Effective Strategies for Reducing Puppy Barking and Enhancing Obedience Training

Ever wondered how to keep your puppy from barking at every little thing? Discover practical strategies to manage and reduce inappropriate barking in this episode of Puppy Talk. We'll explore how to limit your puppy's access to windows and use effective management and training techniques to redirect their attention. Hear Tammy's heartfelt testimonial about her journey with her dog, Ziva, and learn how to avoid reinforcing barking through conversations. I'll also share insights from my own experience with my dog, Dixie, emphasizing the importance of exercise, mental stimulation, enrichment, and socialization to keep your puppy engaged and calm.

Ready to take your dog's obedience training to the next level? Early and consistent training is key to a well-behaved dog. Patience and repetition are crucial, with thousands of repetitions necessary for reliable command following. Learn how positive reinforcement techniques, like treats and praise, can help train your dog without negative reinforcement. By gradually increasing distractions and reinforcing desired behaviors, you'll set your dog up for success. Remember, there's no quick fix; effective training demands time and effort. 

https://www.washingtonian.com/2024/07/16/6-ways-to-keep-your-dog-from-going-stir-crazy-during-a-heatwave/

You can purchase my book here: https://www.amazon.com/author/dalebuchanan

RESOURCES:
Podcast Website: http://puppytalkpodcast.com
Sponsor Website: http://www.topgundogtraining.com
Dale's books: https://www.amazon.com/author/dalebuchanan

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
I'm Dale Buchanan, and this is Puppy Talk, the
podcast that offers free adviceand tips for raising a happy,
healthy and obedient puppy.
For more information on thispodcast, visit us online at
puppytalkpodcastcom.
Welcome to Puppy Talk, episodenumber 104.

(00:22):
I'm your host, dale Buchanan.
Today I want to discusscontrolling puppy barking in the
house, either them barking atthings outside or when somebody
comes into the house.
Neither one of them are good.
Before we get started, I wantedto thank Tammy for sending me
this request to talk about thistopic, and she also sent me a

(00:45):
nice testimonial, a nice reviewof the podcast and how
successful she's been, and herdaughter has been, with raising
a new puppy.
Here's what she says Two yearsago, my daughter convinced me to
adopt a puppy from a localanimal shelter.
She said we'd raise it together.
She became overwhelmed with theresponsibilities.

(01:06):
I was desperate to learn how totrain the dog.
The dog was eager to please butstubborn, and Tammy went on to
say I deeply appreciated how youkeep your messages short,
specific and manageable.
I'm a teacher, so thesequalities are more challenging
to achieve than most peoplerealize, aren't they?

(01:26):
And I agree they are.
I like to keep it short andsweet, right to the point, get
into the training and that's it.
No fluff here.
Long story short.
She says my dog, ziva, is ahappy, healthy and obedient
doggy because of what you pouredinto me, and that's beautiful.
That's really great to hear.
And she says thank you so muchfor your expertise and

(01:48):
willingness to share your wisdom.
I hope this podcast is helpinga lot of people out.
You can send me a messagethrough the website
puppytalkpodcastcom.
Let's get on with this week'sepisode.
There's two types of your puppyor dog barking in the house
that are inappropriate.
One is when they see somethingoutside.

(02:09):
So let's talk about that first.
The thing that you do not wantto do is allow the puppy access
to windows so they can react tothings.
I have a next door neighborwho's got two Shih Tzus.
I have a next door neighborwho's got two Shih Tzus and they
sit up on the top of the couchand look out the windows 12
hours a day and bark ateverything for the entire time.

