Demand Barking
This type of barking involves the dog trying to communicate something. They
may be barking for you to pay attention to them, to feed them, to get a toy they
rolled under the couch or to be let outside. This barking mostly occurs when the
family is home. The following two methods will help you to get your dog to stop
demand barking but first you have to decide when it is and isn’t okay to bark.
For example, I don’t mind when I’m working or reading at home and one of my
boarding clients comes up to me and nuzzles my hand, whimpers or barks at me to
solicit play or petting. These are called attention seeking behaviors. Sometimes
I like the reminder and will gladly comply. But, if I am busy and cannot play, I
expect them to stop asking. If this is the case, then Giving A Timeout with a
warning is the way to go. If you think it’s rude and annoying when a dog demands
something from you then you Giving An Automatic Timeout or going through and
Extinction Burst is the way to go.
NOTE: If your dog is barking for you to give them dinner or throw a ball, you
can also walk out of the kitchen or put the ball on the fridge. Take away the
thing your dog wants until he is quiet. Then you will move closer to the food or
the ball. It’s a great and simple way to teach him barking doesn’t work.
Extinction Burst
If you never want to see your dog barking, whining or nuzzling you for
something, you can train him to stop with an extinction burst. This is easy in
theory but hard in practice. Here’s what you do. When your dog starts doing an
attention seeking behavior like barking, you simply ignore him. You do not give
him eye contact. You do not move your body toward him. You simply wait. The
barking is going to get worse than it ever has. At first your dog will try a
normal bark, then he will get frustrated and bark louder and faster. You know
when you walk into a room and flip on the light switch and it doesn’t turn on.
We usually flip the light switch up and down faster and faster because normally
this motion works. Well your dog is doing the same thing. He’s going to give it
all he’s got to get your attention.
If you (and your neighbors) can be patient and wait him out, he will eventually
give up and walk away. When he is done say “Thank You.” Then, wait for him to
approach you politely before you give him attention. Sometimes this has to
happen a few times before the behavior stops happening altogether.
The hardest part about letting your dog go through an extinction burst like this
is that we get frustrated and don’t always wait until the end. If halfway
through you get really frustrated and say BE QUIET, you’ve just made the
behavior much worse. Now your dog will think, “Oh, I just have to bark for 3
minutes and then she gives in.” If you’re patient and strong, this is a very
effective way to train your dog not to demand bark.
Give A Timeout
Timeouts are really effective for dealing with this type of barking. You want to
make sure and decide whether it’s a behavior you don’t mind seeing every once in
a while - in which case you’ll want to use a Warning Timeout. If you never want
to see the behavior, you will use an Automatic Timeout. You can read about
Timeouts on our resources page.
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