If you no longer know how to stop your dog from barking, an alternative way to control his barking is to put that behavior in order The idea behind this strategy is perfecting the inappropriate behavior, so that it only happens when you give the order. However, this can only be achieved under very strict training conditions, rare in everyday life, and in some special cases. Therefore, it is unlikely that your dog will stop barking thanks to this training strategy alone.
However, you will gain control of the barking because you can ask your dog to shut up. Therefore, teaching your dog to bark on command can help you when your dog barks in response to a particular stimulus (for example when the doorbell rings), if he learned to bark to get things (for example if he barks for you to give him food) and, in some cases, if he barks out of enthusiasm.
Below on our site we offer you the keys for this process to give you good results, keep reading:
Getting your dog to bark on command
Since your dog is a barker, you already know some stimuli or some situations that provoke his barking Do you know if your dog barks when the doorbell, when he hears ambulance sirens, when he hears people walking on the other side of the front door, when you put him on the leash to go for a walk, etc.
Make the stimulus that makes your dog bark happen. For this you may need a helper. For example, your helper rings the doorbell, or knocks on the door, or walks to the other side of the door, etc.
If your dog barks in response to sounds such as ambulance sirens, he records the sound of a movie or a YouTube video to be able to play it at will. Although in that case you may not have a barking dog problem. Some dogs bark when spoken to in a whisper, as if you were on the lookout for danger and wanted to alert the dog without alerting "the haters." Others bark, or howl when you howl or make high-pitched sounds.
Whatever stimulus you use, make your dog bark. When your dog barks once or twice (no more), click and give him a piece of food appetizing. The moment you click, the stimulus that causes the barking disappears.
Repeat the procedure several times, until your dog starts barking frequently after taking his piece of food or playing with his toy for a few seconds. At this point you will be sure that your dog will bark again and you can start using the "Bark" command.
Then, use the command " Bark " just before your dog barks. If possible, the stimulus that causes the barking should begin immediately after you give the command. For example, your friend bangs on the door or rings the bell again right after you say "Barks." Of course, the stimulus stops again when you click.
Gradually you will notice that your dog starts barking on command. Even before the stimulus that originally caused the barking begins. At this point, do some tests without the original stimulus appearing, just with the "Bark" command. When you feel absolutely confident that your dog will respond to the command, he stops using the other stimulus altogether.
When you get your dog to bark 80% of the times you give the command in two successive training sessions, go to the next criterion. Note that you do not need to carry out all of this criterion in one or two sessions. You can progress little by little, reaching intermediate steps in different dog training sessions.
Get your dog to shut up on command
Your dog already barks on command and now he must learn to shut up on command. Until now he was quiet when he heard the click of the clicker or when he received the piece of food
Do about three repetitions of the "Bark" command, clicking after one or two barks and giving your dog the piece of food, to refresh his memory. Starting with the next iteration, make some noticeable signal to your dog just before the click.
For example, you can put your hand with an open palm in front of his face, as if you wanted to stop him (without touching him). Or you can do a short "shhhht" immediately before clicking.
Some dogs shut up when you make any of those signs, because they are taken by surprise. Others keep barking. No matter. The important thing is that the click comes immediately after thesignal you make. Of course, it must always be the same, do not change the signal.
Since you give him the food right after the click, the signal you make before the click begins to acquire the properties of positive reinforcement, although weaker, and at the same time acquires properties of command to shut up.
Little by little you will notice that your dog quiets down and waits for the little piece of food when you make the signal. Repeat the procedure several times, until the chosen signal is effective 80% of the time in two consecutive dog training sessions.
When you achieve that you can enter the formal order. The signal you have been using will not be a good formal command because you started using it when your dog did not yet understand the behavior you were teaching him. That is why it is advisable to change it to another signal that is more effective.
To introduce the formal command, say "quiet" or "enough" or another command that seems appropriate, just before using the signal with which you silence your dog. I gave the order in a calm voice and without shouting. So, wait for your dog to shut up and only then click and give him the bit of food
At this point you are no longer using the click to silence your dog, but a formal command. If your dog does not shut up after the command, do not click or give him the food. And if he keeps barking, end the session and ignore your dog until he shuts up. Repeat the procedure until your dog barks and shuts up on command at least 80% of the time.
Increase the time your dog stays quiet
Practice the same as at the end of the previous criterion (using the commands for your dog to bark and to shut up), but increase the duration gradually.
That is to say that in the first repetition you expect your dog to be quiet for a second or less, before clicking and giving him the piece of food. On the next repetition (of the same session) you wait up to two seconds. And so you successively increase the time, until you get your dog to stay quiet for at least a minute.
If your dog barks or makes any sound before completing the time corresponding to the repetition, you start again from one second. For this, you end the session by ignoring your dog for a few seconds and, when he shuts up, you wait another five seconds. Then you give him the "bark" command again and after one or two barks the "silence" command.
Keep in mind that you don't need to achieve a minute in a dog training session or in a single day. You will most likely need to break this criterion down into multiple sessions and multiple days to achieve a minute or more of silence.
When you have met this criterion, you will have very strong commands to make your dog bark and shut up. If your dog only causes a nuisance in certain environments and you have trained the command in those environments, you will not need to do the following criteria.
However, if your dog barks on the street and in different places, you'd better introduce distractions according to the following criteria.
Insert distractions
Repeat the procedure from the previous criterion, but be sure to do it in different places and with different distractionsStart in places familiar to your dog and where there are few distractions. For example, in the backyard, in a park with little traffic of people and dogs, in a park during times of low vehicular movement, etc.
Little by little and over several sessions, increase the distractions in those same places, using toys that move independently, helpers that make unusual movements and noises, recordings of unusual sounds, friends who walk your dogs nearby, etc.
