Dog Barking Control Methods
Dogs bark because it’s their way to communicate with the surrounding world and express themselves. It’s completely natural and you should not force your pet to stay quiet all the time or it may start looking for other ways to release stress and tension. Having said that some dogs develop a habit of excessive barking and become unbearable. If this is the case with your pet than you need to take immediate action because your four legged friend, without guidance, will keep reinforcing the bad habit day after day.
Before I’ll share with you some tips on dog barking control I want to make sure that what we’re dealing with in your case is a real problem and not just your oversensitiveness. We’ll look at 6 major types of barking so that you can get a better insight into the subject.
Dog Barking Control – 6 Types of Barking
1. Warning/Alert Barking
Your dog is making loud, sharp and authoritative sounds every time he sees someone new or feels threatened. This kind of behavior is perfectly normal as long as it doesn’t change into the habit of barking at everything that moves. You want to make sure that your canine is only making noise when it is in danger or when you ask him to.
2. Anxiety Barking
Very common among dogs that are locked in an empty apartment for an entire day. They simply miss their owner and express their loneliness and boredom by high-pitched whining. This is a very popular problem because majority of people can only spend a few hours each day with their pets.
3. Attention Seeking
Sounds very similar to anxiety barking but is caused by something slightly different. If you give your canine too much attention in the early stages of his life he will quickly get used to the fact that every time he makes noise you come running. Then, when he’ll reach maturity, he will still assume that you’re there whenever he needs you and may start to abuse whining in order to achieve his goals (e.g. getting entertained by you). You have to learn a few dog barking control methods to avoid this!
4. Boredom Barking
If you leave your dog alone on a regular basis without making sure he has something to do while you’re away, you contribute to reinforcing his barking habits. Dogs hate to be bored and they perceive barking as one of the most effective ways to stay entertained. If you think that your pet is making noise because of lack of things to do then there are some great dog barking control methods I mention in other articles in this section that will help you alleviate this problem.
5. Excitement Barking
You won’t have to worry about this one as it is a short – term phenomenon, common among puppies and young dogs and disappears with age. Dog barking control is not necassary in this case.
6. Aggression Barking
If your pet is aggressive and barks in order to threaten people then you should immediately take him to the vet. There may be some medical issues that need to be resolved before his health and behavior comes back to normal. You may find out that your dog is barking for more than one reason and, if that’s the case, than you’ll have to implement a variety of dog barking control methods, instead of focusing on one only.
Let’s Start Working On Dog Barking Control!
Remember, consistency and patience are key here so take a look at some of the tips on dog barking control I outlined in the other articles on this website, choose a couple of them, based on your dog’s behavior, and get to work!
Other articles you may find interesting:
