Leisl-the-Dachshund, one of the dogs I had growing up, was a HUGE barker. Anytime anyone came into the house or left the house she’d stand at the door and bark and bark and bark.
It was rough. Our neighbors hated it and we struggled for a long time with the behavior. If only I had this video then!
Excessive barking is incredibly common and it’s the #1 issue that my readers have with their dogs. This case study from Doggy Dan shows a simple technique that helps to stop dog barking simply.
Resource: My #1 favorite resource for effectively training your dog not to bark is Doggy Dan. His methods are gentle and effective and right now he’s offering a $1 trial so you can check him out for yourself.
The Problem: “My Dog Barks When Visitors Leave” Video Case Study
Whenever you’re trying to correct a dog behavior, the first thing you need to do is correctly identify the problem.
In this case the little Bichon barked every single time visitors left the house. This is excited barking and to correct it, the first thing you need to do is get your dog to a point where you can control their movements.
Video Breakdown – How to Stop Excited Barking – The 3 Step Leash Technique
This is a simple technique that is gentle and effective. Here are the three basic steps.
Step 1: Gaining Control of Your Dogs Movements
Most of the time when dogs are barking at the door – either when no one is there or when someone leaves they are also running away from you if you try to calm them or pick them up.
To solve this problem, put the dog on a leash or lead. This gives you control over the dog’s movements in a gentle way so that they can’t run away from you.
Step 2: Calm and In Control – Emotion Training for Dogs
The next step is to calmly leave the house.
As you can see in the video you can expect the dog to bark a lot when you are first practicing this technique – even if you are perfectly calm.
Step 3: Practice Redirecting Your Dog to Be Calm and Not Bark
Dogs are clever and they learn from repetition. It takes consistent practice in a single session and then repeated practice over multiple sessions to get the behavior change to stick.
Pay particular attention in the video to how Doggy Dan is talking to this little Bichon. He never raises his voice or yells, but he is assertive. It’s a technique that I’ve used with my dogs and it works really well.
You Can Also Use This Technique Stop Dog Barking at the Door When No One’s There
This technique will also work if your dog barks at nothing at the door. I know it sounds strange, but I’ve had readers write into me with good success using this 3 step technique for this purpose.
I was surprised, but since this is a common problem I thought I’d mention it.
Recommended Dog Training Courses to Stop Dog Barking Naturally
There are two online video based training courses that I recommend.
- Doggy Dan – The Online Dog Trainer
- Brain Training for Dogs
These two courses serve two very different purposes. The Doggy Dan course is the best behavioral training course that I’ve ever used. It can even help if you want to stop dog barks on walks. It tackles problem behaviors like barking in ways that are innovative and kind and most of all WORK.
The Brain Training for Dogs course is a course that will help give curious and bored dogs something to do so that they don’t get destructive. Bored dogs often behave badly. The games in this course are fun to play with your dog and they go from easy to very advanced. If you think your dog is barking out of boredom this video course is a good choice.
The Bottom Line on How to Stop Dog Barking Naturally
When it comes to dog training of any kind techniques like this can work, but they work BETTER if you understand dog psychology and know how to gently and effectively become the pack leader.
The best training I’ve ever found on becoming the pack leader (and what has worked for my stubborn-but-lovable rat terriers) is the training from Doggy Dan. He has four free videos to introduce you to the concepts of Dog Psychology – he calls it the “Easy Way” because it is!
You can find those four free videos here.
Want more tips on stopping excessive dog barking? Check out my post on excessive barking here.
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