So your dog’s barking is driving you and your neighbors crazy—annoyance, lost sleep and more…What to do, what to do??? There are a couple of different options to explore, but the best choice is probably to start with some basic training techniques to handle the problem.

Training Tips

One training method used to get your dog to stop barking is to gently use a spray bottle on your dog when he starts to bark. This interrupts your dog's barking and repeated consistently over time, your dog should learn that barking is not desirable behavior. A variation on this approach, since it's not always possible to be within spraying distance is to use a plastic jar or bottle filled with several pennies. Once your dog starts barking, you should discourage the behavior by shaking the bottle vigorously. The noise will interrupt your dog's barking.

Bark Collars

There are several types of bark collars available that are designed to curtail a dog's habit of barking. They typically all are activated by the vibration of the dog's vocal chords sensed by the collar on the dog's neck, but they differ in response. Some emit an electrical shock, some emit a high frequency and some emit a spray in the dog's face.

Depending upon the type of bark your dog has, these collars may or may not be effective. The sensitivity levels can be set on some collars to adjust for your particular type of dog, but indeed, sometimes they will go off with the slam of a door or other sounds. Other times, if your dog's bark is outside a "normal" range of dog barking, the collar may not go off at all.

If you purchase one of these collars, it is a good idea to buy it from a store that has a good return policy. This way you can get a refund if after trying the collar for a day, you realize that it is not going to work for your dog because of any of the above reasons.

Debarking

You may have heard about having the dog debarked as a solution to dog barking problems. Debarking, or a ventricular cordectomy, as a way to solve dog barking problems is an elective minor surgical procedure in which the veterinarian severs or removes the vocal cords. While the procedure leads to immediate results, the long term effects are irreversible and it does involve a certain amount of risk to the dog's health due to the procedure.

Debarking is often a temporary solution to dog barking problems or puppy barking problems due to scar formation. And it must be repeated--sometimes a number of times. The dog isn't totally silent, but the noise he makes--sort of like a loud, wheezy cough--is really disturbing to some. In addition, it does nothing to relieve that destructive process and stress that a barking dog falls victim to with the ulcers and immune system compromise.

This is an invasive procedure that should not be performed on your dog without a serious amount of consideration. Before choosing to proceed with this serious alteration, you should definitely consult with your veterinarian about all other alternatives including those mentioned above.


Links to resources to eliminate dog behavior problems:

Stop Dog Barking
Stop Dog Jumping
Crate Training an Older Dog