- By Eileen Michalczyk
Do you have a noisy dog? Is it driving you crazy? When I was growing up we had a dog that was noisy from puppyhood. He just loved to bark! Luckily, he was an outside dog. However, our neighbors were none too happy. We tried everything! At that time, we couldn't afford dog training classes, so we had to make do with our own limited knowledge of dog training. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. After several months of trying and several phone calls from Animal Control, we ended up finding another family for our dog. I was heartbroken and never wanted to go through that again. Luckily now there has been a lot of research done on the subject of why dogs bark, and we can benefit from the knowledge of others. My personal research deals with why dogs are vocal (not all vocalization is barking) and how to get to the root of the problem. Ultimately our goal is to create harmony within your family, within your neighborhood, and to create a happier dog.
First, let's look at why dogs are vocal. Dogs usually express themselves by barking, whining, growling, or howling. I am sure you know dogs that fit into each of these categories. Every dog is different, and each dog will express himself differently. Some dogs will bark at everything, while others only bark on rare occasions. Others whine constantly, while still others growl at the drop of a hat! No matter how your dog is vocalizing, you need to find the root of it to fix the problem. My suggestion is to pick a day to start and keep a daily log of your dog's vocalizations for at least one week, preferably two. Try to pick a time when you will be able to really dedicate yourself to keeping up with the log. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Staple together a few pieces of paper, write the starting date, and you are ready to go! What you need to log is the date, the type of vocalization (barking, whining, etc.), the time it occurred, and what was happening at the time. For the last item, examine what you were doing, what your family members were doing, and what the dog was doing. For example, did you turn on the vacuum? Were you leaving the house? Did someone knock at the door? Did the clock chime? Were you eating? I could go on and on with examples, but I think you get the point. This will probably need to be a project that the entire family works on together, since you obviously can't be with the dog at all times to see what caused the vocalization. Let your other family members know about the log and ask them to tell you any time they hear the dog vocalize and if they can identify what may have caused it. One other suggestion, when you leave the house, step to the side of the door after locking it and spend a minute or two listening outside the door. You may be surprised to hear your dog inside barking, whining, howling, etc. after you leave. Many of us don't realize how much noise our dogs make when left alone. No one is perfect, and your log isn't going to be perfect either. Try to capture information regarding as many of the vocalizations over a one to two week period as you can. Once you have reached your designated end date for your log, it is time to take a few minutes to examine your results. Try to compile your data in a way that is meaningful to you. Look at times of occurrence, types of vocalizations, and especially what was occurring at the time the vocalization occurred. You may find that your dog whines anytime a sudden, loud noise occurs. You may find that your dog howls every morning when you leave, but seems fine when you leave at other times. You may find that your dog is only vocal in the evenings. Whatever your results show, they are going to give you valuable information to use to fix the problem.
Whining and howling in a dog are usually signs of discomfort, fear, or loneliness. If your daily log showed an abundance of these vocalizations, you will need to look at the reasons for them. If your log indicated that loud noises, rambunctious situations, or new people caused these vocalizations, then you need to work on getting your dog more socialized. Do this gradually by introducing new people or loud noises in a situation in which the dog is comfortable. Bring in new people while you are with the dog at home. Only bring in one or two new people at a time. Unless your dog is already comfortable with children, don't introduce him to new children right away. If it is loud noises that are the problem, try petting your dog when the noise begins. For example, when you start the vacuum, have another family member sit with the dog and reassure him that it is ok. Once your dog is doing better with situations at home, you need to take your dog out into the world to become fully socialized. Take him to the park where he will experience many new noises and lots of new people. Reassure him continually that he is OK and let him know you are still there. The first time you take him out, only go for a short period of time, say 15 minutes. Then gradually build up the amount of time until he is comfortable with new situations. If your log indicated that your dog whines or howls when you leave him, he is probably fearful of your absence and lonely while you are gone. You should always leave favorite toys and food and water out for your dog while you are gone. Also, this may sound strange, but leaving your dog with an item of your clothing that hasn't been washed since you wore it can be comforting. Underwear (strange, I know) is especially good. This carries your scent well and many dogs will use it almost the same way a child uses his blankie. Provide your dog with a comfortable place to be while you are gone. If he is crate trained, make sure his favorite things are with him in the crate. Though many of us have to be gone for work, try to limit the number of hours you leave your dog alone in one day. A dog that is left alone for many hours a day is likely to be very unhappy.
Growling and barking are often signs of fear or assertiveness. Dogs become assertive when they feel the need to control a situation. If the dog perceives a threat, he may growl or bark, however real or imaginary the threat may be. Again, look back at your log to find out when and why your dog barks or growls. If he continually growls at new men, it could be a size issue or aggressiveness issue. Men tend to be larger than women and can seem more threatening, no matter how gentle they may be. To a 40 pound dog that stands 2 feet high, a 180 pound man standing 6 feet tall is very intimidating. Try bringing men down to the dog's level. Encourage men to squat down and approach the dog slowly with their hand extended out, palm face up.
Have men talk in a calm, quiet voice to the dog. Also, men tend to play much rougher with a dog than women do. Some dogs love this, while others are overwhelmed by it. If your dog gets really aggressive during play, you may need to make play time calmer. Try going for a run or playing fetch instead of wrestling or playing tug. If your dog growls when he is eating and someone comes near, he is probably expressing a desire to show possession of his food. To break this habit, let the adult that your dog loves the most work with the dog on this. Have this adult feed the dog and then stay with the dog while he eats. At first, just stand near the dog and reassure him with your voice. Once he is comfortable with this, have the adult approach the dog while he is eating. Again, reassure him with your voice. Once you can safely approach the dog, try touching the dog using slow movements and a calm voice. This may take some time, but with patience you should be able to get the dog to be comfortable in this situation. If you can identify the cause of the aggressive behavior, you can usually come up with a way to stop the behavior from occurring.
Here are a few more tips. You should start socializing a puppy right away. As with most learned behaviors, puppies learn them better when they aren't given time to develop bad behaviors to start with. It is easier to control a vocalization problem with a dog that has learned basic obedience. Training can be done with vocalization in the same way basic training is done. With a series of rewards and affection. Reward a dog for quiet behavior and give him lots of affection. Each time you work on training, demand a longer period of quiet before giving a reward. You want to eventually move to using only affection and not rewards. Punishment is generally not effective in curbing vocalization problems, and can actually lead to more problems in the form of whining.
Vocalization problems in dogs can be stressful for you and your dog. Finding the cause of the vocalization is key. Once you know the cause, you can work out an effective method of improving or eliminating the vocalization issues.
If this article was helpful to you or you want to know more about raising a dog and a family, visit Eileen's blog http://darnthatdog.blogspot.com Eileen Michalczyk is the mother of four gifted children and one dog, Hannah. Her family has worked hard to make Hannah a part of the family. Now they all live happily ever after!
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