How to Teach your Puppy not to Bark!

Taking home a new puppy is very exciting.  However, there are a handful of things most new owners are not aware of when taking that leap. 

A puppy is one of the cuter things in life, there is no denying that.  The one thing I will say, they are smart and if you give them an inch, they will take a mile… or two!  Just like children! 

A lot of people have been asking me how to stop their puppy from barking.  Honestly, the answer is very simple yet not many people do it.

When your puppy barks, what do you do?  I want you to think about this for a minute.  Do you respond to your dog when it barks? If so, I will give you my advice and you can do what you want with it, just know, I have been doing this my entire life and my dogs never bark.  What do I do to teach my dog not to bark?  The answer is simple.  I IGNORE IT!

Let me give you an example that you can relate to.  So, imagine Steve and Susie are in the same room.  Steve wants Susie’s attention so he pokes her on the shoulder.  He pokes her four times with no response but on the fifth poke, she responds. 

What just happened? Well, he got what he wanted, A RESPONSE! He now knows that he will get a response if he keeps poking her (in the dog’s case, barking).

Lets take this back to the dog’s world for a second, your dog barks, he gets a response. What did you just teach your dog? (If I bark, I will get a response). The result, your dog now knows to bark whenever it wants something.

Now, back to the example.  Scenario two.  Ralph pokes Tom on the shoulder trying to get his attention.  Ralph pokes Tom twenty times and still hasn’t gotten a response.  Eventually Tom learns that poking Ralph for a response is not working, so he stops because it is a waste of time.

So, how does this relate to your dog? When the dog is a puppy, much like a little baby he will bark.  You just have to let him bark it out as I call it.  The dog will learn, usually, pretty quickly that barking to get your attention is just a waste of energy since it is not getting a response.

I hope this helps you out and remember, “A well Trained Dog Starts with a well Trained Owner.”

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below. 

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