How to Control Dog Barking: Understanding Positive-Reinforcement Dog Training

Does your dog's barking sometimes feel like it's reaching record-breaking levels? 📢

While barking is a natural way for dogs to communicate, excessive barking can disrupt your peace and strain your relationship with your pup. 

The good news is that with some consistent strategies, you can help your dog learn when barking is appropriate and when it’s time to stay quiet.

To help your dog learn to control their barking while strengthening your bond, Certified Dog Trainers at Urban Pawsibilities recommend you try positive reinforcement dog training instead of reprimanding their unwanted behavior.

What is Positive Reinforcement Dog Training? 

At Urban Pawsibilities, we use positive reinforcement-centered dog training plans to modify behavior. 

There are a lot of misunderstandings and misconceptions about dog training, dog behavior, and animal behavior in general. 

To make a long story short, humans have been trying to use punishment to change animal behavior for a very long time. 

Through thousands of studies of hundreds of different species, scientists have found that if you are trying to teach any organism any new behavior, punishment - decreasing the likelihood of a behavior - is not as effective as positive reinforcement - increasing the likelihood of a behavior. 

Animals learn faster, with more retention and accuracy, when using positive reinforcement-centered training plans to modify behavior.

To read more about positive reinforcement and its uses in animal training, visit www.clickertraining.com.

Understand Why Your Dog Barks

Before you can train your dog to stop barking, you should start by analyzing and understanding why they’re barking. 

Dogs bark for various reasons, such as:

• Alerting: They’re warning you about something unusual.

• Boredom: A lack of stimulation can lead to excessive barking.

• Fear or Anxiety: Loud noises, hard staring, unfamiliar people, or separation anxiety can be why your dog is barking.

• Attention-Seeking: Barking can be a way of saying, "Look at me!"

• Excitement: High energy and happiness may come out as loud barking.

By identifying the root cause, you can tailor your dog training approach to address it effectively. 

Need help identifying why your dog barks? Book a free discovery call with one of our head dog trainers to see if we can help. 

How to Use Positive Reinforcement to Stop My Dog From Barking

So, now you understand that yelling at your dog to “stop barking” will not get you to change the behavior as effectively as by using positive reinforcement and rewarding them when they don’t bark; let’s look at how this would work. 

Positive reinforcement dog training sessions will need treats, praise, and playtime to encourage the desired behavior, such as staying calm in situations where they would typically bark.

In many cases, there is a trigger that you can stage in a controlled setting to slowly desensitize your dog to not bark at those specific triggers. You’ll want to gradually expose them to the trigger at a distance and reward calm behavior.

For example, if their trigger for barking is to alert you of someone being at the door, practice having a friend walk up to the front porch, and reward your dog for watching that person approach your home. You can also practice rewarding your dog for listening to noises associated with someone approaching. Use a bluetooth speaker to play recordings of a doorbell, door knocking or footsteps. Reduce the volume until your dog can listen to the noise without barking, and reward them for listening.

Important Note: Avoid Accidentally Reinforcing Barking 

Sometimes, we unintentionally encourage barking. For example, if your dog barks for attention and you respond immediately, they learn that barking works to get your attention.

Doing this might confuse them and undo your progress during your training sessions.

Not Having Success Training Your Dog to Stop Excessive Barking?

If your dog’s barking is excessive and doesn’t improve with training, consult a professional dog trainer or behaviorist. Persistent barking could also indicate underlying health issues, so a vet check-up may be necessary.

To talk to a professional dog trainer at Urban Pawsibilities, fill out this contact form here.