Bark, bark, bark . . . is there anything as annoying?  Do you really care why the dog is barking?  Probably not, you just want it to stop, right?  Many good relationships are destroyed by this one simple act.  Neighbors no longer speak to each other, people do obnoxious things to barking dogs, complaints are lodged, and the list goes on and on. 

So, what to do about it?  First, you need to know why dogs bark. They bark to communicate with each other, they bark out of boredom, they bark warnings, they were bred to bark, and many older dogs bark because of a little senility.

Probably the easiest to resolve is boredom barking, which can usually be controlled or minimized by enriching the dog’s environment.  Try feeding your dog out of a Kong or stuffed bone, instead of just putting their food in a bowl.  Put a little challenge into their day.  It’s always about balance in life, if you are mentally stimulated and physically stimulated there is better balance and you aren’t as inclined to become bored. During the summer our daycare dogs get lots of ice, sometimes there’s a treat frozen inside, toy or just the ice but it’s something to make them work. 

Most terriers were bred to be alarm barkers; anything that makes a sound or moves is subject to a barrage of woofs.  So, here comes your mail person, doing what he does each day…deliver your mail.  Your dog sees this person trying to break into the house each day so he barks furiously at him and he is rewarded because, in his mind, he scared him away.  Little does he know that’s what the mail person does each day, he comes, drops off the mail, then leaves.  Now you try to convince your little guy that he didn’t scare him away!

Dogs that bark because they are getting a bit senile can be very annoying, they usually have a rhythm to their bark:  Bark, bark, bark, pause, bark, bark, bark, pause, and on and on all day.  It’s enough to drive you senile!

Controlling barking is difficult because most barking occurs when their owners aren’t home.  Although there are many devices that claim to resolve the problem, we use the Citronella collar. It sprays citronella spray up when the dog barks so the dog learns he controls the spray.  Because it’s not based on pain the dogs remain in a thinking mode and try to figure out why it goes off.  It approaches the problem on many levels; they see it, smell it, hear it and sometimes can taste it.  We have a rental program which is very successful; most people, who rent the collar, purchase it because it works.  Woofs and wags for now and good luck.  For more training tips visit our website www.fromtheheart.info

Please visit our Dog Behavior & Training page for a list of behavior and training resources. Visit our Upcoming Events page for info about Barb DeGroodt’s dog behavior question and answer sessions held monthly in Pacific Grove or Salinas.

If there is anything else you would like to know about Animal Friends Rescue Project, please email us at info@animalfriendsrescue.org or call us at (831) 333-0722. Also, let us know if you are interested in joining our mailing list.