Welcome to Pawprint Academy, your blueprint to
raising better dogs. My name is Ryan, and I'll
be your host for this journey. I've got my trusty
co -host here, Brianna. Hello. And together,
we're bringing you real -world training insights
built on leadership, structure, and proven methods.
We record this podcast with live clients on the
line in one take with live, unscripted questions
and answers. At the end of the day, this podcast
is a lot more than just teaching your dog to
sit or stay. creating calmness, and becoming
the kind of leader your dog truly needs. We do
that with our three pillar method of trust, obey,
and perform. Together, we'll show you how these
three pillars shape every step of training. Thanks
for being here. Let's get started. All right.
Episode 20. We made it to 20. Right. Excessive
barking. Why dogs bark and how to reduce it without
chaos. Maybe. Yeah, maybe. Barking. Barking is
hard. Barking is awful. Yeah, it's a rough one.
Because it's real quick, right off the bat. People
usually think that their dog is saying something.
Yeah. It's like, right, that's them. That's how
they talk. And it kind of is, but it kind of
isn't. So dogs can use barking to alert, but
it's more theme -based. A dog will bark to alert
or to protect or to claim something or to chase
something away. Rarely is it, it's not like when
we speak. Now granted, humans say and use a thousand
words to describe one singular concept. But when
we're talking, we're enunciating and using words,
we're communicating a concept. The barking, I
would say, is more like generalized theme based.
Yeah. In the way that dogs communicate. Okay.
So tonight we are welcome for everybody that
is tuned in. Thank you for meeting us at this
different time than we normally do. Usually we
do them on Wednesdays and tonight we're recording
on a Tuesday. Right. So I appreciate the flexibility.
As we get started tonight, we are trying to introduce
a little different, I guess, flow through the
podcast or through the group call. And so what
that looks like is after usually we have this
concept broken into like three major like portions
of my notes. And so after each one, we're going
to try to elicit support from the audience. Input.
Input. Yeah. Like, hey, what do you guys think?
What have you experienced? And so instead of
just waiting until the end and then being like,
who has questions? And maybe at that point, maybe
you do, maybe you don't. Maybe you fell asleep.
I don't know. Yeah, maybe you had to disconnect
and go to bed. Yeah. We're going to try to get
folks more involved. And so as we open it up
for that, I would love to hear from anybody who
has something to say. If you haven't tuned in
before, a couple of things. So one, obviously
this is being recorded and is going to become
our podcast episode later. You'll see it probably
a week or two from now. And then additionally,
we have the Zoom meeting going with the chat
feature. So if there are random questions, you
don't want to have your voice on there or you
don't want to say something, by all means, you
can chat it up. And I've got the little chat
window open. So I'll pick those comments up as
we're going. I think I covered all of the housekeeping
items. So tonight we are talking about excessive
barking and why dogs bark and how we're going
to work through it. So barking is a totally normal
dog behavior. Man, can it be annoying though?
Although there are some dogs that just don't
really bark. Right, that is fair. Just like there
are some dogs that... are super yappy yeah and
will bark incessantly all the time there are
some dogs that never bark yeah um there are some
dogs that um do something called baying yeah
right right we have a hound a hound mix and uh
And right when he is alerting to something, everyone
knows. He makes sure everyone in the neighborhood
knows. He kicks off the party. Right. He doesn't
just go, you know. It's like a husky. It's like
a howl. And so there are different types of barking.
But either way, excessive barking is almost always
a symptom of. Something that's like an unmet
need or maybe they're unclear expectations or
maybe they're just like habits that have been
like kind of reinforced in the dog. Right. That's
a lot of it. Most of the time I feel like. And
so that's what we're going to try to break down
tonight. So dogs bark kind of because at the
end of the day, because it's it's something that's
worked for them. Right. Either they have been
able to alert. to these things in the past they've
gotten their point across um before maybe they've
defended um an area before and they felt like
it was a successful strategy and so now they
they continue to use it right and also like i
think we we also forget that when and some people
don't even know when a dog barks it releases
a burst of dopamine that makes that into like
an addictive habit forming behavior right and
i think that's hard for people to kind of think
of and see when you like look at a dog right
and it's like an addictive behavior but anything
that gives dopamine burst to a living you know
animal or being can become addictive if they
do it enough times and continue to rehearse it
even dogs yeah when uh yeah you you watch uh
like a professional sports game um and like one
of the reasons why it's so fun to like go to
that thing live and be there right it's like
you're like screaming your head off and you're
screaming for your team and everyone's supporting
right and you feel a certain way because of that
now for sure some of that is depending on everything
that's going on around you, but a lot of it's
your own physiology. Right. And when a dog is
sitting there quietly, self -fulfilling, it's
a totally different experience than if you sit
there or you, you stand up and scream your head
off. Right. For sure. And yeah, a dog when it's
barking doesn't need anybody or anything really
to like self -fulfill that. So it just becomes
something that they can do on their own without
anything even going on. Yeah. And so to reduce
that, right, we got a, it requires, identifying
what the motivation is behind it. And then once
we've kind of diagnosed that and we figured out
what is encouraging the dog to do that, then
we can teach them a calm alternative. And then
instead of relying on just like punishing the
dog for it and telling the dog not to do what
the dog, their genetics. tell the dog that they
should do. Instead, we encourage the dog to do
a totally different behavior that might be completely
inversely proportional, right? It might be impossible
to do the behavior we want them to do and bark
at the same time. Yeah. And that's one of the
best ways to deal with it. So we'll jump into
that. With major point number one. Why? are why
is my dog barking why is my dog barking and why
is it i would categorize it excessive so let's
talk about why dogs bark the dog can bark due
to alerting we talked about that already i mentioned
it right maybe the dog's alerting you to a noise
or a sound or something that the dog things that
everyone else needs to know about. Number two,
frustration. Frustration can be a reason why
dogs bark. That's why working dogs bark a lot
of the time. That's how they teach them. They
get them frustrated to make them bark and amp
them up. I think everyone's kind of seen this
one where they're playing with a dog or they're
doing something maybe in a way that You can tell
the dog wants something, but you're kind of like
keeping it from them or you're playing keep away
or something like that. And then eventually the
dog kind of is like getting ramped up, ramped
up, ramped up, and then starts barking at you.
