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Barking is no 1 complaint around australia

Advice from Positive Response Dog Training (Brisbane)

Barking is the no 1 complaint around australia.

Home owners often don’t know their dogs are barking until they get a nasty letter in their letterbox from a neighbour or a council complaint.

These are some of the things that barking can be related to:

  • · Stress
  • · Separation anxiety
  • · Underlying medical condition
  • · Boredom
  • · Loneliness
  • · Yard intruder (anything from a cat or lizard if it goes on for quite a while)
  • · Noisy in play

Owners need to make an honest assessment of their lives and their dogs lives.

How long does your dog spend on its own of a day?

All home owners should record their home environment for a week periodically. That will give the owner a clear indication if their dog is making a lot of noise.

Taping can be done by buying an audio recorder from Dick Smith. They can be downloaded to your computer.

A video recorder set up on the right angle can record for as long as your battery lasts and gives you visual as well as audio.

Management Strategies

  • · What is the trigger?
  • · If its boredom then enrich your dogs life using enrichment toys and their food. Visit http://www.positiveresponse.net.au/free-dog-training-info.html and see 50 ways to stuff a Kong. This means get rid of the food bowl and put your dog onto a working program
  • · Exercise your dog each morning before you go to work
  • · Exercise your dog when you come home of a night
  • · Spend quality time with your dog and get it out of the house morning and night even if it is to drive to the local store with you.
  • · Mental exercise and training go hand in hand - find a Professional trainer in your area
  • · If your dog is barking through a fence look at screening off
  • · If inside ensure it can’t get to a front window so use a baby gate
  • · Block off windows or doors with curtains or block out paper
  • · Leave a radio or TV on for either indoor or outdoor dogs
  • · Talk to neighbours if their cat/children/ dog is contributing to your dogs barking issues
  • · Ensure your dog has a den to go into such as the inside of a laundry, under the house, kennel or garage where it can get away and chill
  • · Enlist the services of a qualified professional dog walker who will walk and mentally stimulate your pet
  • · Contact your vet and ask for an ADAPTIL collar, spray or diffuser. (this is a synthetic pheromone that replicates mum and helps calm dogs down)
  • · If not sure why your dog is barking please seek the advice from a qualified PROFESSIONAL like Positive Response

Advise is often sought from incorrect areas. If your dog is barking do NOT use any type of barking collar device. Yes it is CRUEL

Think about this. You are anxious, lonely or having a lovely game and each time you open your mouth to speak, you get a nasty zap or a squirt up your nose. This leads to further stress , frustration and anxiety and increases the behaviour.

Some dogs shut down and don’t bark so people think they have “fixed the problem”, other dogs become more anxious and bark through the pain.

We are the guardians for our dogs so help then and remember:

Learning = any behaviour that is rewarded will be repeated. (That means that a collar can make a dog bark even more even if it is uncomfortable or painful).

Quick fix is never the answer.