Tips to Stop a Mini Schnauzer from Barking

For this Omaha dog training session we taught 3 year-old Mini Schanuzer Gunther to stop barking so his roomie 6 year-old Shih Tzu can get some rest.

Gunther was fired up as soon as I stepped inside his home. He barked and moved away, circled a bit and kept his distance indicating he wasn’t super confident about his actions. His room mate Daisy was much more relaxed.

When I sat down with the guardians to discuss the dog behavior problems the humans called me in to fix, I learned the dogs didn’t have much structure and were petted when anxious or on demand. This is fine for many dogs, but for Gunther, the lack of rules had caused him to become confused as to his place in the family.

Its a good bet that Gunther acts out with barking and movements to communicate he isn’t happy with new people around. I used a number of dog behaviorist tricks to help him settle down and earn his trust, but the best way to get a dog to stop barking is to address the root cause of the behavior.

I went over ways to add structure, how to reward Gunther for actions his family liked, how to redirect him when he was starting to get anxious, the importance of not petting when he was in an unbalanced state and how added exercise can help.

To teach a dog to stop barking, I have found great success in creating a vocabulary so that I can ask for a bark as well as ask for quiet. I share tips to stop dogs from barking in the free dog behavior video below.

If the guardians reduce his overall anxiety via more exercise, added structure, rewarding good behaviors and the positive dog training tips included in the above dog training video, Gunther should stop barking at anything he doesn’t like or understand.

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