How To Stop Your Dog From Barking Using Positive Reinforcement

Is your dog barking too much? It could be that youre inadvertently training him to bark by giving him attention whenever he barks. Yelling at him counts as giving attention, as does looking at him or kicking him. You know who you are! Dont do it.

Even if youve got a pup from the Hound group (who is hereditarily hardwired to bark while hunting, such as a Beagle, you can still win this battle -- peacefully) practice both the long-term and short-term solutions here, stay consistent and practice daily, and you can solve this barking problem.

First and foremost, the thing to remember with a barker is the same thing with any other behavior issue:

When a behavior is reinforced, it will increase in frequency.

When a behavior is not reinforced, it will decrease in frequency.

Long-Term Bark Stoppers

These are to be practiced continually whenever you are not doing the short-term exercises.

§ Keep all departures and arrivals very low-key. This is very important. When you or family members come home from school or work, quietly let the dog outside and dont greet him in any way whatsoever until at least 5 minutes later. This is hard for kids or anyone owning a puppy, but its crucial to avoid emotional displays which announce your comings and goings. Making a big deal when you leave or come home will increase the likelihood not only of owner-absent barking, but bona fide separation anxiety

§ Ignore all barking unless you are certain that the barking is signaling something extremely important. Ignoring does NOT mean saying "Quiet Rover" when he barks - it means remaining quiet yourself when he barks!

§ Do not even look at your dog or turn your head toward your dog when he barks. Doing so reinforces the behavior! Hes just looking for some way to get your attention and believe me, hell notice your eyes moving because hes watching you.

§ Praise "Good quiet, Rover" and walk over to him to give him a little treat several times during the day when he is just sitting around not barking. He can be doing just about anything else, but if he is quiet, praise him and call it what it is. Believe it or not, hell figure out what hes doing right sooner than you think, and his "quiet" behavior will increase.

§ If you got a breed known for barking (Hounds such as beagles) accept it and modify your expectations. Be realistic about leaving him alone inside or outside when you cant hear him; if hes bothering the neighbors, you may have to get him into a daycare.

§ Exercise, exercise, exercise: 2 hours of brisk walking (or running) daily is a minimum for barkers, who need an outlet for their energy. He should be walked on a leash away from your home and/or run in a safe area away from your home. Not only does this tire him out, but it desensitizes him to the sights, sounds and smells of your neighborhood - rendering them less "barkworthy" than when they were unknown.

§ Playtime and obedience in your yard. If youre not playing with him for at least 30 minutes daily, start. Fetch, chase, tug, and hide & seek are all great games to play with your pooch and will tire him out and enhance your relationship.

§ If you have to leave your dog outside while youre gone, give him a digging pit, a wading pool, lots of toys and agility-type obstacles that will keep him busy and happy. Installing a stockade fence through which he cannot see will also reduce the barking.

§ Never leave your dog tied up outside. Youre just asking for noise (and possibly aggression) anytime anything happens in the vicinity.

§ When you can communicate with your dog and learn to give him attention for the good things he does, hell be less frustrated, more responsive to you, and much less likely to bark. Enroll in an obedience class at a positive reinforcement facility (see the Trainer Search at http://www.apdt.com for ones in your area).

If youve already taken obedience, try agility, flyball, tracking, or Canine Good Citizen to stimulate his mind and body.

§ Dont bother yelling at your dog for barking. Some dogs interpret this as your attempt to join in the barking chorus! And all dogs know that getting yelled at is getting more attention than they were getting before they barked!

§ Bring him to a cage-free dog daycare once or twice a week. The staff there are very likely to practice barking control, but more important hell learn quickly that proximity to other dogs is not necessarily reason to vocalize.

Short Term Bark Stopper: Put the bark on command

If you train your dog to bark on cue, youre in control of most of his barking. And if you can concurrently train him to Quiet on cue, youre happy! Youll need a helper for this exercise, and youll need to practice it several different times on different days , maybe 20 minutes each time. Your helper may be different or the same each time as long as they can follow your directions.

