![]() ![]() Providing brain games for your dog can help alleviate boredom barking. If you know your dog barks while home alone, make sure to spend quality time with your dog before you leave and provide stimulating activities like a stuffed KONG for your dog to solve and eat while you’re away. In addition to making sure your dog gets enough physical exercise by walks, and active playtime if you’re struggling with excessive barking, it’s helpful to increase the amount of mental and enrichment your dog gets during the day. When dogs don’t have enough enrichment in their day, they may develop destructive habits including too much barking. Increasing EnrichmentĮxcessive barking can be a sign that your dog is bored. With practice, your dog will shift their behavior and anticipate running to that area of your home away from the front door to get treats instead of barking when packages are delivered. Repeat this interaction multiple times over several practice sessions. When you get to that area, jackpot your dog with lots of high-value treats. To start teaching this new behavior, have a friend or family member ring your doorbell (or use a doorbell recording online), and when the doorbell rings, get your dog’s attention with a high-value treat and rush quickly with a lot of verbal encouragement to the area you want them to go. If you know your dog barks excessively when a package is delivered, you can teach your dog that when the doorbell rings they should run to another area of your home to get rewarded (instead of your dog rehearsing the barking behavior at the door.) In addition to managing your space to reduce your dog’s engagement with triggers that cause them to bark, it’s helpful to teach alternative behaviors for your dog to do instead of barking. In addition to creating visual barriers from neighborhood distractions, it can be useful to use a white noise machine or to turn on a white noise playlist, radio, or television to help muffle distracting noises from outside your home. By managing your dog’s environment and their access to distractions you may be able to reduce or even eliminate excessive barking.Īdding blinds, curtains, or adhesive privacy film (which comes in plain frosted or decorative patterns) to your windows can block the visual distractions from your dog. ![]() If your dog is spending their day looking out the window and barking - at people, dogs, and vehicles in your neighborhood - a key step to stopping the barking is to remove the distraction. Although today many owners find alert barking frustrating, it’s important to remember that this behavior is natural for dogs. Historically, many breeds of dogs were kept guarding their owner’s homes and properties, or to alert owners about the presence of intruders. There is always a reason for the barking, and it’s our job to figure out what our dogs need.Ī common reason for excessive barking is in response to things going on in your neighborhood. Dogs use their barking as a means of communicating with us when they need things: to go outside, to play, because they are hungry, or because they are concerned about things. Some barking is normal, but when barking becomes excessive not only is it frustrating for owners, but it’s also a sign your dog may be stressed, or their needs aren’t being met. Dogs may bark to get attention, because they are alerting to something going on around them, because they are bored, anxious, frustrated, or feeling defensive of their homes or families. Vocalizations are one way that dogs can communicate about how they are feeling and what they want. If you are struggling with a dog who barks excessively, it’s important to try and understand what is causing the barking. Everyone’s definition of what “excessive barking” is will look different but if you have a dog who is barking excessively there are things you can do to bring peace to your dog and quiet to your home. Generally, excessive or nuisance dog barking involves a dog repeatedly barking for prolonged periods of time that interfere with neighbors engaging being able to enjoy their own property. Barking is natural for dogs, but sometimes barking can be a thing of excess, which can lead to frustrated owners, and sometimes neighbors. ![]()
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