That's a frustration. Yep. Boredom. Where the
dog's just like, there's nothing going on and
I have nothing to do. I'm going to start a party
by myself. Right. Anxiety. Right. Fear. both
of those can can play a huge role and uh and
then just in general like uh attention seeking
oh yeah that's like one of the hardest ones right
they're like no no one's no one's paying attention
to me yeah why aren't you looking at me hey hey
hi you uh so any of those can can be a thing
um when I would say alerting, anxiety, fear,
and attention kind of they go hand in hand for
the number one reason why usually we get the
call for barking. Yeah. And that can come from
this concept of the dog a lot of times has free
reign in the home and will go up to that front
window. Right. The front of the house. And then
be like, there's something out there. Yeah. Hey,
everyone, come look. Right. Or there's something
out there. Hey, get away from my house. Yeah.
Or there's whatever. Right. Fill in the blank.
So before we talk about how we're going to fix
that. Right. Let's just let's go through all
of this identifying the motivation behind what
we're what we're talking about. Many dogs learn
that barking produces results. And that could
just be as simple as getting attention for it.
Or it could be a change. And that's usually what
it is. So dog barks. Let's put it. Let's just
use another animal, right? So a cat. cat is walking
past outdoors, some sort of stray cat, and the
cat walks past, the dog barks, and the cat runs
off. Well, it just learned that the barking created
an environmental change and the cat ran away.
Now the dog is like, cool, that's a successful
strategy. Didn't want that cat near my house.
And I accomplish that. The same thing can happen
inadvertently and the dog can relate it to their
behavior even though it's not related. The UPS
man is the number one concept in my mind for
that. So UPS guy comes to the door, rings the
doorbell, dog starts barking, UPS man runs away,
super scared, gets in his truck, drives away.
So fast. So fast. And the dog's like, yeah. Scared
him. Exactly. Got him. Knew it. I heard you.
Yeah. I didn't want you here. I barked at you.
You ran away. Yep. And now they're like, sweet.
This is a successful strategy. I will continue
to use this anytime that I'm nervous about someone
approaching. Yep. Yeah. Which then can translate
into all strangers. Right. Mine is coming out
of the crate. You put your dog in a crate or
some sort of confinement and they start barking.
Right. And you let them out. They just learned
that that's the number one way. There's an environmental
change. That's a big one for sure. Yeah. A hundred
percent. Yeah. Another one. So lack of. A lack
of physical or mental outlet, right? Something
that the dog has nothing to do. Yeah. And they're
just, you know what? Let me cause some chaos
or let me like pacify myself. Yeah. Let me, you
know what? I think I heard something. Let me
see if, if. A better example, right? So the house
is nice and quiet. You're upstairs or in another
room. Everything is calm and relaxed. Dog starts
barking. Suddenly you go bursting through the
door and you're like, hey, knock it off. That's
an environmental change. Dog wanted to start
something. Dog started barking. You came out.
Even though that's like negative attention or
negative like attention would be the, there was
another word. It's just not coming to the tip
of my tongue. As soon as you get a microphone
in front of your face, a lot of like words just
don't show up when they need to. But either way,
I think everyone probably understands what I'm
trying to say. When those changes pop up. The
dog is always running these little experiments.
They're all little scientists and they're trying
to figure out how they can manipulate. They're
not in a bad way, right? How they can influence
better word. Yeah. How they can influence their
environment. Yeah. Or get whatever it is that
they want, you know, just satisfy themselves
because, and I heard, I don't remember who I
heard say this the other day, but. When we talk
about a dog is barking at someone, right? And
you're walking your dog or your dog is barking
at someone or another dog, right? And some people
will say, well, my dog is barking and being protective
of me. Yeah. Super protective. I hate to break
it to you, but 99 % of dogs are not barking to
protect you. They're barking to protect themselves.
Right. They're doing, most dogs are doing things
for themselves in some way, shape or form. Right.
And it can be pack driven. Right. It can be pack
driven. And they're like, cool. I want to play
ball. I'm going to bring you the ball. Right.
