Dog Barking-is It Driving You Crazy?

Dog barking problems can drive a person out of their mind. If you’ve got a dog barking day and night, it’s probably driving you crazy, your neighbors crazy and possible even attracting the attention of the local animal control. However, taking care of a dog barking problem isn’t as difficult as you might think if you know how to do it.


Let’s face the facts, sometimes dogs bark. But, what is considered to be excessive barking in terms of the law? Keep in mind that your neighbor may have a completely different definition of excessive barking than the local ordinances. Many city ordinances see excessive dog barking as barking that continues for more than 10 to 15 minutes at a time. If your dog only barks for a minute or two when someone comes to the door, you’re probably alright.


On the other hand, If your dog is a chronic barker and tends to bark for long periods of time, you might be in for some legal problems and face fines. If your dog is barking for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time, you need to stop the madness and sort it out before you have trouble with the law or your neighbors.


Three things you need to do to stop excessive dog barking:


1.You need to determine if your dog really is barking excessively.

2.Put an end to excessive barking when you’re home.

3.Teach your dog to be quiet when you’re not at home.


1. Before you get into a shouting match with your neighbor about your dog’s barking, you need to determine if he’s really barking excessively. It could be that your neighbor’s complaining about your dog because he’s still angry about the fact that you trimmed his weeping willow trees because they were clogging up your gutters.


The one-touch solution to finding out whether your dog is really putting a crease in your neighbors socks is a digital recorder. Just push the record button on a digital recorder before you leave the house and you’ll find out if your dog’s really howling at the moon or not. If your dog’s genuinely going crazy when you leave, you can be sure that it’s not just the weeping willow tree incident that spurred your neighbor on.


2. If your dog’s drowning out your favorite Johnny Cash CD with his incessant barking when you’re home, you should probably start a regimen of consequence and reward to teach him that it’s not appropriate to make so much noise.


Let’s say your dog goes crazy when he looks out the front window and sees people walking down the sidewalk. Put your dog on a leash and a collar and stand by the front window until someone walks past. When your dog starts going nuts, give your dog a jerk with the leash and the collar and tell him NO. It’s important that you NEVER connect your emotions to your corrections. Never show anger, yell, hit or grab your dog to correct him. All you have to do is give him a quick jerk with the leash and associate the correction with the word NO. Before you can slip on ice your little buddy will start being a more thoughtful and thinking before he barks.


3. If you think your dog is incapable of being sneaky, think again. Dogs have been developing strategies for thousands of years in order to mate, eat and play. It’s not unusual to discover that your dog will button his little doggy lips when you’re at home but, go nuts as soon as you leave.


Well, here’s what you do. Put your leash in your pocket and leave the house. As soon as your dog starts to bark, go back in the house, tell him No, connect your leash to and correct him using a corrective jerk. Don’t get worked up about it, just offer your dog a consequence and leave the house again. Keep going outside and waiting for your dog to start barking. Every time he starts, enter the house and correct him.


When you repeat this exercise, you’ll notice that the time between barking events increases. Before you can say silent night, you’ll see that your dog would rather think through his emotions than experience the correction.


It’s important to keep in mind that when your dog starts to improve, you absolutely have to show him the other side of the coin by walking back into the house and praising him like it’s the best thing that’s happened since reverend Perkins stopped chewing tobacco during the Sunday morning service.


So, if you know that your dog’s tweaking your neighbor’s ear, you’ve got to change your dog’s environment into an environment conducive to good choice making. Since the first dog walked the planet, they’ve learned through a system of consequence and reward and it’s not going to change now. Dogs won’t run into fire, brick walls or William Hung concerts because they know that if they do, they’re going to pay a price they don’t want to pay.

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