Frustrated by your dog’s backyard barkathon? Read on. (Photo: pitbull mix barking at a chainlink fence)
You’re in your backyard. You have a glass of wine and a new novel. Or perhaps it’s a workday and you would love nothing more than to create an outdoor office space.
Your dog has different ideas.
Your backyard backs onto a walking path. Dogs and people parade past at all hours. Your dog sprints to the fence every time someone passes by.
People give you that “why’s your dog a psycho?” look.
Look familiar? This makes Zoom meetings tough! (Photo: Boxer on guard looking out a window — standing ON the couch)
And then there’s the people passing the FRONT of the house. Your dog barks at them too, even though he can’t SEE them. He charges to your side gate and shows his nasty side.
An hour later, you’re still on page one of your book, or looking at the email you were typing for work. Half of a sentence and a blinking cursor.
“Why is HE so crazy?” you think.
First of all, let’s stop labelling the dog. He’s not crazy. Let’s figure out WHY he’s barking so much.
Some people believe that you can simply IGNORE a dog’s bad behaviour and that it will go away. This is FALSE. If you simply allow your dog to charge fences and bark and NEVER interrupt that behaviour, it will continue to happen.
I recently had the opportunity to learn from renowned trainer Joel Silverman. During a live interview, he said it best: “The completion of a behaviour IS the reward.”
What does that mean? It means that fence running and barking feels awesome to your dog and EVERY time they do it is a reward to them. Just finishing the task of fence-barking is reward enough to them.
Why yelling at your dog never works: When you yell “Hugo! Quiet. Please stop barking. HEY! AH AH! Get over here,” you are joining in the barkfest. Dog behaviour issues are rarely solved with SOUND. Think of a mother dog. She gives many SILENT signals and warnings to her puppies when she’s teaching manners. She rarely has to growl at them.
How many of your human relationships are improved by yelling? It doesn’t work with dogs either.
Shouting at dogs never works. (Photo: man yelling into cellphone)
If you’re struggling with fence barking, don’t yell. You’ll have to turn down your frustration dial to ZERO too, or you’ll never fix the problem. Dogs will not listen to people who are frustrated, angry, tense, nervous, or fearful. Also, if your dog doesn’t listen to you INSIDE the home, they definitely won’t listen to you OUTSIDE the home. Outside has WAY more distractions than inside. So, if you’re going to solve the fence barking issue, you’ll need to start asking your dog to listen to you inside your home first.
Drain your dog’s excess energy before you begin training. Do you want an exhausted dog? No. You want a fulfilled dog. If your dog is very high energy, take them for a bike ride, rollerblade, run, or fetch session. If your dog is medium energy, they may only require a thirty minute walk instead of a run. Be sure that the walks you are taking are structured, because if they’re not, then that is just one more activity you’re doing that is cementing in a dog who doesn’t listen to anything you say. They shouldn’t be zigzagging in front of you, or yanking you toward everything they want to smell.
Exercise your dog before your training session. Don’t exhaust them, find the sweet spot. (Photo: German Shepherd running through autumn leaves)
If you never walk your dog it will be VERY challenging for you to stop fence barking. They require daily exercise. Pent up energy from never being walked comes out in ways people don’t like (barking, sock stealing, chewing, etc.)
Dogs also require mental stimulation. This can be achieved in loads of fun and creative ways. I like nosework because it’s fun and dogs love it too! You can hide their food around your home and encourage them to sniff it out. I like to hide Magic’s food inside toys, underneath towels, and in cardboard boxes.
Notice how we aren’t standing at the fence and yelling right now? This is more fun, isn’t it?
Dogs are a JOY. When we provide them with exercise, leadership, and love, they give us their trust, respect, and love in return.
If you aren’t providing them with what THEY need, they won’t provide you with backyard silence.
If your dog barks inside when people pass the front of the house, this is a great opportunity for YOU to practice calmness. It is a GREAT teaching moment for your dog. It’s all mindset.
Walk to YOUR front door with confidence. Ask your dog to back up using only your body language (stand tall and point, snap your fingers once if you need to.) They won’t know what you’re doing the first time, so you may have to provide another command, like “Bed,” or “Place,” to send them to a place they are comfortable. Remember to reward that behaviour verbally. “Good bed,” or “Good place.”
Don’t forget to praise GOOD behaviour. How else will your dog know what behaviour you DO like? (Photo: dog laying on his bed calmly.)
Tips and Tricks: Chewing a delicious bone is a great activity that your dog will enjoy. Most dogs will happily leave the door barking activity to return to their yummy bone. You may need to repeat this door claiming activity many, many times (especially if your dog has been practicing this for many, many years.) Stick to it and remember that you need to LEAD your dog ALL DAY EVERY DAY in order for them to view you as a leader. You can’t simply own the front door of your house and solve all the problems. You need to claim your backyard fence, your space, your kitchen counters, your kid’s socks, your dog toys, your furniture, and your cats. Your dog doesn’t own these things and doesn’t need to protect them 24-7 — YOU DO.
When your dog is listening to you inside your home (when you say “off,” they get off the couch; when you say “leave it,” they don’t touch the food that has fallen onto the floor) try claiming your backyard fence, the same way you claimed the front door. This lets your dog know that you are responsible for the yard and his job is to relax, play, or nap.
Lead on, Dog Leaders! And have a wonderful weekend!
Alyssa
Osvaldo Florez (pitbull mix barking at a chainlink fence,) Nathalie SPEHNER (Boxer on guard looking out a window,) christian buehner (man yelling into cellphone,) tiim (German Shepherd running through autumn leaves,) and Matthew Hamilton (dog laying on his bed calmly.)