That's a pack activity. It's not totally selfish,
but it's still to satisfy themselves because
they want the ball. So that is one of the things
that I, I heard somebody say the other day and
I was like, right, that is. that is one of those
uh one of those things where it's like the light
bulb turns on it's like oh yeah yeah right and
so though the environmental triggers often create
repeated rehearsal opportunities and so i wrote
down that point because that was the mailman
like theory right the the negative reinforcement
where Something is being taken away or the thing
is going away and that is creating in the dog's
mind this reinforcement activity. This is the
same concept as why dogs will. 10 when you have
a reactive dog that is reacting to another dog
when you're out on a walk and then you both go
in your separate ways your separate directions
and the dog is like yeah that's right i did that
yeah because i blew up on this leash i barked
my face off i scared that dog that dog and that
owner ran away yeah but it's not accurate right
it's just them right exactly you're like i've
never seen them in my life of course we're gonna
keep going but to the dog that could be the end
of it right that's what they got out of that
i barked at that those that pair of nefarious
looking folks and they booked it yep um so those
environmental triggers are a lot of times what
we accidentally reinforce the dog with. Right,
because we build a pattern with it. Dogs are
all about building patterns. It's always a pattern.
If you put your shoes on and grab your keys and
your dog gets excited, it's because they built
a pattern of you picking up your shoes and your
keys and getting excited. And if you take your
dog on a walk and they bark at every dog they
see, but you just continue to take them on those
walks and let them rehearse those habits. then
they're just going to reinforce it stronger and
stronger. Yep. And before we go down, I really
try, I've been trying to do a lot better at this,
but I want to break down one little science blurb
per podcast here. And so today it's going to
be, it's, I got the microphone in front of my
face. Barking, walking, rehearsing. It's not
operant conditioning. It's classical. Golly.
I was like, I don't know. It was on the tip of
my tongue. When you see someone, you're like,
Mary is her name. Um, which is a lot harder when
you're a dog trainer. Cause you have like four
times, three times as many names. Usually you've
got at least, at least it's hard. Yeah. Dog,
two people. Right. Hopefully not another dog.
Right. Two dogs. And I hope they look different
if they don't. Oh my gosh. Um, okay. Sorry for
my, my, um, we're back. My ridiculousness over
here. Uh, my brain has been all over the map
this week. So classical conditioning is, a process
of conditioning the brain to where now the response
is no longer the choice of the dog when you're
talking about operant conditioning you're talking
about a stimulus and a condition response and
all of these things that the dog can have some
sort of effect over their environment you're
giving the dog the control when you're talking
about classical conditioning, you're talking
about a process that the dog cannot control.
And so this is that Ivan Pavlov experiment where
ring the bell, give the food, ring the bell,
give the food. Now the food always produced that
salivation. thing where when the dog's expected
to get the food they're like cool i'm really
excited about this and so they start slobbering
well when we rang the bell in this experiment
when he rang the bell then gave the food then
rang the bell then gave the food then rang the
bell then gave the food now the dogs start to
relate the bell to the production of the food
and so now they're they're This unconditioned
response, which was initially the salivation
to the food, becomes a conditioned response to
the bell. So now the bell rings and they start
salivating. Not because they care about the bell,
just because they expect the food to show up.
Now, when Brianna was saying the keys, when you
go and you grab your keys. And suddenly the dog
was freaking out because they want to go because
they hear the keys. This is no different. It
has become a conditioned response to the jingling
of the keys because they expect whatever is coming
next. Now, when we talk about barking and we
talk about this mailman theory, we talk about
the UPS guy and all of these, the. environmental
cues here you can create a experience that conditions
the dog and now without you even realizing it
your dog is programmed to respond that certain
way yep so now when they hear the brakes of the
ups truck They start barking. And it has nothing
to do with the actual sound. It has to do with
them predicting that the UPS guy is coming to
the door and that they are already barking to
make him go away. Yep. If you understand that,
then you have a fighting chance to analyze. What
it is that's happening. Break it down. And then.
Break it apart. And figure out what you can.
Do to. Right. Dissolve. Condition. Yeah. Dissolve.
That response. Exactly. Okay. So that was my
science lesson for today. If you aren't. Fully.
Right. I need a little. Sound effect. For the.
You do. The nightly. Yeah. Like a little like.
Science experiment. Noise or something. We're
going to. We're. I'm going to figure it out.
I'm going to get on that. Right. It's going to
be Bill Nye, the science guy pretty soon. So
I really want to leave you guys with things that
you can action and that you like truly learn
something new, not just create a talk show where
we talk about dog behavior. So with that being
said, what we're going to do now is we're going
to open it up. Does anyone listening? Lila, this
is where you come in. Does anyone listening have
any personal experience that they can share,
want to share, or want to throw out about why
their dog barks or how their dog barks prior
to us moving forward with identifying some of
the fixes here? But what are some other reasons
other than just what we already named? What are
some other reasons that you have had your personal
dog bark at stuff? I've got you, Ryan. Send it.
So you guys helped Pip and I work through his
demand barking at the refrigerator. All right.
That is a good one. The whipped cream. Yes. Which
is a word we still whisper because I'm afraid
of what it might trigger. Love that. But he would
sit at the fridge and demand bark at the fridge
because he knew that if he did that, he would
get whipped cream out of the fridge. Because
every time somebody went in the fridge, they
would give it to him. Or he knew that if he did
that, he would. he would get it. Um, which is
part of, and a lot of times you've talked about
this on the pod that is a challenge of living
with people, many people in a home that have
different ideas of how a dog should be. Yeah.
