Excessive Barking

Woof, woof, woof ... the sound is maddening when it goes on and on. Here, we provide a self-driven, step-by-step clinic to help reduce or eliminate dogs most annoying types of vocalizations.

How to Stop Excessive Barking

A barking dog, whether yours or anothers, is a common complaint for many. Dogs bark for a reason. If we know the reason, we can help the dog rethink their barking, reducing or eliminating it altogether. Some dogs are predisposed to barking, but all dogs can become excessive barkers. In fact, all behaviour you see in a dog has an underlying reason and serves a purpose for the dog. The purpose is not to drive you crazy (although it may feel that way), but rather, to elicit a response from you or other animals.

Yelling and punishing the dog for barking will not resolve the problem. In fact, it is likely to make the problem worse.

You must seek to find deeper questions and better answers. Questions, like;

If I were a dog, what is the likely purpose of the barking? What would I be trying to achieve?
Based on my best guess as to its purpose, how likely is my dog's barking going to result in a successful outcome (in the dog's eyes)?
Is there anything I can do, compassionately, to help guide the dog to think or feel differently and undermine the purpose of the barking?

Below we offer you some general ways to identify the type of barking, the purpose of the barking, and steps to more effectively overcome the barking. Each dog is a unique individual with preferences, emotional complexities and personality styles, so some solutions may not work for your dog. But don't worry, we've also provided an online assessment form which Sparky will respond to, if your own work to overcome the barking isn't successful.

There are many different types of barking with different meanings. While science has done some studies on barking, not everything is known. In our workshops, we've asked participants to listen to different types of dogs barking and asked them what they think the dog was feeling, emotionally. It was a remarkable re-creation of a scientific experiment producing the same results; humans are highly likely to agree on how the dog is feeling based on the type of bark they hear, without knowing or seeing the dog. Our experiment was carried out over 3 years, with many students, consistently showing the same results.

One thing to keep in mind is how you may be reinforcing barking. It is common to see barking problems as being inadvertently rewarded. If the dog was able to speak to us they would say, "You really, really like it when I bark, because when I do, you get excited too, then, I get a treat". From the other perspective; we hear the dog barking, yell at the dog to come to us by name, and then they get a treat. Oops. Giving a treat so soon after barking reinforces the dog did a good job. Or, the dog is barking up at us, and we look down, staring at the dog, or worse you lean down and start absently patting him. From the dog's perspective, barking equals getting your attention, maybe even some cuddles.

The first step to managing and reducing excessive barking is to determine what type of barking is most prevalent. Is it barking for alerting, fear-based or attention demanding. There are other types of barking, likely as many as there are emotions in a dog. I've focused on three as they are the most common.

Click on the Barking Types to reveal valuable information and how-tos.

ALERT
FEAR
ATTENTION

Alert barking is to make you aware of something the dog believes you want or should want to know and respond to. We generalize the characteristics of Alert Barking as follows:

PITCH: High to Mid-range
DURATION: Long
FREQUENCY: Fast, Steady

What to do:

Acknowledge the reason for the ‘alert’ in a demonstrable manner, i.e. looking where the dog is looking.
Keep your voice calm & provide a name to the alert, “Yes, the delivery man is here,” or whatever caused the alert.
Firmly, without yelling, ask your dog to stop.
Provide calming signals, “I’m not worried, nor should you be”.
Once barking has stopped for 4-5 seconds (Mississippi count), provide a high-value treat, holding it for a few seconds for nibbling before releasing the treat.
Redirect the dog by calling him away from the source and asking for more of things he enjoys doing, 'sit', 'lie down' and 'give paw' and then a treat.

When You Tried & It Isn’t Working:

Your dog has an underlying sense that you are not protecting him, the family, nor the home.
Your dog feels he is contributing to the family unit by providing protection and takes this job seriously.
Your signals and timing to reward not barking is incorrect and you are likely rewarding the barking.
Your dog is fearful (see Fear Barking tab).

Next Steps:

Complete our online behaviour assessment below.
Read through our information, ask questions and complete your due diligence.
When you are ready, start your journey to teaching your dog how to live peacefully and cooperatively.

Fear barking purpose is to scare something away and may also be combined with alerting you to a threat. We generalize the characteristics of Fear Barking as follows:

PITCH: High-range
DURATION: Short
FREQUENCY: Fast Multiple Burst

What to do:

When your dog is not fearful, introduce a fun and engaging activity that you can use anytime. Keep it special.
During introducing the activity, make sure your dog is focused and relaxed, Practice your fun activity at least 5 times over 5 days. Also, give it a name or sound the dog can recognize. I use laughter. When my dog hears me laugh, she knows a game is afoot. You can also use "Play" in a calm voice.
Once your dog consistently understands your cue for fun, you can use it when the barking occurs (step 6).
Look at where your dog is looking. Keep your voice calm & provide a name to the thing she fears, “Yes, that’s another dog walking by.”
Provide calming signals, “I’m not worried, nor should you”.
Use the name/sound of the fun activity and engage the dog as you have been doing consistently to redirect her energy.

When You Tried & It Isn’t Working:

You’ve used the fun activity cue too soon and before achieving 100% consistency.
The 'fun' activity was created to make the dog hyper-excited, which allows the dog's mind to drift into high-arousal.
The fear in the dog is psychologically significant and professional insights are required.
Anxiety is combined with fear and the barking is a symptom of a bigger issue which requires professional support.

Next Steps:

Complete our online behaviour assessment below.
Read through our information, ask questions and complete your due diligence.
When you are ready, start your journey to teaching your dog how to live peacefully and cooperatively.

Attention barking works to draw you to fulfill a need in a dog. We generalize the characteristics of Attention Barking as follows:

PITCH: Mid-range
DURATION: Short
FREQUENCY: Slow, Multiple Bursts

What to do:

Check your dog is receiving adequate exercise, and puzzles.
Rule out any health problem.
During times when the dog moves to rest, introduce a verbal cue, “Nice Settle” stated softly. Do this several times a day for two-weeks.
On hearing a bark, acknowledge the dog, and set a verbal cue that it is not time for attention such as, “It’s not time”
If barking continues, say "stop" in a firm voice (no yelling), then, redirect the dog by asking them to “Go Settle”.
Ignore barking completely, meaning no looking at the dog, no touching, no engagement whatsoever.
After 10 minutes, if the dog is still barking, leave the room for a short duration (max. 3 mins) and return. Repeat three times. Do not exceed more time or repetition.
Stay consistent.

When You Tried & It Isn’t Working:

Your dog may be needing your help to meet his basic mandatory needs; food, water, shelter, enrichment, outside relief or relief from pain.
You’ve not successfully mapped the word, ’settle’ when the dog is in a calm state and has chosen, voluntarily, to lie down.
There may be more significant psychological conditions to be resolved.
Your dog is not receiving enough exercise, or enough mental puzzles to properly stimulate the dog’s mind and body.

Next Steps:

Complete our online behaviour assessment below.
Read through our information, ask questions and complete your due diligence.
When you are ready, start your journey to teaching your dog how to live peacefully and cooperatively.

EXCESSIVE BARKING