Dogs bark. That’s what they do, right? Wrong! I will show you the secret to training your dog to stop barking. Let’s face it. Dogs bark for several reasons whether it is they are used to a lot of affection and love or just do not know how to act when unsupervised. We also tend to spoil our dogs as they are usually considered one of the members of our family. There is nothing wrong with this behavior as we all tend to do it and typically it is considered the norm for our “loved” ones to whine when they’ve been overlooked.
The best step to training your dog to stop barking is to let them know that they won’t get away with barking just to get noticed. For example, Rex has been outside for awhile and desperately wants to come in. He learns that you let him inside when he barks. This is a terrible form of barking reinforcement. If you shout at Rex for barking he automatically feels that he can get your attention (even if negative) with misbehavior.
I personally use the water relation theory. I have kept a small spray bottle on hand with each puppy I have raised. Though each of my pets have been well loved and cared for, they tend to bark when they feel “abandoned” when the actuality is that I am trying to sleep. I don’t like o be interrupted when I sleep and you don’t either. I would get up, grab my bottle and in a calm voice say “Niet” followed by a quick spray to the face. This may take up to a week but after they learn your “target” word is associated with water, they will justifiably refrain from barking. When they learn the correlation between “stop” or whatever and water, they need to be calmly praised.
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