Of acceptable behavior, right? Yeah. So, um,
great example. Yeah, Pip is six years old, so
it was a hard habit to kick. Right, that's a
lot of time to be addicted to whipped cream.
Yes. My man was living his best life, though.
He was. He still is. He still is, right. It's
just a much healthier. Much healthier life with
much more defined expectations. So that's a really
good example. The demand barking for like when
a dog finds that, hey, cool, this works and this
gets me a treat or gets me dinner or gets me
whipped cream in this case, right? That's a great
example that I don't think we might have barely
touched on but really didn't even include that.
So I love that. Um, as that behavior was reinforced
by whatever followed. Yeah. Right. And so that
one was like to get to an end. Right. I want
this. I want yummy snacks. I know they're in
this white box. I know that they're here. Thumbs.
Somebody open it. Yeah. Love that. Great. Uh,
great example. Thanks Lila. All right. Because
you helped break that because that was a really
hard one. And that was a hard one for a really
long time. It took a really long time for that
barking to stop because it also happened at an
only a specific time, like between 8 and 10 p
.m. Yeah, that is a tough one, especially when
the dog like. kicks into like the biological
clock, right? And they've got it like down to
a time and they're like, now I'm going to bark.
It's like, oh man, it is a, it is a tough one.
And that's what we try to tell people is like,
when you first see the habit, it's like, you
have to like try to break it down as soon as
possible because the longer they rehearse it,
the more like ingrained in them it becomes. And
they're like, no, no, this is just what I do.
This is what we do. We can't change it now. Right.
Cause I don't think he was ever doing it. to
be a jerk. Right. He's just like, no, this is,
this is what I get. I would like my whipped cream
now. It's, it's time. Yeah. Yeah. So thank you
guys for getting rid of that one. Awesome. Um,
okay. So now let's, we'll, let's break down some
like common fixes, but all, but more so why some
of these common things fail. Um, because If we
don't frame this around how do we change the
dog's motivation, then we end up focusing on
the wrong part. So what I was talking about with
the science was how if you need to understand,
it wouldn't do me any good in the example I gave
to play the dog's cue of the sound of the brakes
on the UPS truck. to play that over and over
and over and over that, because that's not really
the reason why the dog was even barking. Now
that was queuing the barking, but that wasn't
the original reason. And so you've got to kind
of attack the actual reason and replace those
behaviors. Otherwise you're just chasing, you're
chasing your tail. Yeah. That's a good one. All
right. So yelling is typically the number one
fix that people go for, right? Yeah, the dog
is always going to be louder. They're like, hey,
stop it. Knock it off. With real excessive barking,
right? Yeah. Because I don't know why, but I
mean, I think it's just a human trait. Right,
we just try to match the dog where they are.
Right. The dog's yelling at you, so you're going
to yell at it. Yeah. And it's like, no, no, no.
They're not. They're not really yelling at you.
Right. It's not what they're doing. But yelling
often increases arousal in the dog. Right. The
dog doesn't really have a way that it can express
in the same accurate or in the same accuracy
as we can verbally. So a lot of times when we
yell about barking or. surrounding the concept
of barking, we just increase the arousal that
then makes the dog try to match that energy.
And so that often just reinforces the issue.
Another thing is that regardless of what tool
we end up using, if we don't use strong structure
that builds clarity in the dog's mind, then...
We just end up punishing a dog for doing something
that we might not fully understand. And that's
the one that I hate the most. Because the dog
could be barking in one of these frames of mind
to alert you of something that could be dangerous.
And then you're over here acting like a fool
because you're, you know. Popping their collar
or using a bark collar or you're doing this or
doing that. And the dog's like, look, I was just
trying to tell you that this is real dangerous.
You know, watch out. So we really need to figure
out what is motivating them to bark before we
recommend any type of fix. Another thing that
erodes that clarity is inconsistent. correction
or inconsistent enforcement so this is where
i see the the biggest problem with any of the
barking is because sometimes owners can identify
what a dog is barking at and sometimes they can't
but it could be the same thing and so when a
dog is like um someone rings the doorbell and
the dog barks at the person but the ups man comes
to the door and the dog And doesn't ring the
doorbell, just leaves the package and the dog
barks. And one of those, the owner yells at the
dog and freaks out because they're barking for
no reason. Right. And the other one, people hear
the doorbell and they're like, oh, someone's
here. Of course the dog's going to bark. Yeah.
But to the dog, both of those two situations
are identical. They're like, yeah, yeah, but
I heard something you didn't. Right. I, that,
that UPS guys still tried to get into this house
and I scared him away. So I don't know if I'm
explaining that one. Right. But the end concept
is that sometimes we try to fix one, but don't
try to fix the other. And it appears to a dog
as you're being inconsistent. Yeah. Yep. That's
the end. Right. Because, yeah, there's a lot
of things that dogs bark at that like you can't
pinpoint because dogs can hear things that that
we can't. So, yeah, I get where you're going
there. And then the last thing that really builds
a lot of frustration, which can increase the
barking by itself, is suppressing barking without
actually considering the cause. And that can
escalate the whole thing. Yeah. And I think we've
kind of. beat this to, to death. So we can, we
can move on to some things that we can, we can
actually do here. Right. Fix it. Right. So here's
a couple of things that we can do. Number one
on the, you know, canine hierarchy of, of, of,
I lost it. I lost another word. There's like
three or four words now that have just escaped
my brain. I'm going to find them laying on the
floor later and be like, there they are. So number
one, we can teach an incompatible behavior to
the barking. So usually when we teach a sit or
we teach a down or we teach place, we're not
teaching those behaviors with barking. And so
what you can end up doing is you can ask, excuse
me you can ask for one of those behaviors in
the moment when the dog is barking most dogs
will learn to bark standing up and they'll learn
to bark in that standing position because it's
on an arousal matrix that like makes more sense
to the dog the dog is like hey there's something
going on i need to stand up just because of like
they're more ready that way yeah so Giving the
dog something to do, a job to do, that doesn't
allow them to stand up and doesn't allow them
to bark will immediately neutralize some of those
barking things. Right. So in most instances,
you can put the dog into a down. There's no 100
% on any of this stuff. And we'll talk about
that. My dog is a perfect example of one that
a down is not going to keep them from barking.
