Unless you are one of the fortunate, all dog owners have had to deal with a barking problem. The truth is barking is a perfectly natural and all right thing for your dog to do. Think how you would feel if you were never allowed to talk, you would eventually burst out and just say everything on you mind. It is the same with dogs, the trick to stopping barking isn’t stopping it but controlling it.

Dogs will bark for a variety of reasons including, staking their territory, telling you what they want, alerting you of danger, when around other animals, when bored or lonely, when cooped up in a dog cage for long periods of time and when they’ve been encouraged to bark by you (more common then you might think).

The majority of barking problems are because owners will actually reward their dog for barking whether they realize it or not. This can happen when you yell or get angry at the dog and give them the attention they were after. If your dog is outside and starts to bark to be let in and you respond to his wishes, then you are communicating to you dog that all he needs to do is bark and you will give in. Giving any sort of attention to your dog will encourage him to continue barking. Don’t feel bad all of us have done this one time or another. The key to stopping this barking is to ignore your dog, don’t give them what they want and they wont have a reason to bark. This may be hard on your ears and your neighborhood but simply let them bark until they run out of energy. Depending on the bread this may be minutes or it over an hour but as soon as you give in all of your progress has been lost. Try just walking away when your dog starts to bark, go into the other room and do your normal activities. Eventually your dog will understand that his barking isn’t getting him anywhere and will stop.

If you dog is barking when the phone rings then the best thing to do is get him used to the sound of a phone and turn it into something positive. Try calling your house a few dozen times and when your dog beings to bark just ignore him. If that doesn’t work then hold a treat out in front of him and say a phrase like “stop” or “quite” and when your dog is silent give him the treat. Eventually after enough training no treat will be necessary to tell your dog to stop barking.

Another common issue with dog barking it when the mail carrier or guests are at the door. Believe it or not your dog is actually barking out of love for you. He doesn’t know who this person is and naturally thinks they’re dangerous. After your dog has started barking and the mail carrier goes away you dog thinks that he was the one that stopped the intruder, encouraging him to bark. The first way I recommend stopping this is by blocking your dogs view of the street or where ever the mail comes from, this can be difficult based on the lay out of your home but a dog cage can be a useful tool. If that doesn’t work try associating the mail with something positive like a treat it will encourage him to stop. Either try the previously stated way with a phrase or ask your mail carrier or guests if he or she would be willing to give you dog a treat when they come by, your dog will then see new people as a friendly visitor and will await there arrival.

Remember giving any attention to your dog when he barks will encourage the problem to persist. By putting your dog into a dog cage during common guest hours your dog won’t even be aware of the guest reducing the frequency of barking.