Tips to Stop a Redondo Beach Dog From Barking

For this Redondo Beach dog training session, we worked with sweet 2 year-old Springer Spaniel Milo, training him to stop barking at dogs who walk by his house.

Since Milo had been reactive to some people in the past, I asked his guardians to bring him outside to meet me. I left a treat trail and by the time he got to where I was sitting on the curb, he was in a pretty good mood; eating treats right out of my hand.

I noticed that his guardians were using a prong collar. This is an archaic tool that has been banned in most countries, but sadly is widely used in the United States. This is a punishment based tool that suppresses instead of teaching. Studies show that they cause a dog to release cortisol into their blood; causing them to become anxious, nervous, reactive and also aggressive. Over time, these collars almost always bring out emotions and behaviors you dont want to see in your dog. And they are completely unnecessary. Frankly if a trainer tells you this is a good tool to use, what they are really saying is they dont have the skills to teach your dog to do what you want.

Fortunately, Milo’s guardians, were open minded, listened to my advice and decided to get rid of the collar for good. I can’t tell you how happy this made me, but I’m sure Milo feels even more enthused about it.

After going for a short walk, we headed inside and got to work. We went over marker words, hand targeting, doggy manners, how to motivate dogs to offer desired behaviors, and some creative exercise tips.

How to train a dog to stop barking at people outside the home

For the last portion of the session, we focused on the primary issue his guardians wanted to fix; barking when dogs pass by the home. Stuffing dog barking is a very common request. I get as one of LA‘s dog behavior experts.

I have found one of the easiest ways to stop dog barking is to change how the dog thinks about the thing they are barking at.

I pulled out my clicker and asked one of the guardians to step outside, so that I can demonstrate this simple exercise to stop a dog from barking. If your dog barks at dogs and people outside your house, you should definitely check out the free positive dog training video below.

The most important thing, when, using this secret to stopping dog barking, is to make sure that you have enough distance between your dog, and whatever they are reactive to. I would recommend the guardians start practicing as far away from the door as possible. I also suggested that they recruit some friends who have a calm dog so that they can control the timing of the dog passing by the home.

By practicing this tip to stop dogs from barking regularly, add very progressively, collapsing the distance, they should be able to teach the dog to stop barking. In the meantime, the guardians will be well served to cover the bottom portion of the windows that face the street so that Milo doesn’t accidentally practice, barking and undo some of their hard work.

We finished up this in home Redondo Beach dog training session by recording a roadmap to success summary video.