How to Control Your Dog’s Barking

Dog’s make excellent companions. They are not known as man’s best friend without good reason. As with any relationship, however, there can be some differences that need to be addressed. Where our relationships with dogs are concerned, these differences involve things such as house training, chewing and, of course, barking.

Barking is not necessarily a problem in itself. Indeed, it is often a positive thing as they help to alert their owners to potential intruders and other possible problems. Problems generally arise when your dog barks excessively, especially at unsociable hours. Being kept up by your dog barking is something that can be very troubling, and you can be sure the neighbours won’t be pleased either. It is in everybody’s best interests that your dog barks only when necessary, and in some individuals, this would take conditioning.

Learning by Association

When it comes to training dogs, providing rewards and deterrents are key. When they exhibit positive behavior, you should reward them with a treat. You should also let them know when they have exhibited bad behavior. Striking or shouting at your dog when they are bad is rarely productive, and can often lead to them being aggressive toward you and others. A dog will often just not understand why they are being hit, meaning it does nothing to help solve the problem.

If your dog is able to associate a negative experience with their negative behavior, this will condition them to stop such behavior. It can take time and they need to be able to associate their behavior with their experiences. One method of training your dogs to bark involves such conditioning, and it can be very effective.

Unpleasant Experiences

Dog bark collars will give your dog an unpleasant experience whenever they bark. There are 3 main methods of doing this: scents (usually citronella), shocks (electrical or vibrations) and ultra-sonic tones. When administered, these are unpleasant to your dog, but will not cause them any harm. These mild punishments will work to begin with by startling your dog which, in itself, is likely to interrupt their barking. In time, they will come to associate their barking with the punishments, which will deter them from barking at all. This method is usually very effective at limiting your dog’s barking and, in many cases, will stop it altogether.

Safety First

Although these methods are designed to be harmless to your pet, it is advisable to use precaution. While they may not cause any direct physical harm to your dog, they might still cause distress. Some dogs don’t always react as hoped as they don’t understand where these unpleasant experiences are coming from, or why. Systems that uses shocks will usually come with safety features that will disable it from administering too many shocks.

If your dog receives punishments without them barking then this is likely to be detrimental to training, as well as being unfair. The best products use advanced detection systems that help to trigger the punishment only when your dog barks. Some wall mounted products that emit an unpleasant tone are likely to be unsuitable if you have more than one dog because both are likely to be punished when just one barks.

An Effective System for All

When the system does work, it can be very effective. It can also be very quick in some cases. Once the training is over, you will have a happy dog that no longer barks excessively. In addition, you will not find your sleep disturbed at night, and your neighbours will have no need to be annoyed at you.