​Barking Mad! “How Do I Stop My Dog From Barking?”

This is a common question of veterinary behaviourists, and dog owners often assume that this is a simple question, with an easy and standard answer. However the reasons why dogs bark are many and various, and, unsurprisingly, there is no single — or simple — solution.

As with any behaviour problem, the road to a solution starts with understanding why the animal is behaving in this problematic way. With the barking dog, we first need to determine the motivation and triggers for the barking. Generally, this involves getting a thorough history, an understanding of the dog’s personality, and figuring out the purpose of the barking.

All behaviors occur for a reason — and generally, this is not primarily to annoy us. Once we appreciate the reason, we can work with the dog to either reduce or eliminate the motivation, or change the dog’s response from barking to a more appropriate (at least from our perspective) behaviour.

Why Do Dogs Bark?

So let’s have a look at some common reasons causing dogs to bark and what the solutions may involve.

Barking is a normal canine behaviour, but domestic dogs bark more than their distant ancestor, the wolf. This suggests that barking was seen as a desirable trait by those who have bred dogs over the centuries and a trait that has been selected for. So, genetics can play a role in rousing some dogs to bark. This may particularly true for territorial barking, where warning owners of potential intruders was valued.

Additionally, it is possible for owners to inadvertently reward territorial barking. Here is how I suggest this story goes. Dog barks, alerting the owners to ‘intruders’ (aka visitors). The owners start yelling at the dog and running down the hallway to the door. The dog perceives this as the desired response… you too are barking your head off and heading towards the door to warn off the intruder. You have just encouraged the dog’s response by "joining in."

Not only can owners inadvertently reward this type of territorial barking, but so can unassuming people walking past your home. Here’s how I think this story goes. Postman approaches your house. Your dog barks to warn/chase off the postman. The postman delivers your letters and goes on his merry way. What is your dog thinking? “Yep, I did it again! Every time I bark I get rid of that pesky postman. This is fun, rewarding, and very satisfying." So the behavior is a success, and the dog keeps doing it.

Owners can inadvertently encourage barking by “rewarding” it with attention. It’s all very well to ignore your dog when it is sitting at the back door barking to be let inside — the aim being to teach the dog that barking does not mean that it will get let inside. However, some dogs can be very persistent in this behaviour and it is very difficult to outlast the dog when the barking has been going on for 40 minutes or more. Of course, when you break down and let the dog inside, you have just told your dog that barking works… they just have to do it for a long time!

The above examples generally fall into the category of normal, but undesirable, behavior. Dogs can also bark when something is wrong. A common example is the dog with separation anxiety. These dogs are barking because they are really distressed and as such this type of barking represents poor welfare. These dogs really need help to relieve the anxiety they experience in their owner’s absence.

Dogs in pain may bark, and some dogs with dementia can bark excessively. Barking can also been seen in some dogs with compulsive disorders, or those with noise phobias (e.g. to thunderstorms), and in others fear can be a trigger. In all these cases these dogs need help because their barking generally represents some form of distress.

To make things more challenging, these causes are not mutually exclusive. There may be multiple motivations to bark and so treatment involves combining several strategies.

Diagnosis

Obtaining a thorough history is — as always — a critical first step in treating these cases.

• Who is barking?
• When and where does it occur?
• What is it in response to?
• Why does the dog bark, according to its owner?

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These questions help identify the motivation and triggers for barking, as part of making a diagnosis. Sometimes, if most of the barking occurs in the owner’s absence, setting up a recording device (video, voice-activated tape recorder) or placing a bark-count-collar on the dog can be very useful. Alternatively, the owner can leave the property and then return to observe the dog from a hidden vantage point.

Treatment: Quick Fix?

Bark-activated, punishment-based products — electric-shock collars, ultrasonic noise devices, and citronella collars are often perceived as being a quick and easy way to resolve barking problems. However, considering the causes for barking listed above, it becomes quite clear that merely using a device like these is often unlikely to address the cause of the problem. Many of these products do not work reliably and the use of aversive treatments for animals that are already stressed and anxious is likely to make things worse and not better. For instance, a dog with separation anxiety may just become more anxious if it learns that vocalising in the owner’s absence has an unpleasant consequence.

Treatment: Punishment

This is often the first response of an owner faced with an unwanted behaviour. However, for punishment to be effective it must:

• be immediate
• be aversive to the dog
• occur every time the unwanted behaviour occurs

These criteria can be very difficult to reliably and consistently achieve. For barking that occurs in the owner's absence, punishment cannot be used consistently, and dogs end up getting mixed messages — sometimes when I bark I get punished, and other times it is OK. The problem is they can't work out when it’s OK to bark, and so the punishment appears random, and random, uncontrollable punishment is very stressful. In fact, noncontingent punishment is a great way to create neurosis.

Sometimes what clients perceive as punishment is just ineffective noise. For instance, yelling at the dog to be quiet often fails to fulfill one or all of the criteria above: That is, it may not occur as soon as the dog starts to bark, every time the dog barks and — critically — the dog may not perceive the yell as something bad.

It is not surprising that the barking behaviour does not change, in such a scenario.

Treatment: The Best Outcomes

Obviously, for a behaviour with multiple causes, treating the specific cause(s) for the particular case is essential. For example, an approach that first treats the dog’s separation anxiety, noise phobia, cognitive dysfunction, compulsive disorder etcetera, rather than just the barking response itself, is more effective in the long term, more “dog friendly,” and less likely to exacerbate anxiety.

For dogs with "normal" barking, we look more towards management strategies, reducing triggers, and redirecting the dog to alternative and more desirable behaviors. For example, if the dog tends to bark when schoolchildren walk past the house on their way home, we could give the dog a rewarding and engaging food dispensing toy at this time, so that she is otherwise occupied and not so tempted to run and bark at the children.

For dogs that bark when the neighbours move around in their backyard, asking the neighbours to toss high-value treats over the fence every time they walk into their backyard changes the dog's response from one of trying to scare off the intruders to a positive expectation of treats. After a week of this new association, your dog won’t want to bark and scare off the neighbours; they will be willing them to come out and toss them a treat. Can you get your neighbours to help out here? Most neighbours are fed up with your dog’s barking too, so a little effort on their part will generally benefit them.

Given the many causes of barking, there are a multitude of different strategies to successfully treat this problem. The key to peace and quiet is understanding the motivation, and targeted treatments.