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It’s a natural habit that a dog barks and sometimes, there’s nothing wrong with it. However, often the owner faces multiple problems in handling a dog that barks and yells constantly.
It becomes a headache and annoyance for the family members and not to mention, neighbors. Due to improper steps, you may fail to address this long-term behavior.
If you’ve been stressing yourself by thinking how to stop my dog from barking and redefine a good discipline then you’ve come to the right place. We’ll be talking about simple but some really effective long terms solutions to this common problem.
How to Stop My Dog from Barking Through Tools & Strategies
There can be a number of reasons causing your dog to bark, you must identify that source first. And after that, you are free to choose any suitable solution that sounds best for your particular dog’s case.
So, here’s everything I think is important for you as an owner to know about preventing a dog from barking.
Figure Out What’s the Problem First!
For you, barking might seem like yelling. But sometimes for the dog, it’s a way to communicate. And so, there could be different meanings to that bark. You need to figure out the exact reason why your dog is barking. Some common reasons could be:
♦ Dogs have a safe territory to stay. Any person or animal seeming threat might enter that territory and cause the dog to bark. With every step taken ahead towards the dog, it’ll keep barking loudly and become aggressive.
♦ There can be an object or noise that scares the dog. And due to this terror, a dog may start barking constantly.
♦ If you leave your dog alone for a really long time inside or outside home, the boredom may make them bark. These animals are habitual to stay packed and not alone.
♦ Not every bark is meant to express negative emotions. Sometimes a dog shows happy bark to greet a person or other animals.
♦ To grab your attention for playing or treats, dogs often use barking.
♦ Due to anxiety and destructiveness, a dog may want to bark. There are even cases where a dog wants to bark just to hear his or her own sound. These can also be a reason for a dog running in circles or along fences.
Something to Block Dog’s Sight.
Territorial dogs are pretty hard to manage and they tend to bark whenever something grabs their attention. In this case, the easiest solution is managing your environment. If there are some objects or barking triggers that may disturb your dog, put a sightline to hide it.
The neighbor’s yard or street will have no control over your dog with a privacy fencing around. Privacy screening can also help. You can also try planting privacy hedges as a long-term solution. This will both stop the dog’s barking and be a reason to make your yard look pretty.
Inside the house, you may keep curtains or binds closed. Spray-on glass coating can also be a great solution. Windows can be opaque by using some detachable plastic film as well.
Arrange a Space for Your Dog Somewhere Quiet & Safe.
Now if you have to leave the house often let say for work or other matters, your dog may get problematic with anxiety separation issue. In such a case you can manage a space away from the front door that plays as a safe and quiet place. It can be anywhere in the bedroom, spare space or even laundry rooms.
Include a few things to keep the environment calm for your doggy. Bring a comfy bed with a crate or even baby gates can work. Use some stiffed toy or puzzle feeder so that the dog stays busy inside.
This will also keep their mouth busy as a result no barking. To get rid of any scary exterior sound, you can use white noise machine. also, one-room isolation can work in case you have a really small living space. A crate will be all you need to limit sight and allow enough airflow.
Devices to Control & Release Stress.
Because of human’s interest in dogs, technology has been used to understand a dog’s behavior widely and successfully. And so, there are pretty good devices available to help your dog’s behavior in a gentle and humane way.
There is even anti bark device for dogs these days. One is the ultrasonic bark deterrent machine. This helps by emitting a sound that dogs dislike. And so, whenever they bark, the sound startles and make them stop.
There are mixed reviews for such devices. Some dogs are completely unbothered with it while a few find it too sensitive. However, there are also positive reports for many dogs in controlling bark. Also, there are many dog owners that use bark collar with remote that helps in reducing this behavior.
Make Your Dog Stop Braking Through Easy Training.
There are commands that you can teach your dog to stop barking behavior. These are effective only with the conjunction of training. Some commands that work here are:
♦ Recall command can be used to call your dog and get it out from the barking trigger’s territory.
♦ Speak command to make a dog bark in certain situations. This automatically trains them on when to not bark.
♦ Settle or Quiet command can calm down a dog.
♦ Sit & Stay command helps to keep dogs otherwise whenever there are chances of barking trigger getting closer.
A professional trainer can help you in teaching your dog these trained behaviors. With proper research and learning, you can also do it yourself. However, in that case, you must be follow consistency and patience since the reward is long-termed.
A Tired Dog Is Less Likely to Bark.
Physical and mental exercises are a great way to keep your dog’s health and wellbeing in check. But these are also helpful in keeping your dog focused on one thing. Also due to the physical exercise, your dog will get tired and need rest.
After getting rest it’s supposed to get involved with playing and so on. This way you are using your dog’s strength in a good way. Also, due to its involvement in getting tired and seeking rest, there will be less time to focus on anxiety separation or bark triggering objects.
So, gradually the dog will bark less. This is one of the simplest and quickest ways to work if done correctly. You can find a bunch of activities to get your dog hooked in. And the results should be effective in most cases unless you have a very aggressive & uncontrollable dog to handle.
Conclusion
And this was my take on what can cause your dog to bark as well as 5 related tips/solutions. I still remember the days when I used to think about how to stop my dog from barking. And these tips were from those experiences and times.
Hopefully, you will be able to get a hold out of this situation. Don’t go for any inhumane way since pets are supposed to be loved and supported.
Try Best to Do Whatever You Can Within Your Means and Help It Grow with Care & Affection.