Zak George's Guide to a Well-Behaved Dog

by Zak George

  5. For the next year, I strongly recommend insisting that your dog hold a sit and a stay for five to ten seconds at every open door leading outside before allowing her to walk through it. Be really consistent. This is so important!

  CHAPTER 4

  BARKING

  A couple of years ago I was in a restaurant in New Orleans when a woman named Catherine, a fan of my YouTube series, came up to say, “Hi!” I asked her about her dog and how training was going. She told me that things were going very well…except for the barking. Catherine explained that her dog, Arwen, a small mixed-breed dog, barked like crazy every time someone came to the door. She said it was almost impossible to get Arwen under control. I happened to have been looking for a dog with this exact issue, so I asked Catherine if I could film a lesson with her dog. Catherine quickly agreed.

  Arwen was a handful and certainly lived up to her reputation. While she was generally vocal, I decided to focus the lesson on getting her quiet when there was knocking at the door. She gave me a run for my money, but ultimately had an outstanding first lesson. The video, which is on my YouTube channel, is called How to Train Your Dog to Stop Barking.

  Unwanted barking can really get out of control in no time if you don’t take the proper steps to discourage it. I’m not talking about an alert bark or two. I’m talking about barking that goes on for minutes…or an hour. I’m also talking about barking that seems to occur for no reason. You know, the kind that drives you crazy while you’re trying to work, watch TV, or just enjoy a bit of silence at home. Then, there are other dogs who bark continually as if to demand food or attention. This is known as demand barking.

  While I show you the steps to mitigate any kind of barking in this chapter, just know that most dogs are still likely to bark if something is out of the ordinary. And that’s a good thing! Dogs are still dogs, so it’s unrealistic to expect dogs to remain completely quiet all the time any more than it is to expect a child to always be silent. However, you can teach your dog that he can alert you with a few barks when there’s an urgent or unusual situation, but he should otherwise remain quiet. In other words, you can nip prolonged barking in the bud! This chapter will help you do just that.

  WHY DO DOGS BARK?

  Dogs bark as a way to communicate. They bark to greet people and when they’re excited and want your attention. They also bark when they are concerned or afraid. In fact, a lot of us depend on our dogs to bark, alerting us when someone or something is nearby. Dogs are uniquely qualified to do that—they are particularly aware of their surroundings in ways that we are not. For instance, while humans typically can hear sounds within the frequencies of 20Hz and 20,000 Hz, dogs can hear between 40Hz and 60,000 Hz, depending on their age and health.1 Plus, dogs’ ears have more mobility than human ears, and they are often shaped in a way that helps with hearing.

  Unfortunately, our dogs don’t know that, well, we don’t want to necessarily be alerted to every single thing that they detect. This can become a major nuisance for people—especially if your dog has a particularly loud bark like mine does.

  Also, keep in mind that most unwanted barking occurs because a dog doesn’t have a sufficient mental and physical outlet. Unwanted barking is most common with underexercised and bored dogs. If your dog has pent-up energy, make sure you are exercising him according to his exercise requirements. With those really high-energy dogs, remember that they will likely need regular exercise throughout their lives, and almost certainly just prior to the training exercises I detail in this chapter.

  Perhaps the most difficult type of barking to resolve is the kind that’s related to a dog’s anxiety at being left alone—whether for a few hours or even just thirty seconds (which is the case for a lot of puppies). Have a little sympathy: just like infants, puppies are just learning about the world and they don’t intuitively understand why you’d ever leave them alone. You’re their person, and they want to be with you! They will learn that it’s okay to be alone sometimes, but that can take a bit of time. If you have an older dog who is moderately to severely anxious about being left alone, check out chapter 16 to learn how to handle separation anxiety. Remember, to really tackle behavioral issues, we have to address the cause of a problem, not just the symptoms.

  WHAT TO DO ABOUT BARKING

  As with virtually everything in dog training, the ideal time to address unwanted barking is not when your dog is already having a barking fit. For example, if your dog tends to bark excessively when someone comes to the door and you try to teach your dog to stop barking in that moment, you’ll likely be unsuccessful. Dogs do not respond well when their teacher’s attention is divided. In this example, you might be trying to welcome your guest and get your dog quiet at the same time. That’s not going to work. Instead, you need to plan primary training sessions to minimize barking. Here’s what you can do:

  1. A prerequisite to these exercises is that you have taught a basic “sit” and “stay” with minor distractions and a solid “leave it/look at me” combo. (See chapter 3.) Reliable attention is critical when trying to override your dog’s impulse to bark at something. Also, make sure your dog has gotten some exercise before the training session.

  2. Next, set up training sessions where your dog might likely bark. For example, maybe your dog barks when he hears a knock at the door. So, you could ask a friend or neighbor to knock at your door for this exercise. First, ask your dog to sit and then stay to make sure you have his committed attention. Use a really good currency here like boiled chicken since you’ll be challenging your dog. (In this case, food might be a better reward than playtime since you don’t want your dog getting too riled up.)

  3. Have the other person knock just once lightly. Because you know that the knock is coming, you are in an ideal position to immediately request that your dog keeps his attention on you. Tell him, “Look at me.” And when he does, give him a bit of his currency. Since we’re talking about just one knock here, this should go smoothly pretty early in your training. If it doesn’t and your dog still barks, then take a step back in your training. Have the other person only approach the door without knocking or ask him or her to just stay on the sidewalk outside your house—whatever it takes to achieve even a moment of success.