(02:30):
Anything that walks by thehouse whether it's me and Dixie,
somebody running a car comingby, anything they react to it.
My neighbor's house and mineare laid out identical.
They're modular homes and werent them and they have the
exact same floor plan.
In front of my windows I haveplants.
My couch is turned 90 degreesand facing the wall where her

(02:55):
couch is leaning up against thewindows in the front of the
house.
Dixie does not have a chance tolook out the windows and bark
or react to anything, and shewouldn't do it anyway because
she's a well-trained dog.
The dogs next door have accessto bark at everything when they
see it coming down the road.
So the first thing you want todo in that situation is use

(03:18):
management to deny the dog'saccess to act that way in the
first place.
The next thing that you want todo is you can correct it and
redirect it.
Now, I'm not saying this is agood thing to do, but I've seen
a lot of people have these canswith coins in it and they shake
it and they distract the dog andthen they get the dog to do

(03:39):
something else go lay down onits bed, go away from the window
and so forth.
So you correct it and redirectit.
What you do not want to do ishave a conversation with the dog
when they're barking, such asno, stop, quit, no more barking,
come over here.
No, because all you're doing isnothing.
Basically, you're not achievinga goal, they're not listening

(04:02):
to you and all you're doing isreinforcing the barking.
Because they're barking andyou're giving them attention.
What you need to do also inthat situation is tire them out
with exercise, mentalstimulation, enrichment and
socialization.
I'll put a link to a new articlethat was just written in the
Washington Post magazine, calledSix Ways to Keep your Dog from

(04:26):
Going Stir Crazy During a HeatWave.
Interestingly enough, thisarticle can also be used for
preventing behavior problemssuch as barking.
The theme here is that you wantto be working with your dog and
you want to do the trainingwith your dog so they don't have
the opportunity to displaythese unwanted behaviors such as

(04:49):
barking at things outside.
The same principles can be usedwhen somebody is coming over to
your house.
You want to use management andtraining to prevent the dog from
reacting to somebody when theyring the doorbell or they knock
at the door and they come intoyour house.
This is not an aggressive dog.
This is an excited dog.

(05:10):
So how do we control an exciteddog?
I just said Exercise, mentalstimulation, enrichment,
socialization.
The dogs next door that Imentioned that bark at
everything.
They don't do anything but stayin the house and go for one or
two walks a day in their verysmall yard for a very short
period of time.

(05:30):
That's their whole life.
Dixie, four and a half yearsold, never barked in the house
once, never reacts to anythingever.
She goes to daycare three daysa week a very good daycare that
I found here in the Huntsvillearea.
She goes to the dog park withme, with no other dogs, and
plays there.
She goes for five to eightwalks per day and when I'm not

(05:53):
here she has a dog walker thatcomes on weekends when I'm too
busy training clients.
She's always calm in the housebecause she has no other option
but to come in the house, laydown on her bed and stay.
When she wants to play, we dothat outside of the house, at
the daycare and so forth.
She doesn't do it in the house.
In the house is yoga studio,daycare is the nightclub.

(06:16):
So that's how you have to thinkabout it In the house library,
outside of the house, that isyour playground.
When the dogs are in the house,they have to be calm so that
when a doorbell rings orsomebody knocks at the doorbell,
they know to go to their bedand lay down and be calm.
Unfortunately, it's not an easyfix when their dog has been

(06:39):
reacting to people that comeinto your house.
You have to practice a minimumof 1,000 repetitions.
And you think that's a lot?
Hold on a second, wait till youhear this.
You have to practice 1,000repetitions before you can have
somebody come into your house.
So you put the doorbell ring onyour phone, you hit it and the

(07:00):
dog starts to react.
You get them back to the bed.
Calm, good reward.
You have somebody knock at thedoor, the dog starts to react,
put it back on its bed calm,good reward.
When it's calm, you'rerewarding the calmness In the
meantime.
When somebody comes into yourhouse, if they are in the
training phase, you're gonnahave a leash on the dog.

(07:20):
You're gonna have the dog nextto you.
You're gonna reward it forsitting or laying down and being
calm.
Either that or you're gonnahave it in the crate with a
licky mat or a Kong or a foodpuzzle, something like that.
You're gonna have the dog doingsomething else.
When somebody comes in, it'sgot a higher value of the food
or something that you have thepuppy doing versus the person

(07:41):
that's coming into the house.
Puppies that generally act thisway when people come over and
they get excited and they barkand they're running around.
They need socializationtraining.
They have a lack ofsocialization skills and they're
under socialized with people.
So these dogs need to be aroundmore people so they learn.
Calm with people equalsgreatness.

