How to stop dog barking at home

Barking at home is one of the most common problems dog owners face.

We at Pocket Puppy School often get asked how do we solve it, and all-though there isn’t a “magic pill” that will “cure” every dog, here are 3 things we always focus on.

But first, let’s understand why this happens in the first place.

Why does my dog bark?

The truth that most owners don’t realise is that dogs are designed to bark.

Thousands of years ago (around 20,000), we humans, started domesticating and breeding dogs.

We started forming a symbiotic relationship with them, where we offered the dogs food and shelter, and dogs helped us with hunting, herding, and most importantly protecting.

And even though the times are different now and there are a lot more different breeds of dogs, all with their own characteristics and specialities, barking for protection purposes is still engraved in a lot of dogs’ DNA.

This means that getting rid of this behaviour is not as simple as teaching to a dog how to sit. This requires time and effort.
And sadly, a lot of people don’t want to put in the work to do that.

Or, as we like to say - everybody wants abs in 5 minutes, not abs in 6 months.

But, if you do want to try, then here are 3 things we recommend you to start with.

1. Give your dog a job

The most important thing you can give your dog, is something to do.

Dogs bark and run around the house all day doing just that, because they have nothing better to do.

Running around the house - barking and growling is typically a strong sign that your dog does not get enough exercise.

Here is a video from Cesar Milan, we like. He understands that a stressed, tense, full of energy dog, simply cannot calm down and behave nicely.

That is why we too recommend people to first start off with exercising their dog more. It’s important to do Physical, Mental and Senses exercises every day.

You can read more about how to give these exercises in our app.

2. Create a safe place with structure

The second thing we always recommend is for owners to fully incorporate a dog’s bed into their everyday life.

Once you take care of your dog’s physical and mental stress through exercise, it’s really good to promote resting at home.

That means that after every walk, after eating, before going out for a walk - you’ll always guide your dog unto their bed first.

We recommend that you again, refer to our app, if you haven’t taught your dog the “Place” command.

Here is another video, by Tom Davis, where he uses the “Place” command to stop a dog from going after a cat.

And all-though this a very specific example, the basics are all there.

You want to be able to call your dog back unto his place, not only to de-escalate any situation, but to also show your dog that you have things under control.

A dog that is exercised and Place-trained typically can rest and sleep all the time, as they do not need to worry as much about anything else.

3. React calmly, not violently

While the previous two are more of an every-day lifestyle change, here is a very calm way of approaching barking, when it happens.

Many people try and yell “No!” when their dog starts barking. But if it were that easy to solve barking, then nobody would have this problem, right?

But in reality, yelling and any wrestling you try and use on your dog doesn’t make the barking go away - it just results in you and your dog trying to be louder from one other.

What we recommend instead, is the “I see it.” method.

Here is Joel Beckmann explaining how it looks like.

And as a real life example, here is an awesome video from Nigel Reed.

He uses the words “Thank you” instead of “I see it”, but the core idea is the same.

The main point of this trick is to acknowledge calmly, that Yes, there is something there. (“I see it / Thank you”)

BUT, and it’s a big BUT, you need to then express that “that something” is not a threat. (“I see it”, but it’s nothing to worry about.)

And you have to express this feeling with your body language - you check out what the object is physically, and you walk away, and then you call your dog with you.

If your dog comes, then you can praise, if not then you can calmly remove your dog from the window.

This is a very simple, yet clever way of communicating to your dog that even when all of the engraved doggy instincts yell “Defend, alert, protect!”, you can reply with “Yes, but not against our neighbours - they are not a threat.”

For more dog training information, check out our app! It’s free and there’s more examples of what to do, to build a calm confident dog.