One afternoon, upon going home from work, one of your neighbors approached you and informed you of a problem – while you were out, your new dog went on barking and howling like crazy. Now for you, that is a huge concern because if this remains unsolved, you may end up doing two things: moving out of your apartment or worse, getting rid of your dog.
But those worse case scenarios can be stopped. How? You must first learn and understand two things: one, your dog’s behavior is caused by a specific reason. And two, his excessive howling can be controlled by giving him proper care and training.
Let us expound on those two things further:
Causes of Your Dog’s Behavior
According to some experts, dogs bark or howl due to the following reasons:
- To warn any intruders/ strangers that are entering their territory
- To express their sadness every time they are left alone in the house
- To while away their boredom
- To seek attention from their masters or any other animals near them
- To answer the calls of their pack
Whatever their reasons are, it is important to realize that barking for dogs is completely normal. In a way, you have to consider the noises they make as a means of talking and communicating their feelings. The problem only comes in when your dog keeps on barking for long periods of time even if there is no trigger or if that trigger ceased to exist hours ago.
How to Stop the Barking Dog
If upon observing, you came into conclusion that your dog indeed barks excessively, then it is time to take action. You should consider training him to alter his unwanted behavior. Now the question is, how exactly should you do that?
Here are some simple ideas that may just work.
- When you feel that your dog is making noise for no apparent reason at all, approach him once he makes a sound, give him a firm “no” and punish him with a light slap on his nose. Doing this will make him realize that he has done something wrong. After punishing him, stand up and leave as soon as you can.
- Stop any positive reinforcement that keeps him from dropping his bad behavior. If he wants attention and if he is calling for you, leave him be for a moment and let him wait. When he stops, that should be your go signal to finally approach him.
- After stopping the reinforcement for bad behaviors, try to give him reinforcement for just being quiet. Try giving him massages and soft reassuring pats when he is calmly resting beside you.
Those are three of the things that you can do. Do not be frustrated if you do not see immediate results. Be patient because these things take time. If you want more help or tips, you can always refer to Daniel Steven’s “Secrets to Dog Training” that can be found on this site: http://www.kingdomofpets.com/dogobediencetraining/.
