Why Is Your Dog Barking? Find the Reason First

For the barking dog, I will want to determine WHY the dog is barking. There are numerous approaches, and the one I use depends on the reason for the bark. So before anything else, I ask four questions.

Is it trying to alert the owners to something?

Some dogs bark because they are doing a job: telling you someone is at the door, a car pulled in, something moved outside. That is a different problem from the others, and it gets a different approach.

Does it carry high levels of cumulative stress?

Stress builds up in a dog the same way it builds up in a person. A dog carrying a lot of it can bark at nearly everything, and the barking is the symptom, not the cause.

Is it a cry for attention?

Some dogs have learned that barking gets a reaction out of you, and any reaction counts.

Is it demanding that its owners do something?

Some dogs bark to make you act: open the door, fill the bowl, throw the ball, let it out of the crate.

Then the approach follows the reason

Once I know why the dog barks, I know what to do about it. That is why I do not hand out one barking fix for every dog. If your dog barks and you are not sure which of these it is, call or text me and describe what the dog is doing. A short conversation tells us whether it is a behavior case or the dog just needs training.

The program for this: Behavior Modification, starts at $85 an hour →