Excessive Barking
Excessive barking can be frustrating for all of us - pet parents, neighbors, other pets and family members in the home, and even the pet who’s making all that racket. When it comes to helping with this behavior challenge, we first have to identify why all that noise? Typically barking is a self soothing behavior or they are being reinforced in one way or another, whether it be the retreat of whatever the trigger is, or the release of pent up energy.
Dogs are going to do dog things, and save very few exceptions, dogs are just going to bark, and we need to let them…occasionally. It’s when it’s excessive that it becomes something we need to address. So let’s get to it.
First, we need to identify the cause and the reinforcer. Understanding the underlying situation will help us rectify it without simply putting a bandaid on it.
Is the dog barking at passersby while staring at the window?
Are they barking at seemingly nothing and everything?
Does the barking seem to be worse at specific times of the day?
What about when specific family members are home?
When they’re overstimulated while playing?
Etc. - identify specifics.
Some of the situations will call for management - such as barking at passersby. If the dog can’t observe the outside world through the window without getting stressed and barking, make the window inaccessible. Move the couch. Put something in front of it at his eye level. Find some way to remove the view.
If the dog is barking at literally everything and nothing at all, all through the day and night, chances are they have some pent up energy they need to release. For this, we turn to enrichment. We can use scent games, treat dispensers, training sessions, long-term chews, lickimats, etc. I would definitely recommend enrichment feeding (only feed meals using enrichment tools, games, and toys.)
If the dog is barking at specific times throughout the day, identify when those are. When the kids get home from school, or someone gets home from work? Mornings when everyone gets up for the day? At night when it’s time to settle for the night? If we can identify specific times their energy levels are higher, creating the need for them to release that through barking, we simply get proactive and implement some activities during those times to release that energy. Just a couple of minutes worth of quick cue practice, or giving them a special toy or a chew for a few minutes to burn that off should suffice.
Sometimes dogs will bark when overstimulated or demanding something of us. In these cases, we need to practice “reward for calm.” For example, if your dog loves a specific toy so much he gets worked up and barks at it while playing, take the toy away when he barks. Give it back when he’s quiet (with a marker word like “YES! Good quiet!”) If she barks at you for your attention, we will teach her the “Wait!” cue, using our index finger in the “just a moment” signal. Once we’ve laid the foundation with “wait” we can use that when she barks at us - this is one we will need to learn and practice more in person or via zoom, and then use it in real life situations.
While I won’t address every scenario in which excessive barking can be addressed here, I will reiterate - We need to first identify the trigger, and then the reinforcer. Everything a dog does is for a reinforcement. Everything. We need to figure out what is reinforcing their behavior, remove that reinforcement, and reward them for the more desirable behavior (quiet/calm.)