Excessive Barking – A Dog Training Tip to Quieten Your Dog
There are two proven ways to quieten a dog that just can not seem to stop their excessive barking. One way relies on the use of a water gun. The other is called the “Tin Can Method”. Surprisingly, the water squirt gun method does not have much of an affect on some dogs. You will find some actually enjoy it. Do not assume you can predict whether they will like it or not based on the particular breed. It all has to do with the actual dog. You may find one dog fids it tortuous, yet another of the same breed absolutely loves it.
If you have one of the dogs who find the water gun fun, you may have to turn to the alternate method. Keep ion mind dogs are trainable based on whether they feel their actions have pleased you or upset you. One alternate method of training your dog to control their excessive barking utilizes tin cans tied with string. If you can save around five tin cans, you will need to just be able to sneak up your dog. Have your throwing arm loosened up also. A couple of small pebbles will give more shock to the ears of the dog.
Since dogs typically do not enjoy loud noises, you can make this method work. When the dog barks excessively, throw the cans as close as can be to the dog without actually hitting him. Let the noise train the dog not to bark. Never strike or harm your dog.
When the cans land alongside of the barking dog, boldly command them to “stop” or yell “no!”. After you have done this for awhile, the dog will listen to the command and not rely on the actual noise form the tin can. The command, not the noise, will make him refrain from excessive barking. You dog will soon catch on to the fact that the annoying noise will follow his excessive barking.
Be Ready For The Excessive Barking Your Dog Will Make
Your dog may soon realize that you are not continuously armed with the tin cans. This may provoke an intelligent breed to take advantage of you. They may also discover that once you throw the cans toward them, your hands are free and you have nothing else to pitch their way. Keeping multiple sets of tin cans within reach during training will be best.
There is an anecdote about a kennel owner who had had enough of the dog’s excessive barking outside. Going up and down the stairs and outside to frighten them into stopping was also becoming a challenge. The owner turned to having water balloons filled and ready every night. Once the barking started, he would take aim. It is said that his aim was so dead on, the dogs had no idea where the water balloons originated from. They soon learned it only took one little bark for the water balloons to come flying. I often wonder what that dog thought!
Excessive Dog Barking and A Plan On How To Stop
We all know a dog year is equivalent to about seven human years, but it has been said that a trained dog has the intellect of a child aged between three and seven years old. At first glance this may seem commendable, but when one stops to think about it, that intellect is not really advantageous under all circumstances.
An intelligent dog knows whether its owner is on the premises or not. Therefore, it knows whether its adverse behavior can be corrected, or whether it will go unnoticed. No matter how well trained a dog is, it has a mind that is capable of experiencing loneliness, jealousy, elation, worry, fear, boredom and many other emotions that we fail to realize.
Your dog may be the epitome of good behavior as long as it knows that you are around to respond when it does bad things. But to the intelligent dog who takes your absence as freedom to misbehave, you must make a new revelation and that is that from now on you will be home, even if you are not there!
How, you might be asking, can you always be home, when you’re not?
The solution is really quite simple but putting it into practice can be a little complicated. The secret lies in making your dog believe that you are gone from the house. This is best accomplished by setting up the situation. Take a drive in your car, out of sight from your house, then park at the curb nearby, get out and quietly walk back to your home.
In staging the scene, care must be given to never underestimate the intelligence of your dog. If you do, it just might turn the tables on you and perceive the entire thing as a new game that you are playing, all for its enjoyment.
When you leave the house, don’t try to fool your dog by setting up this situation by just closing the front door and pretending to be gone. It is much too smart for that. Your dog will have to hear the usual start of your car’s engine and the sound of the vehicle fading away as it drives out of distance. By doing this, your dog will absolutely believe that you are gone.
When you sneak back to your house, be sure not to inadvertently alarm your dog by rattling your keys or making heavy footstep sounds. A dog’s ability to hear is far superior to mankind’s and it will know that that you are actually home.
Setting The Trap
If your dog is a backyard dog and you have managed to sneak quietly into your house unnoticed, sit back, relax and wait. The instant it starts to bark, you should emerge from your house with a water gun, your tin cans, or even water-filled balloons to toss nearby. This entire scene is be repeated as many times as necessary to get the point across that, although it hears and believes you are gone, you’re really just “one bark away”.
If your dog is a house dog, all of the members of the family should join in the staging of the schooling. In other words, everyone should leave the house together and walk toward the car. One member of the family should remain on the front porch (out of sight), while the rest of you drive away. At the first bark from your dog, the family member who stayed behind on the front porch should be the one to burst through the door like a wild bull, give off a loud shout, and accompany this with your weapon of choice: a squirt gun or a set of tin cans.
