Other Forms to Teach Your Dog Not to Bark

Training a dog not to bark is time consuming. Different devices are offered that you can use to stop a dog from barking without any training. I think all of them in a way are inhumane.

1. Citronella Collars. The collar detects a bark and sprays the dog in the face. That would be awful to be reprimanded every time you barked, doing something that comes naturally to a dog.

2. Anti-Bark Collars. The use a vibrations, which I don't think would be bad, or a shock, which is down right cruel. A vibration would be a way to touch your dog when they are not within in reach, it seems that after repeated use this could become ineffective. A shock is not fair to a dog that is only doing what comes naturally. Dogs that are sensitive, like our dog Kota, would cry out, maybe more out of fear than pain, but either way I wouldn't want to be shocked.

3. Sonic Anti-Bark Collars. They emit a loud sound to negatively punish the behavior. It seems to me that if you wanted to use a loud sound to punish it wouldn't have to come out of the collar. But then again you would have to emit the sound every time you wanted them to stop barking.

4. Devices that stop the neighbors dog from barking. They emit sonic waves or high frequency sounds to cause the dog to stop. It seems like it would have to be a really annoying or painful sound to distract the dog enough to get them to stop.

All of the options above would eliminate the barking all together. Most owners want their dog to warn them when a someone's coming to the door or walking around your house. I don't think psychologically it would be good to wipe out the barking all together. That's why I have chose to work on getting the dogs to respond to a command.

What do you think about these devices?

My Theory on Barking

I tried to get the camera out to tape a little video of training Kota to bark on command. Well, he must be camera shy because no amount of coaxing would bring him out of his shell. I tried getting the keys out, but that didn't fool him. He knows my chained behaviors and knew that there was no way she was really leaving the house. I put him in the laundry room, but he must have known that I was going to let him out and there was no reason to bark. I tried knocking on the door but he wasn't falling for that either (only Daisy still falls for that, sometimes I think she can't see very well). Maybe if I keep trying I can get the behavior to just extinct itself.

What we worked on today.

Barking is still an issue. We worked on barking with the door knock and hand signal. Tanner already knows how to "speak". Daisy was able to bark a few times on command and then quit, which is not unusual, so we moved on to other commands. Kota doesn't want to bark on command at all. I may try getting keys out or sneakers next time, something that makes him go crazy if he thinks we are going somewhere.

We also worked on "here" for come here. I think we have worn out the come command, so we use "here". When they came, I then said, "back" and walked towards them causing them to walk backward. Daisy did her own version on her two back legs. Sometimes I think she is just as comfortable on two legs as four. I worked on one dog at a time, which was good practice for listening to the command that is directed towards them, by using their first names before the command.

Kota still struggles with lying down quickly. He will "sit" relatively quickly, which makes me think there is someway I'm not communicating the "down" well.

Tell me how you are able to control barking.

Running in circles

There are so many, many things I could teach the dogs I have a hard time focusing on just one thing especially with three dogs. We worked with Daisy on getting her to retrieve. The leash was helpful in getting the dog back after she chased the object. It was only good about three times and then she tired of it. So we played alittle.





We didn't work on the bark command, but I did work on trying to get the behavior to extinction. It is time consuming, but the laundry room door doesn't open unless they are quiet. If they bark I turn around and walk out of the room until they are quiet. I have a new problem of them barking when they come out of the laundry room, so now I walk into the laundry room until they are quiet. With time, I hope, and no reinforcement the behavior should stop.

Always Working

Does it seem some days there are not enough hours? I was full of good intentions tonight and didn't get a chance to work on the bark command. By the time I got my work done, my daughter was in bed and barking with sleeping don't mix. We did some training on take. Tanner will take anything at this point to get a food reward. Kota will take and hold the frisbee if I put peanut butter on it, which is good progress for him.

I would like Daisy to retrieve a toy on command. She comes to me hopping up and down letting me know she wants to play, but she has trained me to fetch her toys for her, so we are turning the tables on her. She likes food rewards, but I can also use her pink elephant as a reward.

Kota has stopped barking when I go to let him out of the laundry room in the morning. But now the barking has started when you let him out. It's harder to ignore him, now that he is free and I can't walk away from him. His worst barking moment is when I come home from work or somewhere. He and Daisy just reinforce each other back and forth with no end in sight. That's the moment I have a hard time being patient and ignoring the behavior. Hopefully we will be able to stop that with a command. This article has a good example of ignoring the behavior and getting it to be extinguished.

Working on Bark

I used a trigger to get the dogs to bark. My daughter knocked on the door and the dogs barked. I used the command by saying good bark. Then I said quiet and when they were pretty much quiet already. It worked three times, but by the fourth time they knew what was coming and just wanted the treat. We will work on this again tomorrow.

We also worked on "mat". I would like the dogs to go to the rug on command and stay there. It would be useful when someone knocks on the door or when I want to train one dog at a time. I used luring to get them to the mat and the command mat. I think Tanner and Kota have an understanding of the command.

I found a video that is a good example of request barking. The dog has the people trained to play when he barks. Sometimes I think the dogs are better at training us to do what they want.

Getting Your Dog to Bark on Command

This week I'm going to work on getting the dogs to bark on command. They have learned the "enough" command. I use it to tell them that they have barked enough at a sound or something they saw. This works well when they hear the neighbor dog barking or see something exciting out the window. I trained it by saying "enough" and then body blocking the window or door if they didn't stop.


My problem is Kota getting excited in the morning and barking. He will remain quiet until I open the laundry room door and then gets excited and starts barking for attention. I think unknowingly I have been reinforcing the behavior and I can't find anyway to make it stop. If I can get him to respond on command then maybe I can quelch the behavior.


Tanner is not much of a barker. Daisy is a follower, if another dog is barking she will join in and doesn't want to stop until the other dog stops. Here is a great article that includes all the information needed to understand the behavior and train the behavior on cue.


I found a short video using hand signals to get the dog to bark and then be silent. I would also like to work on using more hand signals. Dogs seem to be more responsive to them, but it's hard for me, being such a verbal creature, and many times I have something in my hand.