Most dog owners are having a hard time making their dogs, especially puppies, to stop barking. Excessive dog barking, even from your young fur babies, could be disturbing and considered a nuisance especially a loud one. It causes trouble sleeping to not just your family, but also for your neighbors. Dog owners would want to correct this behavior, more so if it becomes excessive.
You should accept first the fact that barking is just a natural behavior for dogs. It is usually instinctual, and they obviously wouldn’t bark for no reason at all. Dogs use it for communication so therefore, you cannot eradicate it completely.
However, excessive barking can be controlled by maintaining a strict routine and repeated commands. Read the steps below on how to get your fur baby to stop barking.
1. Understand the triggers to your puppy’s barking
There are various triggers that could initiate your puppy to bark wildly. Small barks like barking while playing may not be considered as much, but if it gets loud and excessive, it should be observed properly.
Some puppies could be territorial barkers. These territorial puppies tend to bark if they sense that someone or some other dog is intruding his own space. This bark is typically aggressive in nature and could be harsh.
When living with other dogs, your puppy could be barking more frequently than usual. Some puppies may also bark out of loneliness or being bored. Boredom can get them to be upset and cause them to bark and sometimes become destructive.
2. He could just be getting your attention
Barking is just a way of communicating for your puppy. If he is furiously barking, he could just be getting your attention. This is because he could be hungry, wants to go potty, or maybe he just wants to play. He is just barking because you are not meeting his needs.
3. Your fur baby could be afraid of something
Puppies may sometimes bark out of fear or even if they are sensing a threat. This usually happens to a new puppy if you are wearing a wide hat and shades. They could get afraid of you because you are covering your face and you are not showing your expressions and body language. This could be very intimidating for your pup.
They may even get afraid of strangers passing by or visiting your house. It could be embarrassing if your puppy managed to bark wildly and bit your visitor. Understand that this is just an instinctual behavior which could be corrected through proper training.
4. Ignoring your puppy
Some puppies, if ignored, will understand that what they are barking at is just nothing. Eventually, puppies will quiet down if they are not getting the attention that they want when they are barking. This usually works if what your puppy is barking at is just commonplace in the area but is new for your puppy.
Your puppy will learn that what he is barking at that moment is something that he should not be wary of.
5. Use a calm but firm voice
Whenever you want to quiet down your puppy, say phrases like “quiet”, “stay put”, or “stop barking” in a calm and firm manner. Try not to shout when saying these phrases. Your calm voice will not be able to confuse your puppy with your command. Repeat the phrase until he is able to stay quiet after saying it.
6. Give out rewards
Using gestures and strict phrases that will be further developed as a command for your dog is recommended. However, you need to give out rewards to your puppy in order to make him associate your commands positively. You can hand him out tasty treats as a reward if he manages to stay quiet after you commanded him to.
Other rewards that you can give out is a head rub or even giving him his favorite ball or toy. He will learn to appreciate the command as he will think that if he stops barking after you say the command gets him entitled to a reward.
7. Remove the triggers
If after you have introduced the commands to him and he is still barking furiously, try to reduce or completely remove the triggers that causes him to bark. If his triggers are the visitors, try to isolate him to a room with no signs that there are visitors outside.
If your puppy is barking at the passers by that he can see through the window, you might want to close the blinds or bring down the curtains just to keep him from seeing those people walking by.
8. Give him objects that could reduce his boredom
By giving your puppy something to play at, his focus and attention would not be directed at the trigger. Try making him watch the tv with you or give him a toy to play with. Dogs that are preoccupied with playing may not bark furiously whenever a possible trigger is present in the area.
9. Do not punish your puppy
Punishing your puppy is counterproductive and would just make him confused and afraid. He believes that what he is doing is just natural, so why would you punish him for doing it? Your pup could have a little fear from you planted on his mind and this one could grow.
If you punish your puppy, your fur baby could associate with you negatively. As the dog owner, you would not want that to happen.
10. Be consistent and patient
When training your pup to be quiet and stop barking excessively, stay consistent all throughout the training regimen. If there are abrupt changes in the methods or what your do, your puppy will just get confused and it could waste away the preliminary training that you have performed for your puppy.
Also, be patient and use kind words throughout the training. Puppies are smart, but they are young. They want to learn from you so be patient as possible, so he would learn in the best way.
Do you want to put an end to your dog’s annoying barking problems? CLICK HERE to watch this FREE Step-by-Step Video from Doggy Dan’s Program!
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