Normal v Nuisance barking with Stanley the Wirehaired Dachshund

A dog barking is part of life. Like us vocalizing, dogs can bark for a number of reasons, from when the doorbell goes, to barking at other dogs they are scared of to over-excitement vocalization.

This type of barking is normal, and barking should be a normal part of dog guardianship.

Now, barking can become a nuisance - and that is the case with Stanley.

His go-to behavior when he wants anything, gets slightly excited, gets outside, wants attention, wants food, etc etc etc is to bark.

This is affecting his guardian's quality of life and I can imagine it’s giving them a few headaches too!

There are so many different triggers for Stanley’s barking, that we are having to gradually work through each individually.

Stanley has also bitten his male guardian a few times due to resource guarding, so we need to tackle this too.

Here’s what we did:

• Adding high-value food by throwing it from a distance that Stanley is comfortable with while he is eating

• Teaching a follow and sit by the door as an alternative behavior instead of barking

• Throwing a handful of food out into the garden for him to go out and find, rather than running along with the fence barking

• Guardians to leave the room and close the door if he barks for attention - basically, barking doesn’t get him attention, but removes the thing he wants most.

There’s more to do after this, but this will be a start.

It’s going to be a difficult and tedious program for Stanley’s guardians, but a few weeks of consistency and we will see a huge change in behavior.

Watch out for our updates on Stanley soon!

If this case sounds like your dog and you are having a similar issue, or a different issue entirely, book a FREE assessment call with us by clicking HERE.