Barking Problems

Understanding This Behaviour

Barking is a natural behaviour for dogs, and can be an expected and not uncommon response to various stimuli. There are several types of barking problems that dogs can display, including protective (guarding/territorial), predatory, fearful, and separation distress. Many of these types of barking stem from different learned behaviours, which could have occurred at various times in a dog’s life. These all have different therapies and most are treatable.

Treating This Behaviour

Although these all have different treatment approaches, general training usually includes rewarding a dog for quiet behaviour through the use of clicker training and a ‘quiet’ command. Alternative methods may be required for more serious cases, including clip lead training and crate training for separation-related issues, and social modelling of calm behaviour using other dogs. Variations of these techniques are used to remedy the other types of barking problems. The use of sophisticated training aids is sometimes necessary for the difficult cases.