They will bark in a down. They'll bark in a sit.
They'll bark. Yeah. They'll bark in. They'll
bark anywhere. In any position. Here, there,
anywhere. Here, there. Yeah. So we'll talk about
that. We'll talk about that in a minute. Right.
And it's also that's a working dog that has like.
Yeah. Barely a dog. More like a coyote. So. One,
we can teach that incompatible behavior. Then
we can hold the dog accountable to doing those
behaviors. So in the midst of barking, no place.
No place doesn't involve barking. So this makes
sense. And this allows you to not just go, no,
be quiet or something that you probably haven't
trained. Now, there is another way that you can
do this, which is by teaching your dog to bark
and to be quiet. And we've seen some success
with this if you can do it and you can do it
reliably. So you teach the dog to bark. And usually
that process is done through creating frustration
to get the dog to elicit barking in the first
place. And then you name the barking. Whatever
the word is that you're going to use. So you
name it. Then you name the not barking. Ideally
with the dog in the same position. And you start
teaching the dog discrimination between those
two. Barking, quiet. Barking, quiet. Barking,
quiet. Then you can name the behavior you want
the dog to do and then reward the dog for that.
So when they're barking, you can go, no, quiet.
Yep. And then reward them for being quiet. So
that. Right. And I think a lot of people miss
that concept because it's like when we go to
do puppy lessons. Right. And we teach them how
to play with the dog and do tug and things like
that. But they're like, well, my dog is biting.
Like, I don't I don't really want to teach them
to play tug. But you have to have a replacement
behavior. You have to still give the dog the
outlet that they're seeking, but in a different
way. And so if you can teach them the right way
or the right place to perform those behaviors,
then you're going to be way better off than just
shutting the dog down and being like, nope, we're
just never going to do that. Right. Instead of
being like, well, we can do that, but we can
only do it here. And now when I tell you to do
it. Right. And Dexter is a perfect candidate
for that. Yeah. And Dexter, my dog that we were
talking about, because he barks because it's
like, it's like in his butt. He barks because
for the same reason that he bites, right? Like
he's, he's a working dog. It's in Tuesday. It's
in his genetics. And it's like, I am gonna, I
gotta bite something. And he'll run around and
be like, and kind of look at you like, Can I
bite something? Is there something to bite? What
am I going to bite? And he'll do the same thing
for barking. He's like, is there something to
bark at? Let me bark at it. But that is a need
that he is having and is showing. So give him
an outlet for that. Then you can, once you've
given him that outlet in whatever way that is,
then you can bring him back. You can dial it
back and be like, all right, now. We're going
to go to our place. Now we're going to be quiet.
Because as soon as we do like a tug session with
him, he is like 70 % of a different dog than
before you played tug with him just after like
one round, much less like multiple rounds. But
he's also a dog that just needs to be more fulfilled
than like an average dog. He's just not an average
dog. Right. And I think. I lost what I just had.
I just had something. Something about 70%. 70
% of a different dog. There's a lot of words
flying on the floor over here. I know. It's just
words all over the floor. They're all over. That
was like a whole sentence too. All right. Well.
Maybe later. We'll keep driving forward. Let's
see. Where am I at? My notes here. Oh, I was
going to say, he's also a different type of dog
because he's the only dog that like we know that
will bark in any position. He's also the only
dog that can bark with a tug in his mouth that,
you know, can play tug while barking. Yes. It's
crazy. He can hold on to a full bite. Yeah. With
a tug. And bark. And very clearly bark the exact
same way. Through the pillow. Through the. Through
the white pillow. Crazy. Yep. So you could have
that one. I'll trade you. Right. Yeah. Anyone
who's like, man, I cannot. You're having a hard
time. I can't get my. We can show you harder.
Just kidding. He's one of our faves. He's something.
Okay. I'm trying not to make this. Let's stay
on track. Don't do any more jokes. What we can
do also is we can manage the environment to avoid
or to prevent the rehearsal of those patterns.
So a great example of this is when we get calls
about, well, my dog runs to the front door and
goes in this window. Right. And there's oftentimes
there's like a bench or something like towards
the front of the house or a couch or something
that kind of butts up to this window. And well,
my dog gets in the window and then just barks
its face off at anybody that's like going by.
Well, a management strategy for that environment
is how can we block that off from being an option?
