When is your dog barking?

What is your dog barking at?

My dog is barking while I am away and

Is your dog responding to your commands to be quiet?

 Is your dog responding to your commands to be quiet?

 Is your dog responding to your commands to be quiet?

Solutions

Elderly dogs that bark excessively when their owners are away could be suffering from medical disorders such as a reduction in vision, in their hearing or their ability to smell. Some have ‘tired brains’ and are getting confused. Such dogs could be suffering from senility and this may be treatable. Even arthritis and other geriatric diseases could be important. Go to your veterinarian for more details. Elderly dogs also suffer from separation anxieties.

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Dogs that respond poorly to their owners commands have often never been trained properly in the first place. There are many methods of training a dog not to bark but using methods that don’t reply on punishments (such as BAH or throwing items at your dog) are best avoided.

The goal is to reward silence. Reward-based training grows an ‘Oak Tree of Knowledge. To do that you need to known how to convert ‘English to Doglish’ and you need to know the concept of ‘pusled, reward-based training’.

View the Dog Training Pet Pick for more information.

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 If a dog responds to your commands to stop barking but returns to the ‘job’ again a short while later, it is not getting the message that quiteness is rewarded and you are likely allowing the dog to go back to the bark-inducing stimulus.

To change this, once the dog is quiet, remove it from the location where it was barking for several minutes to stop the repetition. For instance, have the dog with you inside the house or place it in a different part of the yard. Time out could also be used but view  the Dog Training Pet Pick for more information.

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Your dog is probably barking for attention. By repeatedly ‘barking back’ at your dog, you are setting up a challenging game that the dog is enjoying.

Set a limit to two barks in any five minute period. If it is not responding after the second bark, try gently timing the dog out. View the Dog Training Pet Pick for more information.

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Your dog is attention seeking and is not getting the message that you mean business. Reward the behaviour you want, don’t punish the behaviour you don’t want. Set a limit to two barks in any five minute period. If it is not responding after the second bark, try gently timing the dog out.

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 Time out is often useful for softly interrupting and limiting an unwanted behaviour. One version is to briefly place your dog on a tether such as a lead attached to the leg of a piece of furniture. If it still barks in this spot, say nothing to it. Instead, remove the pooch from this tether and place it on a second one that is further away from you or put it in a small comfortable room. Never time out for more than five minutes. The focus is to allow the dog its freedom as a reward for returning to good behaviour. Make sure you burn up any excess energy your dog has. It’s best combined with rewarding silence.

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Burn up that energy and tone up that big brain with back yard exercise, agility training or lure coursing. View the Energy to Burn facts sheet below. Dogs like this also need a rich backyard lifestyle.

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Fill your dog’s back yard with brain toys such as Kong toys, roller treat balls and its new baby the giggle ball. Give it a sandpit to dig in and provide lots of toys that you change each day. Return to the start if you have more questions.

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Over protective dogs benefit from being ‘refocused’. Their attention should be drawn to pleasurable events that occur within their back yard rather then events past the fence. A solid fence the dog cannot see through often helps to stop the dog reacting to things on the street beyond. Sometime a ‘midway’ fence that removes the dog from the front boundary fence of the property, were most of the activity occurs, will also help. It is always useful to burn up the excess energy such dogs have.

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A separation anxiety occurs when a dog is over-dependant on its owner. Such dogs are particularly focused on the cues their owners give while they are getting prepared to leave. They often bark, but can show other signs of anxiety such as trembling and hyperventilation at leaving time and destructiveness, escape behaviours and even self mutilation when their owners are away.

Therapy involves attempting to prevent the dog getting ‘steamed up’ about the leaving cues, the use of soft anti-anxiety medication and on giving such dogs a rich ‘home alone’ lifestyle.

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