First, tell your helper to go outside your front door. Instruct him that in 5 seconds he should ring the doorbell. Close the door with you and the dog inside. Count to 4 seconds and command your dog to "Speak!". If your timings right, your doorbell will now ring, setting your dog up for his predictably barking frenzy. You have now started to associate the command "Speak" with your dogs barking.

After a few seconds of barking, command "Quiet" while holding a treat right in front of your dogs nose. He will stop barking in order to eat the treat. You may praise him "Good quiet" while he chomps on his treat.

Now youve not only associated the command "Quiet" with him ceasing to bark, but youve also associated being quiet with something yummy, along with your verbal praise which he also loves. This starts your dog on his long and happy relationship with being quiet when told to do so.

Repeat this exercise 5-10 times in each daily session. You should be in control of your dogs barking within only a few short days!

If you cant get him into a group class, order a good positive reinforcement training video such as Positive Puppy Training at http://www.dogdaysusa.com/positivepuppy.cfm and practice as much as you can.

For more great puppy and dog training and behavior articles, including jumping, chewing, separation anxiety and housetraining, go to http://www.dogdaysUSA.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Suzanne_Harris

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Using A Bark Collar To Train Your Dog

By Craig Thornburrow

Sometimes it becomes necessary to implement a bark collar into your dogs training. "Mans best friend" can become the biggest sore spot in your life if you cannot get your dog to realize that it is not necessary to bark constantly. The reasons that dogs continually bark can vary, for example some dogs are just nervous ticks so they bark at anything and everything. Other dogs maybe a "Type A" dominant dog and attempting to set its boundaries. No matter what the reason for your dogs barking you know that you just want it to cease, now.

Implementing a bark collar for your dogs training maybe just the solution you need. This is especially true if you have tried other training methods to no avail. It is unfortunate but collars used to control barking have over the years gotten a bad rap. There is a misconception that these collars actually harm the dog physically or psychologically. When you use these collars properly nothing can be further from the truth. There will be no adverse impact on your dog. In fact the opposite is true.

When a dogs barking becomes a nuisance everyone around the dog begins to yell at the dog. Yelling and screaming at the dog wont actually solve the problem but you will feel a little better for a few minutes. The dog however will be impacted by the constant barrage of yelling. You will begin to see your dog cower each time you raise your voice. Some dogs will just lower their heads and walk away none of which is good for your dogs mental well being.

With a collar you can teach your dog when it is not appropriate to bark. For example when you are out taking the dog for a walk you can put the collar on. This way your dog will quit barking at every car that passes by. The collar works this way. When your dog begins to bark the vibrations from his vocal cords will trigger the mechanism in the collar and it will correct the dog with either an electric stimulus or a spray. So you have two types of bark collars to choice from.

Some owners prefer the spray type of collar to the electric stimulus. With the spray type of collar the dog will receive a corrective burst of bad smelling spray to their snout when they bark. The spray is harmless to both humans and dogs however to dogs it is a very unpleasant smell. The dog will eventually connect the idea that when they bark they get the spray and will begin to bark less.

No matter which one you decide to use make sure you read and understand the instructions for the collar before you being your training sessions. Following the directions will insure that your dog will learn when it is appropriate to bark and when it is not. Implementing a bark collar can help you break the bad habits your dog has formed in regards to its barking.

Craig Thornburrow is an acknowledged expert in his field. You can get more free advice on bark collars and bark control collars at http://www.barkcollarsfordogs.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_Thornburrow

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Using geat training techniques

Aggressive behaviors, excessive barking and general disobedience are annoying to a dog owner. These bad habits can be changed. While it might not be possible to completely eliminate these behaviors, applying the advice in this article will still train the dog to a large degree. With dedicated effort, it is possible to transform any dog into a perfect pet.

If your dog possesses specific triggers associated to bad behavior, try to keep him busy while the temptation passes. For instance, if your dog reacts negatively to other dogs, you need to keep his focus on you as you come into contact with them. This will help him correlate the relationship between that stimuli and the positive things that come from it.