How do we prevent the dog from getting into position
for them to. rehearse that behavior remember
that dogs will almost always do and perform the
task that they have been allowed to do and perform
and or encouraged and reinforced to do and perform
right and they will just grow into that behavior
right and not not just stop doing it so one way
that we let that behavior die naturally is by
prolonging the amount of time between successful
rehearsals of those behaviors. And that is one
way that Lila applied in order to get Pip off
of the whipped cream demand barking behavior,
is by elongating. the amount of time between
those events to then be able to introduce a different
behavior yep and replacing that behavior i remember
she used play she would take them out for a walk
so replaced some of those behaviors it's like
cool when it's time for whipped cream we'll just
go for a walk instead or we'll just play instead
or we'll do a training session so yeah those
were some introducing a different behavior yep
and then um There was another point here about
dogs that go outside. Dogs that go outside, they
go into like a backyard and then they run up
and down the fence and bark at the neighbor dogs.
Or they go outside and they bark their faces
off at sirens or noises or whatever it is. Well,
the unfortunate reality. Is that if not prevented,
dogs are going to continue to do what they reinforce
that they want to do. Yeah. So we putting something,
putting something in the way of their natural
running spots. Right. Where they. They run up
and down and that's when the barking starts.
I've seen that one where they run up and down
the fence and about by the third or fourth run,
that's when the barking starts because that's
when the frustration has finally got to a level
that the dog's starting to bark. Well, if you
prevent the third or fourth run, The dog never
gets to that level of frustration to where the
barking starts. The more and the longer that
we go between those frustration events, we decrease
the likelihood or the statistical chance that
they're going to start that barking episode again.
Same thing of just. putting the dogs out in the
backyard and then there's cars going by or there's
something going by and, and now they're barking.
Well, we have to manage their environment. We
have to manage the event. You can do that in
a couple of different ways. And we're going to
talk about some other things that you can do
to kind of like interrupt those behaviors. But
managing their environment is definitely number
one. Yeah. Because if you don't, like change
it somehow then they're just going to keep doing
it yeah if if they are allowed to sit in that
window they're gonna bark they're not going to
one day go you know i don't think i'm gonna bark
today i don't need to bark at that car right
i don't need to bark at those people walking
by they're not going to do that they're just
not no um all right we can we can re we can reward
the inverse pattern so rewarding calm behavior
but being proactive about it that's a big one
by what does that mean so um when a when you
know that something is about to happen yes and
you proactively interrupt the pattern and reward
the dog for something else you've broken that
behavioral pattern that's huge yeah by adjusting
and avoiding the precursors that then like play
this out it's like taking a record the old records
cd or whatever right well The record would play
by that like needle going around hitting the
pits and valleys and all of that. And if you
took an old style record and you scratched it
up and then you put it back on the player, the
record player, it would never sound the same.
That's all that we're doing, right? One scratch.
Makes it sound a little bit different. Two scratches,
three scratches, four scratches. Eventually,
that thing will never play the same way. And
that's what we're going for. By interrupting
the pattern and then conditioning by being proactive
about your conditioning, you can change the entire
concept for the dog. Use structure. So what that
might look like, that's where we're going to
use our place beds. That's where we're going
to use our crate time. That's where we're going
to use different sounds and music and white noise
and other things in the house. We can adjust
the dog's experience in the home to change. what
they are relating to and how they're relating
to those, those variables. Yeah. Because if there's,
if you don't give them something else to do,
they're just going to continue. Yeah. And I think
like place is my favorite. And when it comes
to barking and things like that, a place is so.
Good for that because it's so versatile and you
can move it, right? If your dog is having a problem
barking in the window, give them a place bed.
Move it somewhere away from the window. Any of
that stuff can be related to place. So it's definitely
one of my favorites as always. Then you've got
a couple other pattern interrupters. So there
is a couple of our favorites. There's compressed
air. So Pet Corrector is a brand. of compressed
air. There are some Amazon knockoffs like Pet
Educator and some other things that are all,
it's all compressed air. The concept is that
this air rushes out of this nozzle that is appropriately
sized to make it much louder. than regular compressed
air like think keyboard like cleaner type air
yeah um usually that's not loud enough to um
really like change the dogs right um the pattern
yeah it's not it's not usually loud enough to
to break the pattern or or for a dog to even
hear it over their own barking however the um
This pet corrector stuff has a little nozzle
on it that can be really, really useful in making
this compressed air significantly louder. And
that is a great pattern interrupt because it's
something very odd to the dog. And they usually
have no idea what's kind of going on because
it's just a loud noise. Right. It's basically
the equivalent of having Cesar Millan like in
your living room. Yeah. But like loud. And we're
not poking them with it. We're just, it's like
we're holding it behind our back. Right. And
when we use that, we're not spraying it at the
dog. We're not like hitting the dog with it.
Right. We're. uh it's it's not quite the same
i usually conceal the can honestly so that a
dog doesn't like pick up on the fact of like
what it is and then you don't even use it from
then on out because the dog sees the can come
out and they're like oh no i'm not gonna i'm
not gonna do that right the funny thing about
the caesar milan thing is that what he would
always do on those tlc episodes was Was a pattern
interrupt. Right. Yeah. He was just poking the
dog to get their attention. He was just poking
the dog and going. Yeah. I've poked a couple
of dogs. I'm telling you. So I took a course,
a very like, you know, highly sought after course
and things like that. And they also do that.
