actually increasing the unwanted behavior. If your dog
barks and you yell at him to shut up, you are
reinforcing the barking. Even though yelling at your dog
seems like a negative thing to you, your dog is getting
your attention, which is reinforcing in itself. He may
even think you’re joining in on the barking, which is
fun and will keep him barking. If he’s a little
high-strung, the noise you make may be stressing him,
making him bark more. If your dog seems anxious or
afraid when he barks, you may attempt to soothe him with
petting or even food. These behaviors certainly
reinforce the barking, because your dog learns that when
he barks, you will give him presents.
I knew a man whose Golden Retriever barked maniacally
every time someone came to the door, and continued
barking for ten minutes after they had come inside.
Since we were roommates and I came in the door at least
once a day, I found it frustrating and annoying to be
barked at long after Lucky and I were well acquainted. I
couldn’t understand why she needed to keep barking once
she knew who I was and had decided she liked me (we
played “fetch” endlessly). I started to understand what
was really going on when I stopped watching the dog and
started watching the man. I discovered that, although he
would say something to her, “Oh, stop, Lucky”, he only
said it once, in the tone of an indulgent parent who
really doesn’t mean it but feels like he should say
something. He really didn’t intend for her to
stop. He actually smiled when she barked; he liked it! I
never completely figured out what he got from her
barking, but I did note that he was a quiet and
soft-spoken man who spent a lot of time working alone at
home. The problem with working at home is people tend to
think that if you’re home, you’re not “really working”,
so they feel free to call and drop in any time they
like. Perhaps the dog was voicing the frustration her
man felt when being interrupted by other people. Being a
Golden Retriever, she was pretty good at intuiting what
her human wanted from her, and she had the genetic
predisposition to bark anyway, so she barked like crazy.
Changing your part in the barking process may be all you
need to help your dog make a change. Ideally, all you
would have to do to extinguish the barking is to ignore
it totally. Wouldn’t that be nice! Once in awhile,
ignoring completely works, but usually you’ve already
tried that and given up because your dog learns that if
he just barks long and loud enough, you will eventually
give him some attention. Added to ignoring the behavior,
you can remove yourself from the equation by leaving the
room when the dog barks. This works on two levels: it
tells your dog that barking doesn’t get him a verbal
response, petting, feeding or anything else from you. On
the second level, your leaving the room is something
your dog probably doesn’t want. So, he gets no
reinforcement, and your leaving is a subtly punishing
consequence of his barking. It doesn’t hurt him. but it
doesn’t make him happy, either.
If your dog only barks at certain times (or certain
people), and you can’t remove the cues, you can use
targeted training to teach him to stop. You can use Bark
Prevention Training combined with the cues that set him
off to teach him not to bark at delivery people, buses,
and other dogs; whatever. Bark Prevention Training is
the heart of this book, and the preferred method for
stopping unwanted barking. It is excellent in that it
provides activity, promotes daily shared time and builds
your relationship with your dog. Simply working together
can cure the symptoms of barking by relieving boredom
and loneliness, and can lessen anxiety by teaching your
dog his place in your “pack”. It also gives you
something to build on: once you’ve started working with
your dog, you may find that training gives you a new way
to communicate with each other.
Article
Summary
When you respond to barking by giving your dog any
attention (good or bad), you are reinforcing the
behavior and causing it to continue.
Yelling, comforting or feeding your dog when he barks
also reinforcees the behavior.
Your dog may be barking to please you: make sure you
really want him to stop!
Benefits from Bark Prevention Training include shared
time and activity, alleviation of loneliness and
boredom, reinforcement of pack structure, and
communication and relationship building between you and
your dog.
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