So, I’m going to be completely honest with you regarding this article.
This article is being written from a place of frustration. Not frustration with the owners of barking dogs, as they are victimized by their own dogs, too. But a place of frustration because it is so EASY to stop a barking dog.
Whether it’s your own dog or a neighbor’s dog, we have all been a victim of a barking dog.
And yes, I use the word VICTIM. Because a barking dog is not as benign as it sounds. I have known people who are woken up at 4am on their only Saturday in months that they had to sleep in. I have known people who have had to listen to a barking dog EVERY evening from 4-6pm for the last year. Or people who have to use their own money and time to quiet a neighbor’s barking dog (with benign or not-so-benign methods).
So yes, victim is the correct word. We would not put up with a neighbor beating on our door at 4am to yell at us, we don’t tolerate telemarketers interrupting our dinner every night, and we certainly wouldn’t tolerate our neighbor parking his car on our lawn. So why do we enable and tolerate barking dogs?
Being a dog trainer I have heard all the excuses we make for our furry friends.
- That’s just what dogs do
- He doesn’t know any better
- I don’t want to take away his freedom
- I don’t want to correct my dog
Let’s address these head-on.
This is just what dogs do. Actually, this is NOT what dogs do. A dog’s language is almost 99% body language. It is silent, they do not talk like humans. Barking is reserved for times of stress, anxiety, aggression, etc. If your dog is barking uncontrollably in the backyard it is agitated and unhealthy.
He doesn’t know any better. This may be true. If you have not effectively communicated to him that barking is wrong then he doesn’t know any better. This results from a lack of speaking to our dog in their language. Just because you yell at your dog, or bring them inside, does not mean they know what they are doing is wrong. In fact, in some cases, it reinforces the barking.
I don’t want to take away his freedom. While this is well-intentioned, it makes absolutely no sense. A person’s freedom is always taken away in society when they do something that infringes on the rights of others. You punch someone in the face, you go to jail. You run a red light, you go to traffic school. You speed in a school zone, you get a massive fine.
Obviously these consequences only work for humans. With dogs we find fair, valuable, and timely consequences that they understand.
I don’t want to correct my dog. This is absolutely fair. Some people do not want to correct their dog and that is okay. HOWEVER…there are consequences for not correcting your dog.
If you do not want to correct your dog for barking uncontrollably outside, then DO NOT PUT THEM OUTSIDE. It is as simple as that. Or only put them outside when you are there with them and can distract them.
We do not correct our dogs to be mean, we correct them so they can have freedom. By not correcting your dog you will be limiting their freedom and so in turn, yours as well.
Okay, Bethany. You wrote this big long article blasting people for not stopping their barking dogs…but you didn’t tell me HOW to stop my barking dog?
You’re absolutely right. So here we go.
Correcting a dog is not about what YOU think. It is about what ACTUALLY stops the dog from barking. So many people try methods that only work for a short time, or methods that need to be used over and over again and end up nagging the dog.
These corrections are based on what people THINK. They think that a squirt bottle, or yelling at the dog, or smacking the dog on the bum is a correction. But if you take a step back and realize that the dog continues to bark, then you must conclude that the DOG did not think it was a correction. It’s not about what you THINK, it’s about what the dog DOES.
So, the easiest solution to stop barking without doing any other sort of training? (And we’ll get back to my preferred method of training)… Put a bark collar on the dog when they go outside. I can hear some people already: “Oh no! That’s so mean!” I actually like this comment. It means that you care about your dog.
To keep a dog in a state of mind where they can’t control themselves when they hear normal social noises is cruel to your dog. Please see barking for what it is, it is not just annoying it is very unhealthy.
If applied CORRECTLY shock collars are not cruel. It speaks to the dog in a language they understand and has no negative effects. In a few seconds your weeks and months of stress and annoyance are gone.
While I am not against shock collars, I like to take a more holistic approach to dog training. I like to spend most of my time teaching a dog what we WANT them to do, and then correcting here and there for bad choices they make. It is much more effective in the long run and really improves your relationship with your dog.
