Often we take for granted that dogs will adjust to their surroundings. Typically with enough patience, training, and exercise dogs will do well in their environment. However, some dogs struggle. Barking is one behavior in dogs that is a nuisance. It disrupts their life, the life of their owners, and of course, the lives of everyone within earshot. In order to stop the barking we have to look at some behavior tips for your dog. Teaching them to stop barking means addressing the issues that are making them bark to begin with!
If you live in an apartment it can be especially stressful when your dog likes to bark. You have to worry about your neighbors becoming angry, sound ordinances, and more. Instead of getting worked up, check out these behavior tips for your dog. Hopefully they can help you both live a more calm and quiet life!
Of course, living in an MCLife community means that you don’t have to stress about your pup. We LOVE pets and we have an aptly named policy to prove it right here. Our apartments are more than pet friendly, we know that your pets are part of your family and we would never expect you to give them up!
Stop The Barking | Behavior Tips For Your Dog
The Humane Society has many great resources for how to help your pets adjust to different situations. Today I’m going to show you some of their top behavior tips for your dog to help you figure out how to stop the barking!
Take Away The Reward
The top tip for how to stop the barking is to remove their motivation to do so. Dogs get a rewards of SOME kind when they bark or they would not bark. If they bark at strangers, put them in another room. If they bark when they’re outdoors, bring them inside. Consistency is key for this one!
Address Their Fear
Sometimes, the best behavior tips for your dog include addressing why they bark. In many cases dogs bark out of fear, excitement, etc. If they are barking out of fear. You won’t be able to get them to stop until you figure out what is making them uncomfortable. This can be as easy as introducing them to strangers and as complicated as figuring out that there is a strange noise coming from a certain device in your home. Usually you can use treats to teach your dog that being around something scary is actually fun and rewarding!
Train, Train, Train
You can’t go wrong with training. If you constantly ask for a high level of involvement from your dog they will be stimulated mentally and physically. If you find that your dog is barking randomly and not in a consistent situation, try teaching them to be “quiet”. If you train your dog to be quiet on command you can use that command to stop the behavior when it pops up. Again, consistency is key for adjusting behaviors and training.
Exercise
We always share with you ways to keep your pet entertained and places to take them for some off leash time, but I can’t stress this one enough: exercise! A tired dog is a good dog. Your pet might be noisy because they’re not getting enough exercise. Especially with large dogs, exercise is key. They will find any way possible to act out if they are not sufficiently exercised and that includes barking excessively.
Don’t Reward Bad Behavior
Ignore your dog when they bark. Don’t scold them, don’t touch them, don’t even make eye contact with them. As difficult as it may be, completely disregard them until they stop acting out. When they are done barking you can reward them with attention, affection, and treats. With some consistency they will learn that in order to get what they want they need to be quiet.
