3 Easy Steps To Stop Your Dog From Barking

It’s late at night and your dog is barking incessantly for no apparent reason. The sound is traveling through your ears straight into your brain and turning it into mush.

You can’t take it anymore! You yell, beg, cry and nothing works, the barking only seems to be getting worse.

Luckily we know a few tips on how to stop noisy dogs from turning your life into a nightmare.

Find out here how to stop excessive barking in three easy steps.

Teach Your Dog To Stop Barking

Yes, it’s that simple!

Just teach your dog a “cue” that tells him it’s time to be quiet. Granted, it probably won’t work every time you use it, if your dog gets too excited he won’t even notice you’re talking, but it’s a first step that will help on most occasions.

In order to do this, you’ll first need to do the opposite and teach how to bark on command. That will give you an expected behavior reference that will make it so much easier to teach the opposite.

Just pick your favorite command, like “Speak” for bark and “Quiet” to stop your dog from barking.

Then, reward him! Treats, kibble, whichever he’s used to getting when he gets it right.

Step 1 – Mark the Bark

Use the clicker to acknowledge the intended behavior, as soon as your dog barks you click or use the chosen cue word, followed by a reward.

Make sure you do this while the dog is still barking to make sure he gets what it is your marking.

If you’re trying to get your dog to bark but he isn’t cooperating, bring out whatever usually makes him bark and use it for this step.

Repeat this sequence several times.

Step 2 – Barking on Command

Pick a word to use when you want your dog to bark.

Use the object that makes your dog bark and use the chosen cue word to make him bark. Once he does, mark and reward, as in the previous step.

Repeat this sequence until you’re certain he’s barking on cue and that he understands that only when he barks on cue will he be rewarded.

Step 3 – Stop Barking

For this final step, you’ll need to trigger your dog into barking without the cue word.

Once he stops barking, you’ll begin using the cue word for quiet and reward him immediately. Try using the cue word as closely as possible to when the dog stops barking so he’ll see the connection.

Repeat this sequence until your dog looks for the treat once you use the cue word, this means he has associated the word with the reward.

Now you can start using the cue word when the dog is actually barking.

Finally, use the bark cue word to make your dog bark for a while and then the quiet cue word. Reward your dog as soon as he complies.

As soon as he figures this out and responds to each cue word correctly, you can practice his new found skills for as long as you’d like.

This simple exercise will make your dog aware of his own behavior.

Motivated not only by the reward but also by his eagerness to please you, he will want to comply to your commands and only bark when asked to.