How do I make my dog stop barking?
This is a question that we often get from sitters and owners who work with Rover. Help the community out by answering them in our forum!
2 Answers
The worst way to handle a barking dog is to reinforce the barking by yelling at the dog (giving the behavior attention). Regularly reward your dog when they are calm, never when they are barking. It's not a quick or simple solution, but I promise it works!
There are several techniques. This link provides six tips. http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/...tostop_barking.html 1. Remove motivation 2. Ignore barking 3. Desensitize stimulus 4. Teach the quiet command 5. Ask for incompatible behavior that distracts 6. Ensure dog gets tired
AKC offers the following: http://www.akc.org/content/dog-traini...
One of my go tos for excessive barking is a spray bottle. Start with plain water or use 50/50 water / vinegar. Spray toward the head area but you don't need to hit their face per say. It's more to surprise and startle them. Add a command like 'stop' for example. Then praise and treat when quiet.