Animal behavior essentials: Excess Barking

“Who let the dogs out? Woof! Woof! Woof!” * 

Have you ever been that guest visiting a friend, getting down from the car and you read the little sign on the gate that says, “Beware of dogs”? You sigh, because you know that even though they keep their dogs caged, they are going to bark at you from the gate to the front entrance of their home. 

Barking is a regular dog activity and is the sound commonly made by dogs, just as crying is to babies. However, some dogs can bark excessively and this can cause distress for a pet owner.

The first thing to do if you observe that your dog barking excessively, take it to visit your veterinary which would then rule out medical or aging reasons for your dog’s excessive barking.

You would also want to determine if there are any barking triggers, such as territorialism, loneliness, seeking for attention, fear etc., and if they do, then you would want to train the dog.

However, you should avoid yelling at the dog as this could encourage even more barking, hitting it or abandoning the dog to keep on barking. 

There are professional training and behaviour modification services that you can obtain for your dog to assist with this issue should you require support.

*Baha Men – Who let the dogs out, 2000