How to train your dog against excessive dog barking behavior

A dog that tends to bark almost incessantly is most probably trying to tell its master that it is getting bored. As funny as it sounds, it has been the case most times. The excessive dog barking behavior is the dog’s way of attracting  your attention so that you can help it kill the boredom.

A common reaction from the owner is a quick rebuke – often a loud admonishment ordering it to shut up or keep quiet. The owner might look at it as scolding, but for the dog it is the attention that it was craving for. Once the master shouts and continues his/her work, the dog’s just lost its spotlight. So it starts barking again, expecting a similar response.

To the dog a praise or admonishment is just attention. It does not understand the connotations of the words. So as long as the owner keeps reprimanding it for excessive barking, the dog would continue it.

Typically, a dog that keeps barking at the time is just seeking attention, but there are chances that it genuinely has a problem. Hence it would be wise to that you consult a pet doctor to  ensure that your dog is not suffering from any illness. In a very rare scenario, your dog may actually be in some discomfort causing it to bark non-stop. More often than not the vet would inform you that it is seeking attention.

Once the medical aspect is out of the picture, you can start to condition the dog’s behavior As stated above, the Excessive Dog Barking Behavior is mainly an action to elicit a reaction from you. Hence, if you want that to change, you have to change too. You have quite a few options that you can try to stop your dog from barking unnecessarily.

One of them is to train the animal against its instinct. The dog barks to gain attention, then give it neglect every time it barks. Alternatively you can spray some water on its face if it barks continuously. These simple steps when practiced diligently make you dog feel that it is always going to get neglect and possibly a spray on the snout.

Another aspect of this training is to ensure that you do not applaud the dog for every small thing. However do not refrain from paying attention to it if it does something right, like barking at the right time. Most importantly, be patient. Excessive Dog Barking Behavior is a natural trait for the dog to get attention, so it will take time to control it. But if it doesn’t work you could look at other alternatives. A common solution is the use of specialized collars for the dogs that cause discomfort for bad barking behavior

There are two types of collars.

One variety is the shock collar, which is a bit harsh on the dog. These collars are designed to send out a low intensity electric signal to the dog’s neck every time it barks unnecessarily. Typically, this approach should give quicker results, as the punishment is no more oral, but physical.

If this sounds too much for your darling pet, then there are other equally effective alternatives – the citronella collar. This works exactly like the shock collar, except that instead of sending out a electric pulse it emits a spray of citronella directed at the dog’s nose. This scent is offensive to the dog, as a result it begins to associate incessant barking with this smell and eventually gives up.

Solutions to Dog Barking Problems

Dog barking is a very common problem. There are several dog owners and their families and neighbors that have been agonized by this problem. If you are one of them, then cheer up! There are workable solutions that the dog keeper can adopt to solve this seemingly perennial problem. The primary step is to find out the reason for the dog barking. Unless you get to the core of the issue, you are never going to solve it completely.

It is generally accepted in the dog expert community that boredom is a common reason for the dog barking problem. To fight boredom the dog resorts to incessant barking. One of the primary reasons for the dog getting bored is because the dog believes that it is getting insufficient attention.

The dog may not be getting its quota of play, hugging or even mere notice that it feels it deserves. This drives it to barking non-stop leaving the owner and people around tearing up their hair. While this may sound like a lost battle, it certainly is not. There are remedies available to address condition. Some are subtle, while others are bit harsh but they are effective solutions that have had good success in the past.

If you can ascertain that the dog barking problem is mainly because the dog is actively seeking attention, then it is possible to correct this situation. The dog behavior has to be conditioned so that uncontrollable barking is stopped. This conditioning exercise could involve training the dog to bark only at right times and not always. Besides, training collars are available in the market that are made particularly for dogs with barking issues. Using either of these approaches should solve the problem eventually.

Mostly the manner in which a dog acts or reacts is its natural behavior The owner needs to put in that extra effort to make sure that this natural behavior is modified to adapt to the domestic environment that the dog resides. The dog needs to be taught when is the right time to bark and when it is inappropriate.

A casual observation would reflect that the dog barking problem is aggravated when you are about go out or go to bed. Common sense says that the dog in both the cases does not like being left alone, so it starts barking like mad.

Experts say that in such situations, you should spray water on the dog’s snout and carry on without addressing the dog. This exercise would make the dog believe that incessant barking makes you spray water on its face and ignore it.

Seeing that barking is not having the desired effect, the dog would stop it. Alternatively, avoid the dog completely -do not even scold the dog for the misbehavior For an attention seeking dog, it doesn’t matter whether it is appreciation or admonishment; recognition is recognition. Thus, your rebuke could actually have an opposite effect on the dog. It would encourage the behavior rather than dissuade it.

Ignorance and water sprays are subtle ways of conditioning the dog. If they are ineffective you can try other alternatives like the use of devices like training collars. There are two categories of training collars designed to solve the baking problem: the citronella and the shock.

The use of shock collar may seem very harsh, but it can be a effective solution for the annoying barking problem for the dog keeper. Such collars send out an electric pulse to the dog’s neck whenever it barks unnecessarily or at inappropriate moments. This is very important. Barking is an essential ability of the dog, we do not want to get rid of dog barking completely, we just want to restrict it to right moment and right place. Obviously, if the dog encounters someone unknown it must alert us. The collar treatment can help achieve this desirable behavior.

The citronella collar works in the same concept, except that instead of the shock to the neck, it emits a spray direct to the dog’s nose. Over time, the dog would start correlating ill-timed barks with a repulsive smell. Even this can help solve the problem.