Then make the exercise a little easier the next few times by asking your dog to hold the stay for a shorter time. Avoid pushing your dog to progress too fast or testing him to see how long he can hold the stay before getting up.
This sets your dog up to fail. You want him to be successful at least 8 out of 10 times in a row. When your dog can consistently stay on his spot for at least 30 seconds, with you standing in front of him, you can start moving toward the door. At first, just turn your head away from your dog. Then turn back to give him a treat and release him from the stay. After a few repetitions, make things a little harder. After your dog is sitting or lying down on his spot, ask him to stay and then take one step toward the door.
Return immediately, give your dog a treat and then release him from the stay with your release word or phrase. Gradually increase the number of steps that you take away from your dog and toward the door. Then immediately tell him to sit or lie down on his spot again and stay. Wait a few seconds and then release him. You may have progressed too fast. Next time, make the exercise a little easier so your dog can succeed.
When your dog can consistently stay in a sit or a down on his spot for 30 seconds, while you turn away and walk to your front door, you can start to introduce some distractions. Tell your dog to stay, and then do something distracting. At first make your distractions mild. For example, start by bending down or doing a single jumping jack.
Over many sessions of training, gradually intensify your distractions to things like running a few steps or tossing a treat on the floor. Reward your dog quickly after each distraction for holding the stay. When your dog can stay while you do all sorts of distracting things, ask him to stay while you go to the front door of your home and pretend to greet someone there. Arrange to have someone come to the door. You will work with your dog to help him stay on his own.
Be prepared! This will probably take a long time the first few visits. When you open the door, one of two things can happen. Sometimes you leave your dog there on his spot while you talk to the person at the door, as if your visitor is a courier or delivery person. Your dog never gets to say hello. However, you, the person or both of you should frequently toss treats to your dog to reward him for staying.
At other times, invite the visitor in. Wait until the person sits down somewhere, and then release your dog to join you and your guest. When you have a friend help you with a mock visit, be sure to repeat the scenario over and over, at least 10 to 20 times.
Practice makes perfect! Have the person come in for 5 to 10 minutes or just pretend to deliver something, then leave for 5 to 10 minutes, then return for a second visit, and so on. Your dog should experience at least 10 visits in a row with the same person. Eventually, when real visitors come to your home, you can ask your dog to go to his spot as soon as they knock or ring the doorbell.
After letting your guests in, ask them to sit down. Wait about one minute before releasing your dog from his spot to greet them. Put your dog on a leash if you think he might jump on your guests or behave aggressively. Your dog might be barking for various reasons, and barking is a natural dog behavior — just like talking is for humans! All dogs will bark or yodel if you have a Basenji , but there are things you can do to minimize nuisance barking.
Knowing the why behind your dog's barking will help you better manage their environment and train them to be quiet when needed. Let's look at the different kinds of dog barking and what you can do for each type.
Alert barking is your dog saying "Hey! There's something there! I see something! If you have a dog who barks at any and everything outside the window, this can become quite frustrating.
Alert barking can be especially tough for those that live in apartments or have neighbors close-by. And apartment living often means that a dog will hear more sounds outside and, without proper acclimation and training, will bark to alert their people. My dog will bark when she hears someone knock on the door, and I do allow her one or two barks before saying, "thank you!
When humans domesticated dogs, alert barking was a desired trait. We wanted our dogs to tell us if someone or something was approaching. Expecting our dogs not to follow this natural instinct is a tough ask. However, you can lessen alert barking in three ways.
Close your blinds or curtains to remove any visual triggers that cause your dog to bark. If your dog alerts to noises outside, set up a fan, noise machine , or turn on the radio or television to drown out the noise. This is called noise masking. Some dogs like to perch by the window to watch the world go by — if they alert bark from their perch, move the furniture away from the window so they can't settle there to keep watch. If you don't feel like rearranging the furniture, simply block off their access to that room with a gate.
