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How to Stop Excited Dogs from Barking

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Barking Dog

Stop Dog Barking
Learn tips to stop your excited dog from barking.

Dogs will bark when excited or nervous. This is very common. Many times, if your dog is really excited or frustrated, his barking gets much worse. He’s usually dealing with his frustration or excitement by vocalizing it, as people do. 🙂 Exciting places can be your vet’s office, dog training classes, your home and the park as well as when they can see dogs or people walking by.

Dog Barking at Other Dogs

Many dogs become excited and start barking when they see other dogs approaching. Remember, not all dogs want to meet other dogs. Do you shake hands with everyone at the park? I think not so your dog does not need to meet every dog at the park. (This is socialization gone wrong.)

Instead, if your dog becomes too excited as a dog is approaching, turn and walk the other way. I like to teach dogs: when you’re on leash, you focus on me and not other dogs. Bring treats and reward your dog when he looks at you instead of the other dogs. Learn more about socialization and greeting dogs at Dog Behavior: Learn to Speak Dog.

     Just because a dog is approaching does not mean your dog must meet that dog. Stop, turn and walk the other way. 🙂

Barking When Excited

Next time your excited dog starts barking, teach your dog to do something else instead of barking. You’ll need pea-sized yummy treats, a clicker, leash and your dog’s collar or harness:

  1. Attach a leash to your dog’s collar.
  2. Tether your dog to you or a piece of heavy furniture when at home.
  3. Click/treat your dog when he’s:
    • Not barking (even for a nano-second)
    • Looking at you instead of your guests
    • Standing still instead of pulling on the leash

Continue to practice at home so your dog learns barking does not work. Standing still, looking at my pet parent and keeping quiet pays with lots of treats. 🙂  If your dog does not improve within 2-3 minutes, your timing is off a bit. If your dog is confused, learn to prevent this by reading this article.

Video Demo

Bark back. I’m listening! What questions do you have about dog barking?

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Dog Barking at Sounds 
How to Stop a Barking Dog
Attention Seeking Barking

Dog Barking at Sounds

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How to Stop a Barking Dog

Dog Barking Sounds
Teach your dog to do something else instead of barking.

Many dogs will bark at sounds, such as doorbells ringing, knocking, sounds of other dogs barking in the distance, loud sounds or anything really. Let’s teach our barking dogs to do something else instead of barking. 🙂

Dog Barking at Doorbell

Dogs bark at doorbells or knocks at the door because they signal someone is on the other end. It’s very rewarding too! Think about it in dog terms:

  • UPS man knocks.
  • Dog lunges and barks at the door.
  • UPS person drops package and leaves.
  • Dog learns barking makes people leave.

Teach your dog something else to do instead of barking at the doorbell. You’ll need 50 high value treats, a clicker and leash.

RELATED: Choosing Dog Training Treats

Part 1

  1. Attach a leash to your dog’s collar or harness.
  2. Open the door and ring the bell.
  3. As the bell is ringing, cue your dog to sit.
  4. If he begins barking, it’s okay. Ask him to sit. If he is too excited and continues barking, lure him into a sit position with a piece of hot dog. When his behind touches the ground, click/treat.
  5. Practice everyday for 2-3 minutes.
  6. Move to Part 2 when your dog sits instead of barks at the doorbell.

Part 2

  1. Attach a leash to your dog’s collar or harness.
  2. Invite a friend to ring the bell or knock on the door from outside. You are standing inside about 10-15 feet from the door.
  3. As the bell is ringing, cue your dog to sit.
  4. If he begins barking, ask him to sit. Again, if he gets too excited and continues barking, lure him into a sit position with a piece of hot dog. When his behind touches the ground, click/treat.
  5. Practice everyday for 2-3 minutes.

Now your dog has learned to sit at the sound of a knock or doorbell. Continue to reinforce your dog for this behavior. If you don’t reward it, you’ll lose it and have to start over again, and we certainly don’t want to do that. 🙂 If your dog reverts back to barking at the doorbell, start back at Part 1.

