Making sure your dog’s not barking mad

A LOT of dogs like to bark and most of the time they’re trying to tell us something!

Sometimes, however, a dog may bark a lot, disturbing neighbours, keeping you awake at night or frightening visitors to your home.

You don’t want to get into trouble because of your dog’s barking – so what can you do?

The first thing to do is to try to work out why your dog is barking.

If you can remove the cause, he should stop, although perhaps a bit of training may also be needed.

Your dog could be barking because he is excited, frustrated, guarding, bored or scared. If he is excited he will probably bark when visitors call, when you get his lead to go for a walk and when you make his dinner.

He may also jump around and act like a ‘hooligan’!

If he is excited because the rest of his day is so boring and quiet, try introducing some interesting activities into his routine.

The idea is to exercise his mind, more so than his body.

Brush up on his obedience training and train him to go and fetch a rubber ball or soft toy in his mouth.

If you command him to do this every time he starts barking, he’ll soon automatically do this – barking is a lot harder and quieter if a dog already has something in his mouth!

Don’t shout at him to stop barking as he may think that you are excited, too, and are joining in!

If he is frustrated, he will be barking because he can’t get to something that he finds exciting.

Perhaps he’s seen a cat in the garden or can hear another dog barking next door. He may also scratch at the door or jump up at the windows in an effort to get closer.

Find out what is making him bark and then, if you can, prevent him from seeing, hearing or smelling it.

Don’t leave your dog alone for long periods in the garden, if this is where he does most of his barking.

Un-neutered male dogs can smell a bitch in season up to six miles away. If this is contributing to the problem, consider talking to your vet about the possibility of castration.

If he is guarding he will be barking to protect himself and his family, or to alert you to potential threats. He may also wag his tail and appear to be excited.

Guarding behaviour should stop once the ‘threat’ has gone.

If he is bored he may bark when he has nothing to do. He may also be destructive in an effort to amuse himself.

Bored dogs will bark or be destructive when you are in the house as well as when they’re left alone.

If he is scared he may bark at strangers, dogs or in certain situations.

When he barks his ears may be back and his tail held low and he will stand away from whatever is frightening him.

Even small movements or eye contact from the object of your dog’s fear may start your dog barking.

Frightened dogs may eventually bite to get the ‘scary’ thing to go away and so it is important that you don’t ignore this warning.