Perfect Puppy Problem Solving – Chapter 1 – Excessive Barking (Part 3)

Chapter 1 - Excessive Barking (Part 3)

What Not to Do

Avoid these common mistakes when trying to get your puppy to stop barking:

• Screaming at her. Shouting "No!" or "Hush!" or "Shut up!" is not likely to stop your puppy from barking. Instead, she could interpret this as you joining in her announcement, and it could encourage her to bark more. You may have noticed that when one dog in your neighborhood starts barking, other dogs chime in. It's a social behavior. If you yell at your puppy when she's barking, she interprets that as you joining in the discussion, just like the other dogs in your area.
• Rewarding her for barking. You may not think that you're rewarding your puppy for this behavior, but you may be giving her a paycheck without realizing it. For example, if she barks while you're eating dinner, and you give her a chew toy to keep her quiet, you've just paid her for barking. If she barks to be let out of her crate, and you open the door, you've paid her for barking. If she's outside and barks at you to let her in, and you do, you've paid her for barking. If you continue to do this, the barking will never go away because your puppy has learned that it works.
• Having unrealistic expectations. You may want your puppy to bark when someone comes to the door, but for how long? How much barking is too much? Your puppy will not know unless you teach her what you want. Some people want their puppies only to bark when "bad" people approach. But if you can't tell the good guys from the bad ones, is it realistic to expect your puppy to determine who's who? You may have a puppy that has an instinct for judging people, but you also could have a puppy that would happily greet a thief and offer him a tennis ball.
• Not meeting her physical and mental needs. If your puppy is outside in the backyard all day, she likely will grow bored and frustrated. If she's in her crate for too long without an appropriate number of potty or play breaks, she'll probably become bored and restless. If she's not getting the amount of exercise she needs for her breed and age, likely she'll become agitated and hyper. All these conditions can lead to excessive barking.