How to Get a Dog to Stop Barking with Training and Redirecting

Do not reward him when he stops. Your dog does not understand that stopping gets the reward. Your dog thinks barking gets the reward. Dogs don't understand 'stop'. They do not hear No Barking. They hear Barking.

Instead, make the bark mean something. In my house a bark means either go in side, or go outside. If the dog is inside and barks at the front window, it goes out the back door. Period. No treats. If the dog is outside and barks, it goes inside. No treats. This is clear to the dog. Bark at the mail carrier and you will go through a door and get stuck on the other side. This dog behavior gets this reaction from the human. Every time.

There is a different bark my dogs do that is for a visitor or intruder. One bark, then go alert the humans. One bark, then lean on me to get my attention. Then focus on where the intruder is. Or the guest. I actually never taught this to any dog. I have had 6 or 7 dogs figure it out and just do it. They come get me, then point where I need to look.

This has been for friends they know. They have done it for a raccoon in the yard. They have done it for the sales person I don't want to talk to. They do it when my kids get home from school. Come tap Dad on the leg, then go play with the kid.

It works because I react to it when they tell me. They stop barking at every darn thing on the sidewalk because they get sent out, or in. They also learn to bark to get let out to pee, or to come back inside.

Dogs love routines. They love to know what is next. Bark at the window or door you go outside. Bark at the fence or gate and yo go inside. No treats needed.

i share a common wall with the neighbour, and their f*cking dog keeps barking non-stop ALL DAY. its really getting to me, and im not able to get done anything because of this.

it usually comes out in the balcony but most of the times i could easily hear it even when its inside the house.

i genuinely need some advice to shut this dog up for good.

My dog is barking every time he hears a noise in the hallway of our building. Everywhere says “reward him when he stops” but I don’t understand how to do that

1. How do you know when he’s done?
2. Usually it’s just one or two barks - if he barks and I reward him “for stopping” how does he know that I’m rewarding him for stopping, not for barking in the first place?

My neighbours dog, several doors down, barks regularly throughout the week, often for hours on end.

Quite frankly I am sick of it. I have tried to shut the dog up by tapping on the window, and I have tried to contact the managing agency directly.

While they engaged with the owner, after a while they explained there’s nothing more they can do, other than convey a complaint had been received and ask her to find a solution.

While the barking has reduced, it still continues to happen and drives me insane.

Some people mentioned anti bark devices, but the dog is left indoors and the walls are very thick, I don’t think this is a viable option.

Aside from this can anyone help with suggestions? I was thinking of writing a fake solicitors letter, but anything more effective would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

I have a 3 year old Malinois (Belgian Shepard) who barks whenever theres a noise outside the apartment. I've read that I should ignore her until she's done barking, and when she stops say "quiet" and give her a treat. However, my SO has read that you want to distract the dog with treats and toys when they bark to build positive associations with things that scare/cause anxuety. That makes a lot of sense, and it usually feels like she won't stop her very loud barking until someone does something to reassure her. I'm just worried that it is harming the "ignore" training that we're doing, and am not sure which method is right. Any ideas?

police and animal control...it is illegal for a pet to bark all day like that, it is a noise disturbance...file a noise complaint with police first, THEN call animal control and explain the situation, they will send someone to investigate and if the owner can't control the pet they will remove it

I have a 10 month old yorkie poo who has recently started barking up a storm! He doesn't bark and isn't even phased when a stranger walks through the door, but god forbid he see a person walking in the street or hears our washing machine make a strange sound. The worst part is when we let him out into the back yard to potty at night, before we even get the door open he's already barking with all his might. He runs around the yard screaming his head off and doesn't listen to us scolding him to stop unless my boyfriend puts on his dad voice and yells his name.

