Tips to Stop a Dog From Barking and Waking Up the Baby

For this Santa Monica dog behavior session, we use counterconditioning to stop 1 year-old Maltese Pom mix Doogie (Pictured here on the left with his roomie, 13 year-old Bassett Hound Pumpkin) from barking at sounds outside his home.

Stopping a dog from barking is actually pretty easy if you use this positive dog training technique. By finding the right distance, then practicing not barking by delivering a positive reinforcer is a great way to teach a dog to stop barking at sounds.

The guardians will need to recreate the situations that trigger the barking and work at each one until Doogie doesn’t bark at that sound anymore. It shouldn’t take long before Doogie stops barking at things he hears outside.

Helping people train their dogs to not bark is rewarding because it can really improve their quality of life. Hearing a dog bark for attention or bark at every sound it hears can be really grating.

I was quite pleased at how quickly the dog stopped barking at the sound of the door being opened and closed. Since this is a very repeatable sound, it shouldn’t take the guardians long to teach the dog to stop barking and waking up the baby.

To help the guardians remember all the dog behavior tips I shared in this in home Santa Monica dog training session, we shot a roadmap to success video.