You’re tired. Your neighbors are frustrated all of the time. You have a recurring headache. You are exhibiting all the indicators of an annoyed pet owner and now you need to learn how to train your dog to stop barking at night. Just like cat’s meow and rooster’s crow, dogs communicate thru barking, and it’s unfair and impractical to expect your dog to never bark. However, it’s possible to educate your dog when it is appropriate and incongruous to bark. Controlling your dog’s bark must be an obedience command instead of an unpredictable reprimand for something done wrong.
Whether you know it or not you are probably in part accountable for your dog’s barking problem. There are potentially times where you tell your dog no, other times where you ignore him, and most likely other times where you’ve even encouraged him to bark. This leaves your dog confused not knowing whether barking is bad.
When your dog starts barking, dangle a treat in front of him after the first couple of woofs and let him know “stop barking”. Most dogs will stop immediately when they see the treat.
After one or two seconds of no barking, praise the dog and give him the treat. Gradually work with your dog and increase the quiet time with each repetition before handing over the treat. With a little patience, you’ll be able to get to a pair mins of quiet time and your dog will start to understand what the command means. Just remember that breaking an old habit can be tricky, so you’ll need to work on this training consistently if your dog is in the practice of barking at trivial things.
If you need to train your dog to stop barking at night, then it could be important to bring him indoors while you work on his training. Occasionally placing a radio near your dog can help to keep it from being alarmed and barking at each slight noise it hears. Making sure your dog gets plenty of exercise and attention in the day can help too. A very content, relaxed dog is less sure to bark than a twitchy, concerned one. Junking a bad barking habit will take time, but stick with it. It’ll be worthwhile.
Go to my Chihuahua training blog get more articles on training a bulldog.