We're getting ready to travel with my pup and will be staying in hotels with him, so I'm trying to figure out how to stop this behavior. My previous dog knew the "that's enough" command and would stop barking when we said it, but I have no clue how I taught her that haha because it doesnt seem to be sticking in my puppy's head. We've tried giving him a light spank and saying no and that usually does the trick but then when we say no without the spank he doesn't listen whatsoever. And if we yell at him he thinks we're just barking along side him and having the time of our lives. So any help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Edit: hey thanks for the award :-)

I taught my dog a quiet command and a whisper command.

It is not bulletproof but for the most part she may either stop barking or bark quieter.

I’ve never heard anyone suggest rewarding a dog because they voluntarily stopped barking. Instead, either

1) reward a dog for not barking in a situation when they usually would - usually the goal is to catch them before a bark happens such as when the dog is looking alert. Or when they’re calm around a usual trigger and not tempted to bark at all.

2) reward a dog for stopping barking on your command. In this case, it’s following the command that’s rewarded, not the barking itself. Best here to give the dog an alternate action that is incompatible with barking, such as looking at you or sitting in their bed.

A couple things to try. I'm not a fan of hitting dogs.

Don't reward him by letting him out when he's barking. Wait until he stops.

Also I don't recommend yelling his name in anger. No ,stop, something else. But you want his name to be a positive thing.

When our dog barks at passing people we say "no" to catch his attention and get her to stop. Then when she's quiet she gets a "good girl" and attention.

Just now she was barking outside so I called her in. If she's not behaving she doesn't get to be outside.

im not sure either one of those is wrong; it depends on the dog, the reasons it’s barking, its general history etc. either method is valid depending on context.

a dog that is barking as a demand - for food or attention or whatever - good idea to consider ignoring it. if it never gets the food or attention (attention in any form, including asking it to be quiet), then the theory goes that it will give up. when it’s quiet, you can give it food/attention.

but in your case it doesn’t sound like a demand - or at least, not a demand from you. it could be a sort of territorial “get off my lawn” bark, or a fear barking if it’s afraid. we call this type of barking self-reinforcing, because a startling thing or person appears; dog barks; thing goes away. so the dog concludes she has successfully scared that thing away. so even if you ignore the dog, it’s still being reinforced to bark.

so in the second case, the dog is going to naturally quiet when the thing is scared away. if you say quiet and reward the dog, it’s not really ... at a time when the dog was tempted to bark anyway. it might be difficult for the dog to interpret what quiet means.

one way that is suggested a lot is putting the bark on command. once the dog can “speak” reliably to a cue, we can introduce the quiet command. then you can really test it out so that she understands the speak is barking, and quiet is the absence of barking. and then it’s just a matter of focus and motivation, getting her to do the quiet under distraction, and repeating it until it becomes a habit.

your SO’s method - playing to distract - pretty valid imo. i would do it -before- she goes into reactive mode, if you can. that’s going to be your best shot of distracting her, and also you don’t want to add demand-barking on top of reactive-barking.

you’d still like to know why the dog is reacting like this in the first place though. is she afraid? anxious? territorial? under-stimulation / boredom? is it sounds, people, dogs - everything? you want to figure this out as well, because even if you cure the barking, the underlying issue may manifest in another way.

We've got one of those never quiet types in today and he just WON'T STOP YELLING. I have noise canceling headphones, which do help, but I wanted to ask you guys if you have any brilliant ideas that work for you. Is there such thing as a noise canceling crate that isn't a safety risk? What if I turned one of our large crates into a padded room with a couple comforters and pillows? I could even include a little fan so there's plenty of air circulation. Is that a terrible idea? If the dogs don't like it, maybe I'll just climb in there myself because it honestly sounds lovely. What do you do to make it through the day with the loud ones that you can't immediately get in and out quickly before they drive you nuts?? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!! Thank you love you bye!

