To Bark or Not To Bark

Do you hate when your dog barks?  Well then get a cat because that's what dogs do. They bark!  They bark to let you know someone is here, when they are happy to see you, some even bark when they are hungry.  They can't actually say the words "I want food" or "I have to go to the bathroom" so they do it the one way they can.  By barking.

Now sometimes they can be a bit of a nuisance. I'll admit that.  Certain breeds are more prone to barking, like my Sheltie, Cody, pictured above.  (Isn't he so handsome? He just loves the camera!)  You have your herding group (Shelties, Collies, etc), sporting group (Labs, Retrievers, etc) and your toy groups (Poms, Yorkies, etc.) that are prone to be more barkers. It's genetics people.  That's what they are born to do.  Again, don't like it, stick with cats.  Though I have seen some that do bark but that's an entirely different blog post.

But there is the nuisance barking and you can do a couple of things to correct it. When you get home, if your dog is barking and you make all the cutesty noises that mommy and/or daddy are home and did you miss me, your dog is going to continue to bark because you are paying attention, positive reinforcement.  If you wait until your dog is quiet and then pay attention to them, less chance of them barking at you all the time.  Another method is the good old squirt bottle or water bottle.  Take a water bottle, poke a hole in the top, fill with water and squirt it at your dog when he/she is barking.  Pretty soon, just hearing the crinkling of the water bottle will get them to stop.  Now this doesn't work if your dog likes the water.  Mine do not and they do stop barking when I remember to do it.

Next option, is the Pet Corrector.  Now I haven't used this but other people have.  It emits a hissing sound like a snake and your dog stops barking.  Check out the link and read more about it.

Never hit your dog because it's barking.  It's trying to talk to you.  Keep on Barking!  Feel free to comment at any time.  I'm still waiting for my first comment. ☺