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The Bark Stops Here!
By Devene Godau, CPDT

WOOF.

WOOF, WOOF.

WOOF, WOOF, WOOF, WOOF, WOOF, WOOF, WOOF, WOOF, WOOF!

Does this remind you of any dogs you know? Have you ever met or owned a dog that would bark at even the smallest falling leaf?

We often get calls asking for advice on how to stop a barking dog. The truth is, once a dog is having a barking fit, it's too late to teach your dog an alternative behavior. Your options are limited to removing the dog from the situation. But know that the situation is bound to come up again, and you will soon face the same frustration.

Taking a dog for a walk that wants to stop and bark at everything is also an exercise in frustration. You're probably not having any fun, the neighbors are annoyed, and the dog is being reinforced for their loud behavior, simply because barking is fun.

Dogs that bark at everything are often times dogs that are easily over stimulated. These dogs must be made more comfortable in the presence of novel stimulus in order for them to calm down.

In order for this to be done correctly, you must start with simple exercises that the dog knows well. For instance, for our "virtual demo dog" Fido, we will use a sit-stay (you can pick the command your dog does best) and take the following steps:

• Proof the sit-stay in your home. Is your dog responding 100% of the time? If not, you will need to work on this before moving on.
   
• Inside the house, add your own distractions. You need to be able to control these distractions. Start with you jumping around a bit. Have a friend or family member walk by. When the dog maintains his sit-stay through these distractions, reward.
   
• Next, move to your garage. As you move to higher distraction areas, you will need to vary your rewards. While kibble might work well in the living room, don't expect it to compete with all the smells of the great outdoors. Try cheese, roast beef, chicken, etc. And vary them. Again, work with your dog in short increments until he is responding reliably.
   
• Move to your backyard, then to the sidewalk in front of your house, then in front of your neighbor's house, etc.

The bottom line is to slowly expose your dog to new distractions while maintaining control. In order to do this you must move in small increments, and celebrate each success. Do not get frustrated if your
dog does a 2-minute sit-stay in the house, and only a 5-second sit- stay outside the house. Just take a few steps back and rebuild. Remember, our goal is to work though distractions. If you get frustrated, your dog will really want to ignore you and focus on something much more fun… like that squirrel running across the street!

Another reason dogs like to bark at everything, is because we have taught them to do it. If a dog sees something or someone he wants to interact with, he barks and acts crazy, and we often times give in to
his excitement.

For instance, we bring our Fido over to the neighbor's house for a play date with her dog. As we approach the neighbor's home, Fido is beside himself. He knows he gets to play and as his excitement builds, he barks in anticipation. We are happy that our dog is happy, and we just let Fido loose.

We love to watch our dogs play, so this scenario is common. However, what just happened? Fido barked and acted like a fool, and we just laughed and let him loose to go play. So next time he sees a leaf
flying through the air that he would really like to chase, why shouldn't he try barking and acting foolish? It has worked so well in the past, so when we get angry, the only thing he learns is that
we're not very consistent.

We can turn this scenario around to work to our advantage. Fido wants to play with his friend, so we can use this as a reward. We will keep control over Fido as we approach our neighbor's house. If he starts
acting crazy, turn around and go home. If we don't like his behavior we remove the reward. Be patient… if he has been rewarded for barking in the past, he might be confused at the new system. But dogs learn
by consequence, so if we are consistent, there will be an improvement.

Once we are able to quietly approach the "play area", we ask for a sit before we release him to play. Now Fido has learned that being calm and responding to our commands earns him play.

There are some ways to speed along Fido's progress. Enrolling him in a class will teach him to work around other dogs and people. For this to be successful, you must also be working on the classroom exercises at home as well. Building new behavior is most effective at home, but work in class will make the behavior more solid. Don't worry about having a dog that will bark in class. When you work with as many dogs as we do, it happens very often. Heck, if we didn't want to work with animals that barked, we'd be cat trainers!! Your instructor and trainers will help you, and by the end of a 6-week class, you will be
amazed at the difference in your dog.

Also, DayCare is an excellent way to help barking dogs. At Trainers Academy, LLC,, dogs must sit quietly before entering playgroups or going outside. Also, for dogs that over stimulate easily, socialization with other dogs and people will go a long way toward improving your dog's behavior.

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