Electronic dog barking deterrent device. I was in the same situation as you are. My quiet, respectful neighbors moved away and my new neighbor is some redneck fuck who leaves his dogs outside for a minimum of 10 hours every single day. They were driving me insane. I couldn't even go in my own back yard anymore without them barking and snarling their asses off the entire time. I had tried saying hello to this neighbor once and he just stared at me blankly, so I didn't feel like talking to him about the dogs would do any good and might even make things worse. Out of sheer desperation, I "wasted" $30 on an electronic dog bark deterrent device. However, it turned out that the thing I was sure was a waste of money actually worked like a fucking charm. I followed the instructions, which said that when the undesired behavior occurs, loudly and sharply say a one-syllable word like "Stop!" or "No!" or similar ("Hush!" in my case) , then immediately press the button that emits a high-pitched sound that animals don't care for. Rinse and repeat several times. It only took 10-15 minutes of being outside in my yard with them barking at me for them to learn that their barking had unpleasant auditory consequences. Now all I have to do is loudly say "Hush!" the moment one of them starts to bark, and neither of them makes another peep. I felt bad at first because I like dogs and I know they're mostly just barking out of boredom and frustration, and of course they're barking at me because dogs don't have a human's concept of property, but I honestly think training them not to bark at me is less stressful for them too. Instead of going apeshit at the fence, now they just quietly chill in their backyard while I quietly chill in mine. Anyway, I just checked and the one I bought is currently unavailable, but if you just search for "dog bark deterrent device" or something along those lines, there are many similar devices for sale. Good luck!

you can try something like this game

and

it will help create a positive association with what he’s barking at. Hitting him, saying no, yelling, etc all will not help you fix the root cause of why he is barking in the first place. in general punishing your dog is never a good idea

1: The "stopping" you're looking for is a period of quiet (even a second or two is long enough, as long as you can give verbal and/or reward before the barking starts again). Personally, I'd say "thank you", give a small treat, and make sure to act very unconcerned because

2: dogs bark to communicate something urgently (in this case likely, "Hooman, there's somefing out there! Do we need to be concerned?"). Interacting with your dog lets them know the message was received and they can stop barking. If you remain unconcerned while interacting with your dog, the likely message back is "Dog, thank you for looking out for us, but that noise wasn't actually something we need to be concerned about." The reward acknowledges that the dog heard something, but your response (not looking for the source of the noise, remaining unconcerned) lets the dog know that the barking might have been an overreaction. Eventually, this turns into a dog who either no longer cares about the noises because you don't care and the treats aren't good enough to play the game of bark=treat or a dog who pays attention quietly (and becomes more selective of what noises deserve barking at)

My 3.5 year old corgi barks at literally any noise. We live in an apartment building so these noises can be people talking in the hall, doors closing, people walking by, people talking of their own balcony a few windows down, etc. Don't even get me started on the doorbell or anyone knocking on the door. I've tried the training tips to get him to stop but I'm not having much luck and would appreciate some advice. Here are the main issues I'm having:

1. He usually starts barking before I even hear the noise, or he can react much quicker than I can so I don't have a good chance to proactively do anything about it.
2. If I'm ready with treats in anticipation of him barking, he'll literally just stare at me and drool all over the carpet waiting for food. Since I can't predict when a noise will happen, I don't love the idea of him just staring/drooling at me for maybe an hour or two. But I worry that if I don't have treats ready, then he'll start barking, see me go get treats, and then think that he's getting rewarded for barking.
3. I know I should wait until he's stopped barking to treat him (and to go get treats), but it always takes SO long. He'll go for 5-10 minutes if I don't try to stop him. Even after he stops angry barking, he'll lay by the door/window and give half-effort boofs for a few extra minutes. Is this too long to wait for him to calm down? By the time I do treat him after, will he even still connect the two in his head?

I know corgis are generally loud and stubborn but I would still love to get him to calm down a little, especially since I'm expecting a baby soon and would love to minimize the loud barks as much as possible before then. So far, the only progress I've made is that he now barks loudly, looks back at me, and if I give him a stern look and point back at the living room, he'll walk away from the front door, but he won't stop boofing in protest the whole time.

