Barking
Dogs bark for many reasons.
Dogs bark for many reasons.
Dogs bark to communicate. They bark when they are happy, in pain, frightened, and to give a warning. Some dogs are particularly proud of their role as guard dogs, alerting their humans to potential threats or danger. Humans sing, dogs bark. Barking, for dogs, is as natural as sunshine.
Sometimes, though, excessive barking may be unwanted.
Contrary to popular belief, dogs don’t bark less when their human shouts at them. Usually it makes the dog bark even more. So if your dog barks, don’t try shouting at him.
If your dog enjoys barking when he hears a sound outside the house, then your dog is a natural guard dog. Thank him for guarding the house and make it his special job. Whenever he barks to alert you to something happening outside, thank and praise him. He’ll be so pleased with himself that he’ll probably stop barking immediately. There’s no need to bark any more – his job is done.
You can train your dog to bark on command, which can come in very useful. When they bark, say ‘speak, good boy’. Pretty soon they’ll bark whenever you ask them to.
One lady used to say, “get back!” whenever her dogs barked. This effectively taught her dogs to bark whenever she said “get back”. She used this phrase when they were approached by worrying strangers when out on walks. Big barking dogs can act as a good deterrent to unsavoury characters.
Barking dogs are also known to reduce the risk of burglary. They’re more of a deterrent to thieves than any expensive burglar alarm.
See also, Separation Anxiety
If your dog is barking, he is telling you something, and more often than not it is something worth hearing!
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