Jo's Old Site

When we are trying to reduce the amount of barking that a dog or dogs do often telling them to be quiet or squirting them with water is ineffective. But what I find is more effective is giving dogs food when they bark or react to people going by. As I have read somewhere years ago that food has a calming affect and so it comes in handy when dogs bark as it helps them to regain control. And I have also read that when dogs bark to tell them to sit as dogs bark less when they are in this position.

 Also notice that I said that they bark less, as sometimes they will bark in this position too. And another thing that I’ve read is that we should praise dogs for being quiet but after we done that they might bark straight after we said it.

So then what people should do when they tell their barking dog to sit is go up to them and give them food. And it is always handy for a person to have food on them at all times when they are around dogs. Also after they have given their dog food while the dog remains in the sitting position they can then tell their dog good quiet and give them another tidbit to reinforce what it means.

And another thing that we should do when dogs are barking at people, is instead of getting angry at the dog for barking we should try using our observation skills as all dogs usually do always bark for a reason and it might be something the person is wearing or something the dog notices about the person’s posture when they walk by like hunched shoulders.