Stop Your Small Dog’s Barking

Posted on Jan 20 in Small Dog Behaviorby Jeff K.Print

“Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
-Albert Einstein-

“Woof.”

Woof.

“Quiet.”

“Woof.”

“I said quiet.”

“Woof.”

“Be Quiet!”

“Woof.”

“Shh. Quiet!!”

Woof.”

“QUIET!!!!”

“Woof.”

If your small dog is as vocal as my dog Royce, you have probably gotten into a shouting symphony with him. I chose those words, “shouting symphony,” very carefully. Let’s break that second word down: “Sym,” meaning together; and “phony,” meaning sound. Yes, you are making sound together. The dog does not necessarily hear a command to be quiet. He hears you barking along with him. The more you shout “Quiet!” or “Stop that!” the more you may actually encourage your dog to bark.

I see barking symphonies all the time at Kelsey’s Dog House, a grooming, boarding and daycare facility for small dogs in Atlanta. They begin with an audible stimulus such as a fire truck going by with its siren on. Or the front door to the shop opens and a customer with a loud and enthusiastic voice comes in. In response, one or two dogs will start barking. Within seconds, all the dogs in the shop are barking in symphony. I can tell you with absolute certainty, shouting at the symphony of dogs only adds to the commotion.

So why do we all tend to shout at our barking dogs? Because that strategy works with people. As I have said over and over in this forum, dogs are not people. The shouting strategy does not work with dogs.

When your dog starts a barking jag, there are two fundamental steps to stopping the problem, in this order:

1. Touch the dog to get his attention.
2. Separate the dog from the stimulus that was occurring when the dog started barking.

Of all the ways to influence your dog’s behavior, your voice command ranks dead last. Yes, you can run your dog through his obedience routine using voice command alone, but doing so assumes you have your dog’s undivided attention. Trust me. When your dog is barking at something unusual, your voice command will go completely un-noticed. Touching your dog is the key to getting his attention. The next time your dog is on a barking jag, touch him on the shoulder. If he is really deep into the barking jag, you will probably notice him flinch with surprise when you touch him. That’s flinch demonstrates how deeply engrossed he was in his barking behavior.

When you touch your dog, he will probably make eye contact with you and stop barking for a moment. If simply touching your dog is not enough to get his attention, pick him up if he is small enough. If he is a large dog, grab his collar and pull him around to face you. This is the time to calmly, and let me emphasize calmly, tell him to “Shoosh.” For those of you who believe I should add a caution here about touching or picking up a dog that is about to fight with another dog, let me say this. Dogs that are about to fight with each other rarely bark. Barking is a tension releaser. Dogs that are about to fight let tension build and are either silent or growl at a low level. Nevertheless, if you believe it would be unsafe to touch your barking dog, don’t.

After you have touched and “shooshed” your dog, move him away from the stimulus that triggered the barking. If the stimulus was a sound, move him indoors or to a room where the sound is diminished. If the stimulus was the sight of something interesting or threatening, move your dog out of sight of the stimulus. Don’t let your dog get back in range of the stimulus until he has been calm and not barked for at least 5 minutes.

You know that old saw that goes “Never try to teach a pig to play piano?” Here’s my take. Never try to stop a barking dog by voice. It’s a waste of your time and it annoys the dog.

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