Stop Your Dog from Barking

Waking up in the middle of the night with the noise from your dog reverberating in your both ears is totally irritating. What more if your dog is already disturbing the sleep of the whole neighborhood at 2 am in the morning and you are getting complaints from each one of them.

The thing is, no matter how much you love your dog and how bad you want him to live in his doggy nature as possible, you have the responsibility to keep you're mouth shut so that others, including you, could have uninterrupted rest .

However, you have to understand first that dogs bark for a reason. According to animal behaviorists, dogs bark "to communicate between them, and potentially, between dog and people." Other reasons why dogs bark are physical distress, offensive and defensive threats, and social insecurity. Determining what is healthy barking from not is your job. To do it would require patience and understanding to the true nature of your dog.

You should know how your dog communicates with you. Determine what particular sound and behavior your dog shows to express a certain need. Determine the bark that means he is hungry from the bark that means there is an intruder in your neighborhood.

Meanwhile, there are other dogs that really bark irrationally and uncontrollably. These dogs might not be trained well or pampered too much. So if barking irrationally and uncontrollably fits perfectly to your dog's behavior, you need to take the right action. You may not teach your old dog a new trick but you will surely make it stop barking with the following tips:

1. Feed your dog on time – Observe this: if your dog is not fed in the evening; you will likely to stay awake overnight. Why? Because your dog would not stop barking unless you give him food. Never, ever let your dog get hungry.

2. Do not confine your dog for a long time – Boredom, activity, and confinement contribute to the undesirable behavior your dog commits. Yeah, yeah you do not want him to hurt someone or get dirty but days of inactivity would drive your dog insane. Even you would have behaved badly if you are bound right?

3. Stop praising your dog for no reason – Your dog responds when you praise them, even if there is no reason … They can not distinguish it anyway. So stop tapping your dog even if he is making too much noise for he would think that he is doing right.

4. Give your dog something to do … chew – Again, boredom can drive your dog insane so make sure you keep him busy. After a meal, give him a chewing toy.

5. Reward your dog for good behavior – Give him food or praise him if he does something good. Practicing this would naturally prevent your dog from making bad behavior.