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Barking
Hey everyone,
Does anyone have good ideas how I can get dogs to stop from barking at home while no one is at home? I have tried noise machine or tv but that doesn’t work. Thank you!
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13 Replies
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Hi Kristina – this is a great question and a very common problem.
Can we have a few more specifics about the dogs and the type of barking?
For example, some dogs are barking (and howling) as grief/attention-seeking. Some dogs are barking when they hear or see people outside the window. Some bark out of frustration. Some dogs play and bark together…
Knowing the breeds, ages, changes in the home and then taking a look at what needs the dog may have can really help dial in a solution.
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I apologize for not giving more details.
She is a Belgian Malinois ans is 8 years old. My little one is a mix and is 10. We moved from Europe to the US 1.5 years ago and it has gotten worse in this new house.
They get to go on walks, we have training sessions and we play. I lm always trying to meet their needs. I know she has anxiety problems since she was abused before we got her.
she is actually on anxiety medication now as well.
She definitely barks at everything she can hear. She can’t see out of my windows or doors. Its def not play barking. She runs around the downstairs like crazy barking.
My little one howls and barks a lot. He is a mix and 10 years old.
Also, I think this is a common problem. I keep reading posts on Facebook and sadly most people recommend shock collars for this issue.
I would like to be able to have a great plan for this problem. Maybe there are great books or other resources?
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Great details, @ktinan ! Thanks so much.
You are describing your dog’s anxiety and it could be related to the barking. The change in environment (becoming worse in the new home) and the fact both dogs are getting each other riled could be contributing too!
You may want to discuss a review of the anxiety medication with your veterinarian. Perhaps a dosage can be adjusted or another medication selected to give her more support? While you are there, please have a full exam to rule out health changes. Sometimes an increase in stress behavior is because of a new underlying medical condition. In older dogs especially, it’s worth ruling out.
You might want to consider other anxiety support tools such as a Thundershirt or a dog-appeasing pheremone collar (works for some, not all!).
You might create a room where less sounds are heard. For example, I’ve created a cave for my thunder-phobic dog. I have an inner closet (not on an external wall) with a big crate which is covered in blankets. I have a large box fan which blows away from the crate. It disrupts the sound waves. My dog is really comfortable in it and sleeps like a rock through the worst winds and thunder!
Depending on how much support the dogs give each other, vs. how much the arousal from one makes the other nervous, you might consider separating the dogs so they aren’t as likely to get over-stimulated by each others’ arousal.
You may want to increase decompression walks and sniffing opportunities to help with the stress load as well. These are great for people, too (well, maybe not the sniffing as much, but going at that pace is great!)
I’m looking forward to other ideas folks have – and your feedback on these thoughts.
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@catherine , you wrote: “I have a large box fan which blows away from the crate. It disrupts the sound waves.”
This is super-interesting to me, as I have a thunder-phobic dog. How do you know the sound waves get disrupted? Is this specific to a box fan, or would any fan do?
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Hi @virginiad I think the big blades help. You can hear the whop whop whop difference in any sound on the other side of a fan. I don’t know if that’s why she’s more comfortable or it’s just a cover-up, but in any case, it’s been super nice to see her zonked out during the storm! I had a smaller fan but it didn’t push that much air and certainly did not produce as much “white noise”. Good luck with trying it out, if you choose to, and let us know if you see an effect!
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PS – didn’t you ever call into a fan when you were little? ????
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That was a favorite game!
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Thanks so much @catherine . I’ll need to get a box fan and try this!
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I found a decent box fan at the local Dollar Store for about $25, in case that helps. Keep us posted! I hate when the dogs get so scared of the thunder!
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Also to clarify, the crate is covered except for the front door so I can see her and she can see me if she’s looking out. So far, she’s just been zonked out almost immediately. I can almost feel her relief! She has yet to choose to go into it on her own, but that’s because she’s borderline sep-distress and NEEEDS me. She’ll always prefer to be near me no matter how distressing the rest of the world is.
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Thank you so much for your reply. I appreciate the help. I will try out your tips. I will try to separate my dogs and talk to the Vet again. The collar you mentioned sounds good as well.
We do a lot of sniff walks and even after that she can’t settle down when I have to leave the house.
Maybe I need to start doing more scent work with her.
Im also going to order the book you mentioned about separation anxiety. Thank you again!
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Happy to help with ideas and I hope you are able to get some good solutions from that book too. Keep in mind, you may want to work with a behaviorist or a separation anxiety specialist. Please let us know how it goes! @ktinan
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Above, I focused on your Mal – for the howling with barking on your smaller dog, that could be related to separation distress. Have you seen Malena DeMartini’s Separation Anxiety book? You might get some good ideas there.
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