(08:03):
This is what we want Now.
I said you practice this athousand times, that's not a lot
, because I had a hunting dogthat I got trained for hunting
dog training.
It was a Brittany Spaniel.
He went through my course, myeight-week puppy training course
, and then he went to the firstphase of gun dog training in
Tennessee.
Then he came back and the ownerhad to do this command called

(08:27):
whoa.
He had to do the whoa commandwith this dog 30,000 repetitions
in one month so the dog couldgo to the second phase of the
gundog training.
The woe command is veryimportant because it creates
stillness in the dog so theydon't scare the birds, so that
the owner can actually get off ashot and get a bird and kill it

(08:49):
so the dog can go retrieve it.
If the dog doesn't cooperatewith this whoa command, then
nothing is going to happen,right, nothing is going to work.
It's a team between the hunterand the gundog.
It's a very comprehensivetraining system and the dog has
to obey this whoa command beforeit can go into intermediate and

(09:12):
advanced level gundog trainingcommand before it can go into
intermediate and advanced levelgun dog training.
This is very important.
So the 30,000 repetitions hadto happen so that the gun dog
trainer knew that the dog wasready.
So I'm asking you to do 1,000repetitions.
If you do 500, if you do 250,you're going to get some result.
You're not going to prevent orstop a dog from barking when

(09:34):
people coming over by practicingtwo or three times.
That's my point.
You've got to rehearse andpractice this for weeks and
months before you want the dogto behave when somebody comes
over.
Here is exactly what you'regoing to practice.
First, get the dog to go to thebed, lay down and stay.
Say good boy, good girl.

(09:55):
Reward them.
You're going to reward them forbeing calm on the bed.
Give them a bully stick, a deerantler, licky mat Kong.
Have them learn that relaxingon the bed is going to get them
something good.
Then you distract them whenthey get up.
You do it again.
So that's one repetition.
Every time they get up, you gotto start again.
That's another repetition.

(10:17):
I can have Dixie lay down on herbed for 30 minutes, 45 minutes,
one hour, when somebody's overat the house either the cleaning
lady or the maintenance guy orsomething like that and she will
not move until I release herwith the word okay.
This took years of training andthousands of repetitions for
her to get to this level ofobedience, but I started with
her the very first day.
So you got a dog that's twoyears old and never practiced

(10:40):
this.
You're going to have to put thetime in, but you have a dog
that's four and a half years oldthat's practiced this since it
was 10 weeks old.
It's not a problem.
You have to go back and dothese things that you should
have done early on with the dog.
So, in review, direct the dog tothe bed or place, have them lay
down, stay, give them somethingto do, tell them good boy, good

(11:00):
girl.
Give them a food reward, givethem a licky mat, give them
something to keep themselvesbusy.
Add some distractions.
Add some low-level intensitydistractions and then they get
rewarded for not reacting to thedistractions.
The high level intensitydistractions are going to be
somebody coming into the house,knocking on the door, ringing

(11:21):
the doorbell.
If they can't do that, then youhave to back up with lower
level intensity distractions andwork up from that point on.
This is why I say 1,000repetitions.
A common theme that I havestressed through this whole
podcast is there's no magic wand, there's no magic bullet.
There is prevention of unwantedbehaviors through teaching

(11:43):
obedience and discipline.
This is what we do in puppytalk and this is what we do in
positive reinforcement puppytraining.
We're not using a lot ofcorrections, we're not saying
the word no, we're not sayingstop, we're saying things to the
dog that we want them to do,not trying to stop them or fix
them, because that never worksand you could bust your head

(12:05):
against the wall for months andmonths or even years trying to
use those techniques and theyare not going to work long term.
I hope this information washelpful to you.
If you have any questions, youcan reach me through my website,
puppytalkpodcastcom.