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How to stop my dog from barking at every sound he hears?

My 2 year old Miniature Pinscher barks at every sound he hears. When someone comes down the steps he starts barking, he seeing some walking down the street he barks, if my mother coughs he barks, if he hears any noise even if he has heard it before he barks. He barks at people and sounds. I dont know how to stop this behavior. I have tried distracting him in the moment, he has a bark collar on which used to help somewhat but now not anymore.

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Always have treats or something that your dog likes. Whenever he is hears a noise and is about to bark give him a treat. Then for practice purposely make the sound and have give him a treat or toy before he even gets a chance to bark. This creates a link between that if he hears this sound and doesn't bark it means that he will get something he likes. It takes a lot of practice but make sure you keep a positive attitude towards doing so. If he hears the sound and starts barking, don't reward him for it. If you do, it will make him think that whenever I bark I get what I want. Hope it works for you.

Right on the nose. I'm gonna add don't reward barking at all, not even by saying or yelling don't bark. That's reinforcing the negative behavior even when the reinfoment is also negative.

great idea

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One of the most important things is to not yell or say his name when he barks. His name should only be said with a positive association when praising or calling him to you. Yelling just makes him think you're barking with him.

Try and remove the temptations to bark. Since he barks at people walking by outside, close the blinds. if he barks at people while he is outside, bring him inside.

You can also try and ignore his barking until he stops. This means don't give him any attention or eye contact and don't touch him, just don't even act like he is doing it. If you give him attention, he feels rewarded for barking. Once he finally stops barking, give him a treat. Even if he only stops to take a breath or something, if he is quiet - he gets a treat. Once he catches on that being quiet gets him a treat, try to lengthen the time he is quiet and keep rewarding him for each longer amount of time he is quiet (5 seconds... 10 seconds... 30 seconds... etc).

In addition to that step, you can try adding a command into the mix, such as "Quiet", "No Bark", "Zip It"... whatever you wanna use. Attempt to teach him this command in a calm environment so once he encounters a noise that makes him bark/get excited, then he will be more likely to listen to you.

Another tip is to distract him. If he is barking, ask him to do another command, such as "sit", "lay", "roll over:". Then maybe his mind won't be on the noise and rather on the command that you want him to do. Eventually maybe he would just automatically lay down or sit when he hears a noise rather than bark.

Finally, ensure he is getting ample exercise and playtime. Dogs that bark a lot tend to just have a lot of pent up energy. If he is barking from nerves, try and reassure him that there is nothing to worry about.

It is important to be consistant and try to do the training as much as possible every day until he stops his barking. This includes anyone living in the house with you. It won't help if you try and train him to stop, but your mom or someone else just ignores the barking and lets it happen.

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First and foremost I'd suggest upping his daily exercise. Go on an extra walk or jog, play fetch for 15 minutes, play with a tug toy, etc. Work in some mind games, too, like puzzle toys and training. A lot of dogs react to things in their environment because they just aren't getting enough outlets for their energy throughout the day.

Second (and it sounds counter-intuitive, but hear me out), cut back or eliminate his normal meals and start hand-feeding his food (mixed in with some yummy treats) throughout the day. When a noise triggers the barking, be there with the food and keep it coming until the noise goes away. Often, the barking is just an expression of anxiety. By pairing the noises with a food reward, you're shifting his mindset from experiencing the noise as scary to something that predicts good things.

It may seem like you're rewarding him for barking, but if he's barking out of anxiety or fear, he won't feel the need to bark if you replace the negative emotions with good ones. Instead of creating association between barking and treats, you're breaking his association between random noises and anxiety. In his mind, the noises are scary, and the barking works to scare the weird noises away (noise + barking = no noise). Random noises always go away, so his method always works. Replacing that association with a new one (noise = treats; no noise = no treats) removes his motivation to bark. Rather than wanting to scare the noise away with his barking, he'll want to point it out to you to get his reward. When he hears the noise and immediately turns his attention to you, heap on the treats and praise to tell him he's figured it out, and you should start to see a big decrease in the barking, because that is not the variable that brings on the food. You can make this association happen even faster if you can get someone (or a few someones) to help you out by making familiar and unique noises around your house/property, so you can be ready before he even has a chance to react.

I've done this recently with one of my dogs, who began barking at my roommate when he came home. After just a few days of giving her treats whenever he came in the house, the barking has practically ceased. Instead of being seen as an invader who should leave, she now thinks of him as that dude with the treats, who is more than welcome to come inside.

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What works for me, most of the time, is going to where my dog is barking and saying "Thank you, dog's name. I took care of it. No more barking necessary." in a calm tone. Most of the time, that stops my dog from barking. That being said, most dogs will bark as a warning if they sense something strange going on. Some dogs just bark because they haven't been stimulated enough or taught when the appropriate time is to bark as a warning.

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My pit bull is going through the same process because we moves into a new house a few months ago, so he's surrounded by a lot of new noises (and he's figuring out where his domain ends and the sidewalk begins). I taught him a rather strong "look at me" when he was a puppy. Now I use it all the time. I ask him to look at me when he hears a sound and reward him for it right away. This is teaching him to look to me when he hears something that makes him unsure and uneasy instead of just reacting. Eventually, the skill should slowly transfer outside the house as well.

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I have a similar issue with my dogs. I keep a spray bottle of lavender/chamomile mist at the ready. When they bark, I spray the mist at and near them. It has a calming scent for them, and they relax a bit. I make my own spray using a bottle of water, and drop a little oil in. Last a while - and the house smells better too!

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We had problems with our dog also. He used to bark and chew shoes, table etc. when we were not at home. Both my husband and I work a lot and had no time to take our Bud to dog training classes. We asked one friend who works in foster care (he is always surrounded by dogs) what we should do. He recommended one online dog behavior trainer. I love this trainer bit. ly/2Hqgb5Z It helped us a lot, and I strongly recommend it for you.