Solving Barking and Growling Problems
Most dogs get noisy when exposed to anything new or
unusual. The stimuli that
trigger noise can vary from dog to dog and from household to household.
This
vocalization can come in the form of barking, whining, growling, or
howling.
Why all the racket?
Many situations can lead to barking:
* Strangers or other animals entering the dog's property
* Sight of prey, such as a squirrel running through the yard
* Separation from their pack, mother, or family members
* Novel sounds, such as a smoke detector alarm
* Need for attention, food, or affection
* Other anxieties or high states of arousal
Growling is associated with fearful or assertive
displays. Whenever growling or
barking is successful at achieving the pet's goals (e.g., the threat is
chased away)
the dog feels rewarded. Subsequently, the growling will likely become
more
frequent or intense.
Medical problems can contribute to vocalization, and
senile changes may lead to
barking problems in older pets. In some cases where barking becomes
intense,
repetitive, and difficult to interrupt, it may be deemed compulsive.
Pets with
medical, geriatric, and compulsive disorders may benefit from drug
therapy along
with behavioral retraining techniques.
Prevention starts early
Socializing puppies to a variety of new people, animals, environments,
and noises
can reduce anxieties as the dog grows up. Owner control, training, and
leadership
are also essential. While young, the dog should learn to spend some of
its time
playing or relaxing by itself, perhaps in its bed or crate so that it's
not too
distressed when it must be left alone.
When you give in to your dog's demands, its barking is
rewarded. Allowing a
barking dog to come indoors [as a method of quieting the dog], or
feeding,
praising, playing with, or even just going to it to quiet it, may
encourage barking.
Dogs that live inside with their families are less likely to bark when
with their
people.
Correcting bad habits
Correcting a barking problem requires an understanding of the situations
and
stimuli that initiate barking. Until effective control and leadership is
established,
training programs are unlikely to be successful. Increasing play and
exercise,
obedience training, and head halter training may be necessary before
bark control
can begin.
Once you have effective control over your dog, you can
begin to train it to quiet
down when barking begins. Training the dog to stop barking on command
can be
accomplished with lure-reward techniques, disruption techniques, or head
halter
and leash training.
Begin training sessions with situations that are easily
controlled (a family member
knocking at the door) before proceeding to more difficult situations (a
stranger
coming to the door). Training a dog to be quiet on command allows it to
continue
to bark at stimuli but stop at your request. Rewards are then given for
quiet
behavior. At each subsequent training session the dog should remain
quiet a little
longer before the reward is given. Teaching a dog to stop barking in the
presence
of the stimulus is much more difficult. To be successful, barking must
be
interrupted immediately as it begins, and the process repeated until the
dog does
not bark at the stimulus (at which time it can be rewarded).
Punishment is generally ineffective in the control and
correction of barking
problems. Excessive punishment can increase anxiety and further
aggravate the
problem, while insufficient punishment merely rewards the behavior by
providing
attention.
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