Train your dog stop from barking

Barking is a dog’s natural form of vocalization. It can, however, also become a problematic behavior if chronic or uncontrolled. If your dog develops a bad barking habit, you can, with the proper techniques and by addressing the underlying cause, teach your dog better behavior Preventing the Dog from Developing the Habit Do not reward the barking by shouting.Training a dog not to bark early on is much easier than breaking the habit once your dog has developed it. One of the keys to this isto avoid ever reinforcing or rewarding barking in the first place. If your dog barks and you shout for quiet, you are rewarding the barking with attention in your dog’s mind. Your dog may even interpret the shouting as your version of barking in response. By mistaking this for approval, your dog is more likely to repeat the behavior. Determine the cause of the barking.After gathering evidence, begin looking for patterns and triggers. Common triggers include:Drawing your attention to a need. Your dog may be looking to get your attention because of an immediate need—to use the bathroom, hunger, thirst, etc.Feeling bored or frustrated. A dog may be bored or frustrated because it has been confined to a particular area or has no outlets for its energy. Barking may be a way for the dog to release anxiety or create a distraction.Feeling afraid. If a person, thing, or noise frightens your dog, it may be barking as a response. You can tell from your dog’s body language whether it’s responding out of fear—a fear posture will include the ears pulled back and the tail lowered.*.Feeling territorial. If a dog perceives a person or other dog as intruding on its territory, it may bark as a way of asserting a claim to that territory. You can often tell when a dog is barking territorially because its ears will be forward and its tail held up high.Feeling excited. Dogs may bark when they’re excited to see you as an expression of their eagerness.Experiencing health issues. If a dog is dealing with health issues like deafness, pain, or mental distress, it may bark as a sign that something is amiss. Take your dog to the veterinarian.If you have any kind of reason to suspect thatyour dog may be barking because of ahealth concern, make an appointmentto see your vet.Keep in mind that older dogs may bark as a result of dementia. If that’s the case, your vet may be ableto prescribe a medication to help your dog cope with the symptoms. Curbing the Barking Eliminate the motivation.Once you’ve determined what’s causing your dog to bark, work on removing the incentive.Your dog barks because it experiences some kind of reward from that behavior. If you remove that payoff, your dog will lose incentive to bark.For example, if your dog barks at passersby while in the house, close the blinds or curtains to block their view. If your dog barks at passersby while in the yard, bring the dog inside when it begins barking at someone.Ignore your dog’s barking.When beginning to re-train your dog, you need to start by not reacting to the barking. Dogs interpret your yelling at them or telling them to stop as attention, which in and of itself reinforces the behavior, regardless of whether you’re angry at or scolding your dog.When your dog barks, don’t acknowledge it in any way. Don’t look at your dog, talk to your dog, pet your dog, and definitely don’t feed or give your dog treats.Be aware that you dog's barking will get worse before it gets better if you need to break an existing habit. When you fail to react after your dogis used to you responding to barking, then the dog will interpret that as a need to bark more becauseit didn’t work. Avoid the urge to acknowledge the barking in any way.You may want to explain to neighbors that you are trying to stopthe barking issue and apologize for the inconvenience in the meantime. If they understand you are trying to do something constructive—rather than just being incredibly irritating—hopefully they will be more sympathetic. Reward quiet.As soon as your dog stops barking, wait a minute to ensure that the dog doesn’t confuse the reason why, and then reward the silence with a treat. If you do this consistently, then your dog will begin to understand that the barking does not receive a reward but the quiet does.Your dog will begin to associate being quiet with receiving a treat. Asthat happens, begin to lengthen the amount of time the dog must be quiet before receiving a reward.If you are utilizing clicker training with your dog, then remember to mark the silence with a click before rewarding the quiet.4Redirect your dog’s attention.When your dog begins to bark, redirect it todo something that will distract it fromthe stimulus..Telling your dog to lie down is a good way to redirect, as it won’t be construed as a reward for barking.When you dog lies down quietly, reward it with a treat--but only once it’s quiet.