If the barking is wearing you down, you are not alone

If your dog barks at the mail carrier, the neighbor’s truck, the wind rattling the fence and the cat three houses down, you already know how tiring it gets. Maybe a neighbor has said something. Maybe you have started dreading the doorbell. Maybe you have a new puppy who just found their voice and you want to stop this before it becomes a habit.

I’m Tiffany Singleton, owner and Master Dog Trainer at Off Leash K9 Training of Amarillo. I started working with dogs at 15 in a veterinary clinic and stayed there nine years, and today I live with Jack Russell Terriers, Anatolian Shepherd livestock guardian dogs and whatever foster dogs need a soft landing. If you know those breeds, you know I have heard every kind of bark there is. Here is what I tell families every week: barking is normal dog communication. Excessive barking is a habit, and habits can be changed when you understand what is driving them.

Figure out which kind of barking you have

Before you try to fix the barking, spend a few days just noticing it. When does it happen? What happened right before? What does your dog get out of it? Most of the problem barking I see in Amarillo homes falls into one of these groups:

Alert barking. Someone walks past, a car door slams, a coyote yips out past the fence line at night. Your dog is telling you something is out there. This is the most common kind, and it is often the easiest to shape.
Demand barking. Your dog stares at you and barks for dinner, for the ball, for the couch. If barking has ever worked to get those things, it will keep happening.
Boredom barking. A young, smart dog with nothing to do will find something to do, and barking at the yard is free entertainment.
Frustration barking. Your dog sees another dog through the gate or a squirrel up the tree and can’t get to it.
Anxious barking. Barking, howling or whining that starts when you leave and goes on while you are gone. That one is different, and I cover it in our guide to dog separation anxiety.

You may have more than one going on. That is fine. Write them down, because each one has a different fix.

What makes barking worse without you meaning to

Most families I work with are doing their best and still accidentally keeping the barking alive. A few common ones:

Yelling “quiet!” over and over. To your dog, that can sound like you are barking along with them. You both get louder, and the dog decides this really was something worth barking about.
Giving in to demand barking. Every time you hand over the toy or open the door to make the noise stop, you are paying your dog for barking. Even one payout in ten keeps it going.
Leaving the window seat open all day. If your dog spends hours on the back of the couch watching the street, you have given them a full-time job as the neighborhood security guard. They get very good at it.
Not enough real exercise. A walk around the block is not much for a young Heeler, Shepherd or Lab. A tired dog who also had a little brain work that day barks a lot less.

A step-by-step plan for a quieter house

Here is the plan I would give you if you called me this week. Work on it for two or three weeks before you judge it.

Cut down the triggers you can control. Close the blinds on the front window, or put frosted film on the bottom half. Move your dog’s bed away from the door. You are not hiding from the problem, you are lowering the number of practice reps your dog gets while you build a better habit.
Give your dog a job: the place command. Teach your dog to go to a bed or mat and stay there until you release them. We teach this in nearly every program because it solves so much. A dog lying calmly on their place is not charging the front door.
Acknowledge, then redirect. When your dog alert barks, calmly walk over, look where they are looking, say “thank you” in a normal voice, and ask for a simple behavior like sit or place. Reward the quiet. You are telling your dog, “I heard you, I’ve got it from here.”
Name the quiet. When your dog stops barking for even a second or two, mark it with a word like “quiet” and reward. Slowly ask for longer stretches. You are teaching the word for the thing you want, not just reacting to the thing you don’t want.
Stop paying for demand barking. Turn away, wait it out, and only give the attention, food or toy once your dog is quiet. Expect it to get louder for a few days first. That burst means it is working, so hold steady.
Fill the day. Add a longer walk or a game of fetch in the morning, and two or three short training sessions of ten to fifteen minutes. Feed meals from a puzzle toy instead of a bowl. Most boredom barking fades once the dog’s body and brain both get used.

If you have a puppy, start now

If you have a young puppy, you have a real advantage. Puppy training for barking is mostly about teaching your puppy that new sights and sounds are no big deal. Let your puppy watch the trash truck from a distance while they eat a treat. Ring the doorbell yourself, then calmly reward a sit. Take them to new places so the world starts to feel ordinary.

None of our puppy programs use an e-collar. If you want a coach for this stage, our puppy training lessons give you four one-hour sessions on puppy manners, crate training and socialization, and a puppy training consultation is a good way to get a plan for your house in one hour. A puppy who learns to settle at four months is a lot easier to live with at two years.

Living with a barker in the Panhandle

Amarillo throws some things at our dogs that people in other places don’t think about. Our wind can blow for days, and a gate banging or a trash can rolling down the street will set off almost any alert barker. Coyotes move close to town at night. Spring storms roll in loud and fast. If your dog’s barking spikes on windy nights or when thunder starts, that is a sign it is driven by alert or worry, not by spite.

On those nights, management helps a lot. Bring your dog in earlier, run a fan or white noise in the room where they sleep, and give them something to chew in their crate or on their place. Then keep working the plan above on the calm days, so you have a skill to fall back on when the weather turns.

When to bring in a trainer

You can make real progress on your own with the plan above. It is time to call a professional when:

you have worked on it consistently for a few weeks and nothing has changed;
the barking comes with lunging, growling or snapping at people or dogs;
your dog barks, howls or destroys things when left alone;
you are getting complaints from neighbors and need it handled sooner rather than later.

For most barking problems, structure and clear communication are the answer. Our dog obedience training builds sit, down, place, come and loose-leash walking around real distractions, in private lessons with you and your dog, so you learn how to keep it going at home. For older puppies and adult dogs (20 weeks and up) who don’t have anxiety or reactivity, the 1-Week Board & Train focuses on manners in and around the home, including place, door manners and greeting manners. If your dog’s barking comes from fear, anxiety or reactivity, that is a different program, and we will tell you so honestly.

Not sure which kind of barker you have? Book a 30-minute evaluation and we will look at your dog with you. Payment plans are available. Call us today to learn more about payment options.

See all our dog training programs in Amarillo →