barking, but don't know how to stop it when enough is enough. To solve the issue of barking we must understand why our dog is barking in the first place. Let's take a look at the different types of barking and the solutions for each type. The different types of barking are; . Learned barking Fear Barking Let's star with fear barking.
Fear barking is not easily identified by a dog's body language, sometimes the body will look like it is prepped to move away from the stimulus causing the fear, their body will be made to look smaller and ears will be back. This isn't always the case though, some dogs can make themselves look more offensively aggressive even if fear or nervousness is at the root of the problem.
Dog's just like any other being on this earth have what's known as defense drive, dog's have 4 options to choose from in the defense drive, these are fight, flight, freeze and avoidance. Some dog's even if they are afraid choose fight as a way to create space between themselves and what they are afraid of. Fear barking can be a genetic trait or a learned behavior. The key to dealing with fear barking is to make the dog comfortable around the stimulus causing fear.
I have a few different techniques that I use for treatment of fear barking and many times will use multiple techniques collectively. The first thing I try to do is to get the dog out of it's fear system and into it's seeking system. This involves using the dog's threshold to our advantage ( the threshold is the distance where the dog is not reacting) and getting the dog in to a state of curiosity.
I start this process by having a person the dog is comfortable with handle the dog and randomly drop food for the dog to take. This get's the dog thinking, thinking and reacting are in two different parts of the brain and they inhibit each other. Remember this rule, when a dog is thinking we are inhibiting reacting and when a dog is reacting we are inhibiting thinking. Engagement training is another way to get dogs comfortable in new scenarios.
Engagement training teaches the dog to pay attention to you instead of everything else in their environment. We use our reward markers "yes" and "good" and reward whenever the dog is paying attention to us. We make a lot of quick movements and encouraging sounds if we lose the dog's attention. Again everything we do here is done below threshold and we work toward the stimulus causing the fear. Creating space is one of the biggest concepts when it comes to working with a fearful dog.
Think about something you are afraid of, lets say spiders for example. Are you more comfortable with a spider an inch from your face or 20 ft away from you on your wall? The same is true for our dogs, if our dogs are afraid of something, the further they are from it the more comfortable they will be. Cue's such as heel, come when called and place can create distance for our dogs.
You can heel your dog around the stimulus causing fear, call your dog away from the stimulus causing fear and send your dog away from the stimulus causing fear. Having cue's that keep your dog safe also builds trust in you as their handler, think of it like this, they can put their guard down because you are protecting them. Counter conditioning and desensitization. Counter conditioning and desensitization take place in our first 2 protocols, but are worth discussing in a paragraph of their own.
First establish your dogs threshold, then start rewarding for calm behaviors and slowly get closer to the trigger causing fear. Another form of counter conditioning iv'e used is called LAT (look at that) this teaches your dog to look at his trigger. You start this process sub threshold and reward your dog for looking at the trigger. The idea is to interrupt the behavior and counter condition it simultaneously.
Demand Barking Demand barking is when a dog barks at you to get what they want, this could be attention, food, play, to be let out etc.. This behavior is definitely one of my least favorites, it is pushy, annoying and disrespectful ( they may not mean it that way, but it sure feels like it.) The first thing I do about demand barking is change my relationship dynamics with my dog. I pick up all toy's and bones so my dog will not bring me them trying to engage me to play.
Think about it, if you dog brings you toys and you play with them, your dog is learning they can control your behavior. Then when you don't feel like playing and they bring you toys they're thinking "this normally works, what more do I need to do? Oh I know, I'll bark" the worst thing you can do is reward demand barking, DON'T GIVE IN TO THEIR DEMANDS! Extinction of a behavior means to never reward the behavior, I also choose to reward a replacement behavior.
Your dog will think after a while "barking doesn't work anymore, but this guy keeps giving me things for sitting" To use extinction effectively you will most likely have to endure an extinction burst. An extinction burst is when a behavior stops working so the dog escalates that behavior to try to make it work. So be prepared to expect louder, more frequent barks when you start this process. I also require my dog to work for me, this means doing obedience cue's to get things they want.
This is known as the nothing in life is free protocol. For example, sit and wait before going outside, down, sit and stand before eating, sit and watch before throwing a ball etc.. This teaches your dog patience and impulse control, it also puts you back in the drivers seat and changes your relationship with your dog. Make sure your dog gets enough mental and physical stimulation. This has been said many times over by many trainers.
The way I look at this is like visualizing a meter that is full, If your dogs energy meter is full and you are not providing them constructive outlets for there energy, that meter will overflow and the energy will come out in ways you don't desire. You choose how that energy is spent, but it's gotta be used somehow. After I have addressed my relationship issues, tried extinction and made sure my dog gets adequate mental and physical exercise I would correct the dog.
You can use a variety of tools to correct a dog, compressed air, bonker, e collar, prong collar. You want a correction to be enough to stop the behavior, but not unnecessarily harsh. I would stop the behavior and have them do something calm. For example, your dog is barking at you for attention, say "no" give them an effective prong collar correction, make them go to place for for a couple minutes then give them attention.
Frustration Barking Frustration barking is similar to demand barking, but it's not only about getting things from you. Things dogs want but can't get cause frustration barks. For example, wanting to play with another dog, but being held back by a leash or fence, wanting a treat that rolled under the couch. This is not as big of a deal as the first two types of barking. I'd rely on rock solid obedience for this.
