Most of us who own dogs have suffered through some nuisance barking at some point. If there is nothing medically wrong with your dog that is contributing to the barking, the good news is, you don't have to live with a chronic barking problem. Here are a few steps to follow:
- Make sure your dog is adequately physically exercised.
- Make sure you dog is mentally exercised (daily training, food puzzles, or other games).
- Make sure you are not giving any attention to the barking!
- Stop your dog from being able to bark.
Number 1 and 2 are fairly straight forward. Number 3 is more complicated than you might think. Yelling, spraying, jumping up, saying "no!", all of that is attention. Yes, it is unpleasant attention, but you are still giving attention to the barking! It is very important that you give little to no attention for barking.
Number 4 is where the magic happens if you've done all of the above. For #4, I recommend having a crate someone that is not scary, but also not part of where the family usually hangs out - say in a guest bedroom. The instant your dog barks, say "enough!", then wait. If you dog is quiet, praise, if you dog continues to bark march him straight upstairs for a 20 minute time out. When you let him out, continue about your day as normal. If he barks again, repeat - "enough!", then wait, praise if quiet, march straight upstairs if he barks for a 30 minute time out. Keep up with this program, gradually increasing the length of the time out. The most important part of this is consistency! Time out every time your dog barks after you've said "enough!". After a week of this, I promise your dog will be much, much quieter. You won't even need to use the time outs because your dog will respond to your "enough!" command. The hardest part is making us humans consistent enough to apply this for a week straight. You can do it! I know you can, it is worth it!
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Happy training!