How to Quiet a Barking Dog
Learn how to quiet a barking dog in this dog training video from Howcast with Andrea Arden Dog Training.
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Transcript
Dogs bark. It's part of their natural behavior. In fact, the domestic dog was basically selectively bred for their barking abilities barking to alert us about intruders, trespassers, to ward people away, to help herd cattle, a whole variety of reasons why barking at one time was a desirable behavior. Nowadays, especially in a city environment, barking is not a desirable behavior. So there's steps that we can take as the human parents of our little doggies to try to encourage them to bark just a little bit less. Your goal shouldn't be to never allow your dog to bark anymore than you would try to encourage a canary to never sing, but lets at least try to keep it down to a minimum. The most likely barking that'll occur first in puppies is attention seeking barking. Puppies bark to get your attention. And so what we really want to make sure we don't do is accidentally reward them for something we don't want them doing. Typical ways that people reward their dogs for barking accidentally is by looking at them. So if your puppy barks at you and says, "Hey, look at me," or "Hey, make my dinner faster," or "Hey, toss me that toy" and you respond by looking at them, you may as well have flipped the mistake. Instead lets teach your dog a way of saying please and getting your attention that's more mannerly and polite such as a sit. A manners sit is a really great way for your dog to be able to approach you and say, "May I please have your attention." Unfortunately many people don't notice their dogs when they are being quiet and polite. So if you want to quiet your barking dog, your goal this week and thereafter is to notice when your dog approaches you calmly and is being quiet and polite and to reward them for that. Dogs do what works, so if approaching you quietly and sitting and looking cute gets them what they desire, you're going to get a whole lot less of barking. And remember, when the do bark, you need to ignore that so that you don't accidentally reward them for that behavior.
