How to video - Teach your dog to SPEAK and be QUIET on command

Here are some reasons why dogs bark...

• Boredom & loneliness
• Protecting & guarding their possessions (including you)
• Strange new noises or sounds like something to control
• Demanding treats, games, or affection
• Herding anything from people to falling leaves
• To play with other people & pets, over excitement
• Just because they can

You may need to look at other areas in your dogs life to solve just a barking problem.

• Fear & insecurities can lead to dog acting out aggressively and defending things
• Unstable dogs see something at a distance bark or show unwanted signs first
• Confident dogs wont react unless challenged, and wont harm if socialized
• Dogs that are bored create their own jobs and odd behaviors appear
• A dogs hearing is so good that they hear much more than we can imagine.

Fetch and other high excitement games can lead to unruly barking and mouthing behavior which is usually repetitively rewarded until the excitement becomes obsession. Dogs can very easily hurt people, I am shocked every time I hear a dog has broken bones... yes, human bones. Dogs that are so excited usually have no spatial awareness and constantly collide with objects, tables, walls, knees and small children. They are not calm or rational enough to notice stationary objects getting closer and it may hurt. I keep seeing children literally flipped upside down by dogs, that are "happy".

Excitement is not an expression of happiness.

E-mail Christine your problems today!