It’s adjustable so it fits my frenchies and my golden retriever
Unlike many bark collars that use a battery, this one is rechargeable and the battery power lasts about 14 days!
It’s reliable and effective. My dogs only needed to wear it for a short period of time to understand not to bark when crated. Now they don’t even need it.
What’s key here is determining the reason behind the barking. If your dog is barking from separation anxiety, a bark collar will likely heighten that anxiety and simply worsen the problem for you and your dog. Other dogs that bark non-stop either for territorial reasons or because barking is a learned, attention-seeking behavior, may benefit from it. That said, bark collars deter negative behavior but they don’t offer positive reinforcement (i.e your affection and or praise) so make sure to always supplement with positive reinforcement.
My Experience with using a No Bark Collar!
I wanted to share my experience I’ve had with Sasha, one of our rescues. Crate training was really important to me when it came to Sasha, as I wanted her to have a safe space where she could decompress and take a break from the other animals. However, she would often bark when I put her in the crate.
The thing was, I didn’t want to give her attention whenever she barked. This made her confused because she thought that barking was ok because I’d come over. In her eyes, barking worked!
So I turned to the aid of using a non-shock vibration collar from Dogrook! It gave her instant feedback! It helped her understand that her barking was undesired, and it didn’t confuse her! Me coming over to Sasha to correct her for barking was giving her the attention she wanted. It allowed me to properly train her for not barking when she was in the crate. and it is now Sasha’s safe space!
It’s also important for you to not leave the collar on your dog all the time. They should still naturally vocalize. Such as a play bark! Let them be a dog! Make sure you only buy collars with dual sensors as they only get activated when both the bark sound and the throat vibration are picked up by the device! This prevents the collar from being activated by other dogs and/or external sounds.
The collar from Dogrook comes highly recommended as it’s $29, waterproof, rechargeable and reliable.
It’s a success story as Sasha now doesn’t even bark when she’s in the crate!
I hope you’ve found this helpful for you to help stop excessive barking with your dog.
You can buy the collar here. Use the code 10PICKLESOFF for 10% off!