They don't do it in the same like silly way as
much, but they for sure like. They use it as
like a pattern interrupter and as like an energy
expeller. Right. It's like it's like a little
nudge to somebody being like, hey, take it down
a notch. Like, hey, take it down a notch. Right.
And it works because it's a pattern. Yeah. Right.
And it makes the dog go, whoa. Yeah. What the
heck was that? But yeah, I mean, we've we. I
love some pet corrector for specific things.
And it's also the equivalent of like a can of
pennies or a jar of pennies or whatever it is
of pennies. Right. And shaking the pennies. Yeah.
Some coins in a cup or coins in a jar or something
like that. Something like that. It's just a very
little shake. Strange noise. Yeah. It's loud.
That's a good homemade version of a pet corrector
essentially. But pet corrector is just really
good because it's really loud and it's just convenient
to kind of like have. Yeah. But super good for
dogs that just. they bark one really, really
loud because loud barking is harder to interrupt.
And two, if you just like, can't even get a break
in the dog of like barking where it's like bark,
bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, bark. Then
you can just like give a quick shot. We did it
last week and the dog was like worried and stressed
at first. Right. But it quickly interrupted like
the bark pattern he had developed and he didn't
bark again. And so I'm glad. You're going down
the road that I was going to go down, which it's
perfect. You're doing great driving down the
road. But what I what I was going to highlight
here is the dogs that this does not work for
are the ones that are barking for a specific
reason and then stopping. Yeah. That this isn't
going to work. Yeah. Because you're not really
interrupting. It's unlikely that you're going
to get that. of the pet corrector at the exact
moment that they also hear the brakes on the
UPS truck. Right. So it's not really going to
interrupt that type of pattern. Where this works
really, really well is with the dogs that maybe
they started barking for a reason. Yeah. But
then they get into this self -gratifying loop
where now they're barking. They end up barking
for two different reasons in one episode. Yeah.
At the beginning, they were barking at you. In
the case that Brianna was talking about, that
it worked really well. The dog initially started
barking because they were nervous of Brianna's
presence. Right. And then. Right. As a stranger
coming into the home. And then. it just continued
and continued and continued and continued and
continued. And then it was like the dog's barking
now just because that doesn't even know. I don't
even know why I'm barking, but I'm barking because
I've been barking for a while and it, and I feel
better about it, I guess. So I'm just going to
keep doing it. It's making me feel better. So
I'm just going to keep going. It's self gratifying.
So at that point, now it interrupts that pattern.
The dog is like, wait, what was I doing? Yeah.
And they don't go back into that same pattern.
Right. It's also a startling effect for dogs,
right? I think some people like see it and they're
like, well, that scared the dog, right? Because
it's loud and it probably will. It's not like
equivalent to an air horn, but it's loud. And
it does most of the time kind of startle the
dog and bring a little bit of like, oh, what
was that? And like anxiousness. But you're talking
about a dog that when a dog gets into that pattern,
it's not good for them anyways. It's not healthy
for a dog to feel like they have to do that or
their brains get stuck in this loop. It's just
not, it's not even a healthy mindset to be in.
And so interrupting that is honestly like the
best thing that you can do for that dog is to
just be like, hey, we're not going to do that.
Everything is fine. But it does take that interrupter
sometimes. Sometimes it's not like, you know,
everybody's favorite, but neither is like incessant
barking, to be honest. Right. There is the concept
that it's worth being cautious, right? Because
we don't want to be too aversive to a dog. But
there's also the concept that's like, so are
you going to just live with it because you don't
like who's. who's the priority here in you just
living with this aversive behavior, which is
the bark, the excessive barking. It's pretty
aversive to me. Right. Or are you going to use
clear communication in order to fairly break
down this pattern and change it so that then
your relationship can, can increase in the end.
Right. Because we always. teach fairness to our
clients and not once have we ever been like well
we're going to use a collar and a leash and we're
just going to correct the dog for barking never
i think the most extent is probably the pet corrector
i mean honestly usually we teach redirection
but every now and then if it is the loop and
we can like see it and it's like something we're
involved in and we're there and can help with
it then 100 it's like okay cool let's just try
this and if it works great if it doesn't then
we'll try something else. But everything in dog
training is fluid because dogs are all so very
different and intricate. And one thing that works
for this dog, in 30 seconds I'm going to see
another dog and it's not going to work for that
dog. And it could be the same breed dog. It could
be around the same age dog. But it doesn't matter
because every single dog is so different. Yeah.
Last thing that I want to bring up is this other
strategy. That I think is important to highlight
and you can apply it. You're going to have to
use your own creativity to apply it in your home
in a way that makes sense. But it's the concept
of showing the dog that you're taking their alert
seriously. And I'm trying to, I want to make
sure that I explain this properly. But it would
be in our home, right? One of the dogs is barking
because it hears something at the front door.
What I would do is I would get up or, you know,
reach my head around the corner and look at the
door. identify what it is that the dog's alerting
to, and then move forward from that experience
with either a different task for the dog or some
sort of dismissive body language that's like,
all right, I've assessed it. It's not a threat.
