Teaching “Quiet” Command
Does your dog bark constantly when someone knocks on the door or walks by your house? Alarm barking is a natural behavior in dogs, and we can’t expect to eliminate it completely, but we can learn to control it. You need to teach your dog to stop barking on command. We essentially want to tell the dog, “Thank you for that warning; now be quiet.”
First, discover what triggers your dog to bark (doorbell, other dogs, etc.). Then work the following sequence in practice sessions that you set up with a helper:
Have your helper initiate the trigger – (rings the doorbell or walks by with a dog).
Your dog will start barking.
After 3-4 barks, put a really yummy treat in your dog’s face, and when they stop barking to get the treat, you say “Quiet” (you do not have to shout; use a normal tone of voice) – then say “YES” and give them the treat.
Repeat this 5-6 times per session and do a few sessions each day for a week.
Test your cue – when your dog starts barking - say “quiet” without showing the food treat first. If they have learned the cue, they will stop barking and look for the treat – at which time you should say “YES” and give the treat. If they don’t stop barking – go back to pairing the word “quiet” with the behavior of not barking until they better understand the cue.
Once your dog knows the cue “quiet,” wait a little longer each time before you say “YES” and treat so that you condition in a longer duration of quiet behavior.
You will want to play this game in different locations in the house so the dog generalizes.
You will also want to do practice sessions with each trigger that sets off your dog.
Eventually, you should switch to random reinforcement for the quiet command (not treating each time).
In time, you will be able to cue the dog to “quiet” and say “good boy/girl” without giving the treat reward.
It is important that you do many set-up practice sessions before trying this on the real thing. Once you have your dog reliably barking and quieting on command during these sessions, you can try it in the real world. Don’t be surprised if it doesn’t work the first time. Go back to showing the treat up front as you say “quiet.”
Outdoor Barking
Some dogs bark incessantly when outside in the yard. The barking can be triggered by just about anything – a passerby, a dog barking down the street, or a leaf falling to the ground. This can be a hard behavior to control because you are in the house when it happens. If you don’t reward or correct the behavior while it is happening or at least within half a second, the animal doesn’t make the connection, which means that you won’t be able to correct this type of barking effectively.
For these dogs, I like to train in a reliable whistle recall. Teaching the dog to come into the house when they hear the whistle will at least allow you to cut the barking episodes short.
A shock collar is NEVER recommended. These collars cause fear and pain and can make your dog very anxious or even aggressive.