I’ve had luck with teaching my dogs to associate certain noises with getting a treat. For example, when a neighbor dog would bark, they would initially bark back. I started giving them treats when we heard barking and they would stop. Eventually they learned to ignore it completely. Now we’ve moved onto treats when packages get delivered (still a work in progress). The goal is to get them to associate the noise with something good happening. I know not all dogs are as treat motivated as my guys and it’s a bit of a process, but it might be worth a try.

We adopted our dog about 7 years ago. She is a German Shepard-Cattle dog mix with a VERY loud bark. Using the resources in the WIKI, I'm going to work on her barking at noises, the door, on walks, etc. However, I couldn't find anything for a different barking behavior.

I'm not sure if it's a type of resource guarding or attention seeking but it's really distressing to us especially when we're already stressed out. Here are the scenarios of her barking at members of the family:

• If my husband is lying down in bed and I walk up to him, she will begin barking, jump on the bed, and most times get on my husband's chest. Same thing happens if I'm the one laying down and he or the kids approach the bed.
• Either my husband or I will be sitting on the couch, one of us or the kids approaches and she begins barking.
• She's especially reactive to my son. As soon as she hears his bedroom doorknob jiggle, she starts to bark. He gets up from his gaming chair, she barks. He says, "Hey mom!" and she barks.
• Any sound she hears from outside, she barks. This is usually more noticeable while my husband and I are trying to talk. He'll begin saying something, she does a single bark, he tries to continue, and she barks again.
• I'm in the office or doing laundry (both in the same corner of the house). If my son or husband head down the hall to where I am, she follows along barking the whole way.

This behavior is becoming more and more distressing for us, so I'd really appreciate some insight into what we can do to correct it. Also, I take her walking in the morning, her behavior continues even when we get back and she's tired.

When my dog barks, Once he stops I tell him “quiet” and give him a treat. Now when he barks, if I say quiet, he stops because he remembers that a treat may follow.

Not a trainer, but I’m wondering if you can give him commands to do something, anything, else when he begins to bark, and reward him for doing that instead? Also, wearing a treat bag at all times keeps you from having to “go get treats” when you need them. Wishing you luck!

1. Don’t let it work
   
2. Your dog is 5 months old.

After the first bark say thank you and have come to you for treat. I allow my dogs one bark to tell me to look at something. The thank you, treat and pet says she did her job so that is no longer needed. It takes time and you have to be consistent.

I started have someone outside walk by or make noise. With her on leash I sat nearby when she barked I would call her to me first. Just a distraction from outside and have treats ready. Soon as she learned what I wanted instead of calling her I'd tell her thank you and she'd come to me. Over time she now barks and comes to find me anywhere in house for a thank you. Over time she's gotten to see if I am not concerned she shouldn't be. It did take almost 3 months to break the barking fully. But if she dose get excited/alerting for any reason a simple thank you stops it.

Okay, I have a guarding breed and this is how I solved alert barking. YMMV.

Dog alerts to "intruder" and barks - I thank him and lead him to the kitchen (the other side of the house from the front door) and reward him from the fridge. (I kept cut up meat/cheese for this purpose.) I purposely delayed the reward by leading him away to prevent creating a behavior chain - bark/treat - that would increase barking. The time is important - I even rummage in the fridge, even if I have the treats right there to be sure time has passed. Worked for me.

Capture calm moments when your puppy is randomly being calm and sitting there. Reward often during these calm moments to start teaching the pup that being calm brings good things. Do not give any attention when the puppy barks, not even negative attention.

Attention only comes when the puppy is calm. Reward then. This builds a calm steady dog that politely waits for things and does not bark. It takes work but you cannot give in when they bark, ever.

First I need to say my dog is a farming dog, male,5 months and huntaway x heading.
barking in his genes and I completely understand he barks more than average because of this.

The issue is stopping him barking when he just wants food/attention/ needs to pee

We’ve tried lots of things but he is very strong in his bark and 5 months old