It's not an issue. Let's move on. Yeah. Can I'm
like trying to talk through it because there's
great videos about this on YouTube. But I'm trying
to like think how I can explain it. When you
see it in dog body language, when. When a dog
is when a dog barks at something and another
dog rolls up right next to it and looks. over
there and then identifies what it was. And then
they're like, Hmm. Okay. All right. We we've
got the pack has now been alerted. Now this isn't
such a big deal or, or okay, cool. I have done
my duty. in alerting the other dogs or my family
to this threat now everyone has kind of like
they're showing me with their body language that
they're that they hear it that they're taking
it seriously all right now we can move forward
yeah and it alleviates some of the frustration
and the stress and the dog it also helps the
dog trust you as a position of leadership so
if you pretend to never hear this the noise whatever
it is whether you hear it or not if you pretend
to never hear it and it's something that when
we first talked about our first point here where
you need to diagnose why your dog is barking
yeah if it's something that they think is threatening
you need to address it And that could simply
be looking at it. It could simply be assessing
it. But if you show the dog that you've assessed
it, rather than you just knowing, oh, I know
that that's the mailman because I hear it. So
I'm going to ignore it. Yeah. Well, the dog doesn't
know that you know what that is. Right. So this
is a concept that maybe I've talked around in
circles, but hopefully I have. highlighted what
what i am you know kind of trying to to talk
through here um show your dog that you've got
it show your dog that hey it's okay i i hear
what you're saying i know what it is i've assessed
it it's not a threat let's move on yeah that's
what you got to do yep okay so at this point
We're going to open it up for questions. We're
running a little bit behind. I've gone a little
bit over the normal hour that I try to limit
this on. So open it up for questions as well
as, hey, has anybody dealt with something similar
or different? And is there something that you
found that worked for your situation that everyone
else could benefit from? So I'll open it up for
anyone who wants to contribute. 10 seconds. You
didn't play the Jeopardy music. I know because
I wasn't prepared because my brain words are
all on the ground. Right. I've been looking for
them. There it is. All right. Hey, guys, it's
Heath. Hey, Heath. Hey. Hey, so one thing we
found with Luna, because she's good about, The
whole mailman theory and, you know, about people
coming to the door and alerting us for that.
But one thing we found that's helped out a lot
is putting her in her place and just that whole
process. And that kind of gives her her space
to calm down and relax a little bit rather than
being up at the door and, you know, constantly
aggressive towards the situation. So putting
her in her place definitely gives her that space
to chill out and kind of ease off and eventually,
you know, kind of ease up on the barking. Yeah,
and that's another concept, right? Because she's
just more like fearful kind of and just like
a little insecure, right? And a lot of dogs are
like that when people come up to the door and
come into the home. A lot of times it can evolve
from fear. So giving the dog that space with
their place or their kennel can just bring some
of that security and be like, okay, this is my
space. Nobody bothers me over here. I can relax,
just watch them from over here and then get involved
as I feel like it or if I want to. Yeah. Awesome.
Yeah. Thanks for sharing Heath. So we'll jump
into listener projects here. I've got two projects
for you tonight. So number one, calm before the
trigger. So try to identify your barking trigger.
If you're dealing with a barking dog at home
or you're dealing with an excessive barker, Try
to identify the barking trigger. That's going
to help you no matter what. Go through those
triggers that we first talked about and see if
yours line up with any of those. Then ask the
dog for place or down before the barking begins
right as that trigger is starting to arrive,
whatever that is. At that point, reward that
calm holding, right? Where we're holding that
down, holding that place. Even if it's out in
public somewhere or another dog's walking by,
hold that good behavior and reward it with your
continuation type markers. Practice that daily
and see if that doesn't assist you in kind of
reconditioning what it is that you're dealing
with. All right. Project number two is going
to be start to log it. So track what you think
is triggering the barking. Write down the different
things because like Brianna brought up at the
beginning of this episode, there are things that
you're not going to hear. There are things you're
not even going to perceive because it's not going
to make sense to you. The only way for you to
start figuring those things out is to start writing
down the different variables of that experience
as it's happening. So start keeping a log and
write down the time of day and what. immediately
happened before that and um where were you and
was there anything outside and was there a plane
flying over did there was a car drive by were
there dogs or other animals approaching outside
where was the dog was the dog at the front door
was the dog at the front window were they just
laying in their their crate and all of a sudden
they started barking what was the lead up what
happened and, and by identifying all those variables,
you'll start to figure out what those triggers
are. So then you can attack those and you can
actually adjust your dog's experience, um, from
those things instead of just going, no, don't
do that. No. Instead of just putting a bark collar
on and being like, well, the bark collar works
while they're wearing it. Right. Bark collars
tend to do that. They work while the dog is wearing
it. And then the dog figures out, hey, when I
don't have it on, I can bark. And when I do have
it on, I can't bark. Yeah. And then you're right
back to square one, still trying to identify
the triggers. Yep. Because it doesn't fix anything.
All right. So use that data to adjust structure
in your house and go about proper exercises in
order to kind of work through those things. All
right. That is all I got for tonight. Those are
the listener projects. So I am going to close
it out here because we're at an hour and eight
minutes and that is a long time. It's too long.
So I appreciate everybody tuning in and listening.
We're going to close it out tonight. If you have
another experience with some excessive barking
and you want to contribute to everyone's knowledge,
please leave us a comment. Leave us a like. Leave
us a review on the podcast, wherever you listen
to it. Happy to also accept comments on how we
can do this better. I am no professional podcaster,
but I always want to get better. All right. Have
a great night, everyone. Good night. See you
later.