 Dogs should always feel safe and secure while training them. When a dog is insecure about their safety, they could lash out with bad behavior. So this doesnt happen, make sure your dog is always safe.

 Use your dogs name whenever you are offering it a treat. This will direct his attention to you immediately every time, and especially right before you issue a command. Use your dogs name several times a day. If you need to punish your dog, go to your dog. Dont call him or her to you and then punish.

 To ensure your training sticks, everyone in your household needs to treat your dog the same way you do and use the same training methods. Consistent methods is your best bet to get your dog to remember something. If teaching methods between people differs, it is easy for your dog to get confused.

 Use the appropriate tone of voice when you are correcting your pet. Dogs tend to be well in tune with how their trainers are feeling. An appropriately stern tone can reinforce discipline.

 When your dog reaches six months, make sure that your dog is spayed or neutered. Obedience training should be put off until this is done. Any dog not "fixed" will be very excitable and easily distracted in obedience sessions. This will make your dog easier to train.

 Try a phrase that you will stick with to train your puppy when you are house breaking him or her. Use the same word or phrase each time you bring him out to go to the bathroom so that he understands what you want him to do and makes a memory link between the phrase and the act.

 One of the most basic dog training tips around is to use your dogs name to command its attention. This will direct his attention to you immediately every time, and especially right before you issue a command. Get your dogs attention this way ten times every day. Also, it is very inappropriate for you to call the dog over to you and then punish him, as this will teach him to fear you and discourage him from coming when called.

 Avoid tug-of-war games when training a puppy. These games often encourage a puppy to start biting. Dont let this behavior take root by avoiding these games until the dog is older.

 Teach your dog the difference between right and wrong. You will need help from everyone in the family to teach this. It can quickly undermine your efforts.

 Feed your dog a healthy diet. Too many table scraps can unbalance your dogs diet. If your dog isnt getting what it needs to stay healthy, it could really struggle to find the energy for training or may act out in other ways. Something as simple as improving their diet can sometimes have a huge impact on how receptive they are to training.

 Although a harness is more comfortable for dogs, it does not offer as much control as a cinch-type collar. Using a collar and harness combo and only tugging on his collar when needed can teach your canine that he has to listen while harnessed, too.

 Determine in advance what types of food your dog likes so that you can use it in the training process. Your dog will be more likely to respond to your training efforts when the food reward is something he likes. Pay close attention to his response after you offer a reward.

 Be consistent with your cues when training a dog. Your dog can learn to associate a command with a particular behavior, but if you keep changing the command associated with a behavior, youll confuse him and he wont do what you want him to do. It is absolutely critical to remain consistent throughout. If you strive for this, you and your pet will get more out of the training.

 If you teach your dog the right way to act at the beginning you will have a good dog. It is much more difficult to break a dogs bad habits, than to teach it correct behavior in the beginning. For example, if you are adamant about your dog not being a beggar, then never make any exceptions to handing him food from your table.

 If you will be away from home for any length of time, such as going to work, then you need to make certain you take your dog on a long walk before you leave. Not only do you want your dog to relieve himself, but you also want to make him tired so he relaxes and doesnt suffer from anxiety while youre gone.

 You should not initiate a training session unless you are in a calm and patient mood. Be patient when training your puppy, so you can both stay focused.

 When training a dog it should always be done in a positive, motivated environment. Remember to reward desired behavior achieved by your dog while training, especially in response to specific requests. Using training techniques that are negative and based upon punishments will likely make your dog afraid, disobedient, and unhappy.

 You can prevent your dog from destroying your home by keeping it outdoors when you are away from the house. When this isnt possible, you want to provide things that both appeal to your dog and that are okay for the dog to chew on. Establishing acceptable chews toys is also about keeping those things you do not want your dog to chew up behind closed doors or well out out of reach.

 It is not uncommon for dog owners to express surprise at the simplicity of weaving dog training efforts into daily life, and how fast they achieve great outcomes. So if you are looking to change any of your dogs wayward ways, try some of our tips for quick success!.

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