How to stop your little dog from nuisance barking

You've been yelling quiet literally thousands of times at your little dog. All your doing is naming the barking "quiet". You little dog has no idea that it means to stop barking. In fact, you've made a game out of

Let's say your dog barks when she hears people walking by your town home. It's in a relatively busy area. What in anybody's right mind would think that by ignoring your dog's barking she's just going to stop? She's not going to. Period.

If your dog doesn't stop with your constant yelling "quiet" and ignoring doesn't work what are you going to do?

Interrupt the behavior and redirect is the best way to start and there are a couple of ways to do that....

This falls under the counter-conditioning idea when it comes to dog training terms.

Counter-conditioning is a method used to change a dog's physical or emotional response to a certain stimulus. By associating a positive emotion with a previously negative stimulus, the dog can learn to feel relaxed and comfortable in situations that would have previously caused fear or anxiety.

You can use the same idea for nuisance or demand barking. The Ready? Get It! Game is one where you say "Ready?" to your dog as a game every morning before breakfast (non distractive time) and as soon your dog looks at you, say "Get It" and deliver a piece of food or a treat. Start doing this every day with your dog and it will become a habit for your dog to look at you when you say "Ready?"

As this game becomes a habit, you can say "Ready?" when your dog starts to bark and guess what? Your dog will stop barking and look at you as you redirect to "Get It" and the barking ceases!

You can get a video of exactly how to play the Ready? Get It! Game here

There is the right way and the wrong way to use these training collars. I'm here to teach you the right way. Just like all positive training, it can be done all wrong. For instance yelling at your dog over and over and getting the same result of a dog that continues to bark and you end up frustrated, mad, to the point of getting angry at your dog. What's all positive about that? Not only that, it didn't teach your dog nothing about a better choice than to continue to bark.

The micro educator taught the right way is very low level stimulation meant to get your dog's attention without startling them and then redirecting your dog to do something else. Like come to you. Sit. Walk with you. Go to your bed or even go get a toy.

Yes, you could simply "stop" your dog with a high enough level but that does nothing to show your dog what to do. You've got to replace the behavior with something else to do.

Using a micro educator ecollar on a small dog can be a great way to reinforce good behaviors and help with training. To start, make sure to properly fit the ecollar to your dog and to set the stimulation level to the lowest setting. You can then use the ecollar to reinforce positive behaviors like “Stay”, “Come” or “No Bark” or "Quiet". When your dog is performing the desired behavior, give them a verbal cue and then press the stimulation button. If your dog responds correctly, give them a treat and stop pressing the button. With repetition, your dog will learn that the desired behavior yields a reward. With time and patience, your small dog can become a well-trained canine companion.

You can see it in action here: National Train Your Dog Month - Little dogs need training too!

If you feel challenge at getting your small dog to pay attention to you and want to know the right way to use a micro educator contact me here: K9Coaching.com

Also stay tuned for an Ecollar Home Guide coming soon!