Take advantage of your dog's barking to teach them to be quiet. By teaching what's called "paired cues," you can quickly train your dog to both speak and be quiet during the same training session. Read our step-by-step instructions for teaching your dog the quiet cue here. If your dog alert barks, you can desensitize and counter condition them to the particular sights and sounds that trigger their barking.
Some dogs have an easier time getting used to new sounds, while others need more time to learn. Work on creating a positive association with sights and sounds at which your dog would usually bark. Let's use the example of someone walking past your home. When you're not training, make sure you've drawn the curtains or blocked your dog's ability to see someone passing by. When you're actively training, grab a few high-value training treats. The instant your dog notices the person, but before they begin barking, say "yes" or click if you use clicker training and give them a treat.
If they look right back at the passer-by, say "yes" or click again before they bark, and give another treat. With practice, you will have trained an incompatible behavior to alert barking looking at you and keeping their mouth shut. Plus, you've now created a positive emotional reaction to seeing someone walk by.
It's a win-win! Click here for detailed instructions on acclimating your dog to sights and sounds outside the window. Territorial barking is similar to alert barking. Your dog is responding to the presence of someone or something near their home. Territorial barking intends to protect the area and make the "intruder" leave the premises. While alert barking might stop after you've been made aware of what's happening, territorial barking usually lasts longer — until the perceived threat is gone.
Territorial barking is what we call "self-reinforcing. They learn that their barking makes the thing they wanted happen, and are more likely to do the same thing next time. For example, your dog might be home alone and watching out the window. They see the postal worker walk by your home on the sidewalk and begin to bark. While the postal worker was already planning on walking by and "leaving" the territory, your dog doesn't know that.
They're making the association that their barking made the postal worker leave. The dog is thinking, "mission accomplished! Training a dog who engages in territorial barking is the same as alert barking training click here to read these training steps.
You want to teach your dog that it's okay when someone or something is on or near their territory, and you can do this by creating a positive association with its presence. Many dogs bark out of excitement or during play. Play barking tends to be higher pitched than other barks. I do not worry about training play barking behavior unless it's a nuisance to the other dog that's playing, hurts my hearing, or results in complaints from neighbors.
Expecting a happy and exuberant dog not to vocalize during play is like asking children to stay completely silent while playing together on the playground. However, having a solid "quiet" cue trained is always useful when the barking gets to be too much. If you need to curb your dog's excitement or play barking, it's all about management. If a particular type of play, such as chase, tends to increase barking, interrupt your dog before they start to run.
Give them another game to play, such as tug with you or playing with a flirt pole. If they're just so amped up that they can't settle into more quiet play, end the play session and give them an interactive toy or puzzle. This type of mental enrichment goes a long way in burning energy and, since their mouth is busy working on a stuffed KONG or another toy, they can't be barking at the same time! Ignore the barking If you believe your dog is barking to get your attention, ignore them for as long as it takes for them to stop.
Example: Barking when confined When you put your dog in their crate or in a gated room, turn your back and ignore them. Once they stop barking, turn around, praise them and give a treat. As they catch on that being quiet gets them a treat, lengthen the amount of time they must remain quiet before being rewarded.
Remember to start small by rewarding them for being quiet for just a few seconds, then work up to longer periods of quiet. Keep it fun by varying the amount of time. Sometimes reward them after five seconds, then 12 seconds, then three seconds, then 20 seconds and so on. Desensitize your dog to the stimulus Gradually get your dog accustomed to whatever is causing them to bark.
Example: Barking at other dogs Have a friend with a dog stand out of sight or far enough away so your dog won't bark at the other dog. As your friend and their dog come into view, start feeding your dog treats. Stop feeding treats as soon as your friend and their dog disappear from view. Repeat the process multiple times. Remember not to try to progress too quickly as it may take days or weeks before your dog can pay attention to you and the treats without barking at the other dog. Ask your dog for an incompatible behavior When your dog starts barking, ask them to do something that's incompatible with barking.
Example: Someone at the door Toss a treat on their bed and tell them to "go to your bed. If they get up, close the door immediately. Repeat until they stay in bed while the door opens.
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