Dog Barking When Other Dog Barks

Some dogs love to bark back when hearing dogs barking in the distance. This is pretty common too. If dogs bark on TV, my Bull Terrier will march to the back door and woof back. 🙂 This is pretty easy to resolve, I promise. You’ll need plenty of yummy treats and a clicker. When your dog hears the other dogs, click/treat! Your dog is distracted with eating treats instead of barking at sounds. Plus, you’re pairing yummy treats with sounds, which teaches your dog that sounds are a good thing. 🙂 I keep treats in our end table drawer because you’ll never know when you need to reinforce something good. 🙂

Dog Barking at Loud Sounds

At times, dogs will bark or become startled when hearing loud sounds so keep plenty of high value treats around. When your dog alerts to a sound, click and treat. If your dog starts barking, wait until he is quiet then click/treat. In learning theory, we call this counter conditioning, changing the way a dog reacts to a stimuli.

  • A loud truck rumbles by, click/treat.
  • Baby cries, click/treat.
  • Thunder, click/treat.
  • Metal pan hits the floor, click/treat.
  • Something falls down, click/treat.
  • Police sirens, click/treat.

If your dog is sound sensitive, keep plenty of treats nearby for fast rewards. Soon, your dog will hear a sound and look at you instead. Woohoo! Reward!

Bark back, I’m listening! What questions do you have about this article?

READ ALSO: Clicker Training for Dogs

Excessive Dog Barking: How to Stop It

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How to Stop Excessive Dog Barking

Excessive Barking
daviles/Adobe Stock

Each dog is an individual. While dog breed and age play a small role, dogs have their own personalities. Within a litter of 10 puppies, personalities range from shy to outgoing to bossy. There’s always a noisy one, or the puppy that whines and barks more than the other puppies. This also applies to people. I talk a lot, but my sister is super quiet—same genes, but different personalities. 🙂

Dogs bark to communicate and, at times, we can inadvertently reward this behavior. Barking, whining and howling are normal canine behaviors. However, excessive barking can be frustrating and, if loud enough, can become a problem for your neighbors.

What is Excessive Dog Barking?

Excessive barking is when a dog barks more than necessary in a specific situation. There’s a reason your dog is barking, and it’s our job to find the trigger, so we can dial down the barking and reduce his frustration as well as ours. 🙂

If you ask your dog to stop barking, and your dog continues to bark, this means your dog didn’t understand what “stop barking” meant, so you need to teach him. Ready to learn more? Let’s get busy!

Training Your Dog to Stop Barking

Before we fix the issue, we need to dive deeper to find out what is causing your dog to bark. When, where and what causes your dog to bark?

Once you’ve identified the trigger, it’s so important to catch your dog not barking around the trigger instead of waiting for him to bark. In the South, we have a saying: “Once the horse is out of the barn, not much you can do.”

Applying this to excessive barking, grab a clicker and a handful of training treats your dog loves. When your dog is around the trigger and is quiet, immediately click and give your dog a treat.

It’s very important you catch this good behavior (not barking around trigger). The more your dog is rewarded for being quiet around the trigger, the less he’ll practice bad behavior (excessive barking).

If your dog constantly barks all day long, even at night, and has other issues, such as not eating or sleeping, consult your veterinarian to rule out any health issues.

True Story About a Dog That Wouldn’t Stop Barking

Daisy, a recently rescued Beagle Mix, attended my group dog training class. Her pet parents were at their wit’s end. Daisy barked at the cat, door, people, during class, at night and when left alone. This went on for weeks. Even I was shocked at how much she barked.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Daisy was in pain, and trying to tell us the best she could.[/perfectpullquote]

Nothing would prevent her from barking—not even meat loaf. While Daisy wasn’t a big eater, she would take treats in class and barked and barked even more! I was puzzled, what was going on?

Daisy’s owners took her to the vet and after a complete workup, they discovered Daisy had a bone shard lodged in her throat and it had been there awhile! Once removed, Daisy became quiet as a mouse.

Most owners would’ve punished Daisy, and thank goodness they didn’t. It wasn’t her fault. Daisy was in pain and trying to tell us the best she could.

Ready, set and let’s train!

More:
Request Dog Barking
Attention Seeking Barking
Stop Dog Barking Next Door
Dog Barking at Sounds

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