Getting the Barking to Stop

In the last post on barking, we looked at the following:

• Identifying the situations in which the barking is happening
• Identifying what you would like your dog to do instead
• Considering what the underlying emotion contributing to the barking may be

Once you have your answers, you can make a plan.

Step #1:  Start with the underlying emotion.  

• Fear - if a dog is afraid, you are unlikely to see progress without taking the fear into consideration and first working to desensitize and/or counter conditioning them to what is scaring them.  
• Excitement - if a dog is very excited, the situation will need to be split into small steps that the dog can handle and those steps will need to be practiced gradually working up to the exciting real world situation.  The may also benefit from some exercises to help them manage those feelings of excitement.

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