  4. Now let’s make things a little bit more challenging. Ask your helper to knock twice this time. Continue doing this until your dog reliably gives you attention as the knocks occur. Work your way up gradually to a steady knock that might resemble a real-life knock—say, four or five raps on the door—and ask the person to throw in a “Hello? Anyone home?” in a loud voice. See, that’s how training works—nice and slow. No single step should ever be considerably more difficult than the previous one. Repeat this exercise as often as possible, ideally twice a day for two to four weeks.

  5. Change up variables creatively as your dog starts to get the hang of the rules. For instance, maybe your dog barks at the vacuum cleaner. Use the same logic: don’t wait until it’s time to vacuum. Instead, turn on the vacuum for a half second and reward for quiet behavior before your dog has a chance to bark, gradually increasing the time that the vacuum is on to two seconds, ten seconds, one minute, three minutes, and so on. The real key with these exercises is that you must be in a position to control and manipulate the things that cause your dog to bark.

  6. So far, we’ve put our dog in a position of anticipating the knock in a highly artificial situation that we set up. Now it’s time for those surprise primary lessons—ones that seem more spontaneous from your dog’s perspective and catch him completely off guard. However, whereas before, both you and your dog knew there was a training session under way, now only you do. You are still in full control of the knocking and prepared to either reinforce good behavior or redirect undesired behavior.

  7. When you want to start a surprise primary lesson, grab a treat nonchalantly when your dog is not paying much attention and knock on the door, kitchen counter, or co
ffee table one or two times. Then instantly request your dog’s attention before he even has a chance to bark. Vigorously reward the early achievements. Even if you have to hold the treat directly to your dog’s nose and reward for a fraction of a second of silence, then consider this an early success. If your dog continues to struggle with this surprise exercise, then take a step back and master the previous steps more thoroughly.

  8. Over the next few weeks, routinely and creatively find ways to catch your dog off guard. Maybe you know that a delivery person is coming to the door. Instead of prematurely opening the door, allow him to knock at the door. When he does, get your dog’s attention on you by asking for a “look at me.” Reward accordingly. At first, you might experience some setbacks. Remember, we are teaching our dogs to override their very real instincts to bark when something has their attention. This is no small feat. Don’t be deterred, stay the course, and most importantly keep things fun and positive for both of you! Like us, dogs have their good days and their not-so-good days. Be prepared to reduce or increase the difficulty as needed during any given training session.

  9. So far, I’ve gone over how to teach your dog not to bark at all. While that’s a good way to gain traction on this issue, I strongly recommend that you ultimately remain tolerant of minor barking. For example, one or two barks might be okay when someone knocks at your door or gets close to your property. If so, let those barks go as if to say, “Thank you for letting me know someone is out there.” However, if the barking continues after those one or two barks, then escort your dog away and apply all of the steps I’ve gone over in this section. Your dog will learn that it’s okay to bark a few times when he wants to alert you to something, but just a few times.

  GETTING READY FOR THE REAL DEAL

  What do you do when your dog’s barking really catches you off guard? This is where those very important secondary training sessions come into play. Remember, secondary sessions are unplanned training sessions. That’s where the magic happens, because they make you a better trainer since you’ll need to be able to tune into your dog quickly. That’s awkward for most people in the beginning, but if you commit to this now, you’ll be a pro in no time.

  At first, your dog is still likely to bark in spite of your efforts because he’s legitimately surprised, and you are likely to be slow at getting this training session under way at first since you’re surprised, too. However, if you’ve thoroughly practiced your surprise primary sessions, success is likely to happen quickly since those planned “surprises” are the same thing as the real deal from your dog’s perspective.

  The key is that you have to be able to get to your dog’s currency fast when you are forced into a secondary training session. Luckily, most dogs let on that they seem to be contemplating barking at something before they actually do it. Maybe they hear a motorcycle driving past the front of your house, and they do a little alert head tilt. You should know from past experience that this simple movement is often followed by barking. The faster you can get at redirecting your dog’s attention to you during these subtle moments, the faster you will resolve this type of barking. You’ll have to put in some practice to get that timing solid.

  The thing about these impromptu training sessions is that you are usually using dog treats stashed by the front door or in the part of the house where your dog tends to bark the most since chicken and other meats don’t stay fresh when left out. While treats are enough incentive for a lot of dogs, in some cases, your dog may be so overwhelmed with excitement that, as I mentioned previously, you may need to place the treat right at his nose and lure him toward you to get his attention. If this is unsuccessful and your dog is more interested in barking than paying attention to you and receiving a treat, then take a step back and do more of the primary training exercises.

  In moments where your dog is barking like crazy and you are unable for one reason or another to teach him in that moment, it might be ideal to at least put him in another room so that there is a consequence for the undesirable behavior. In this instance, that consequence is no access to the exciting thing that’s causing him to bark. Your version of this when on a walk might be to walk abruptly away from the thing catching your dog’s attention. If necessary and if possible, you could even pick him up to get away from the situation.

  PREVENTING BARKING WHEN YOU’RE NOT HOME

  If your dog tends to bark excessively when you are out of the house, things are a bit trickier. You’ll need to implement the training steps above very often while at home so that your dog comes to accept that quiet is preferred in the house. Thoroughly exercising your dog based on his physical requirements just before leaving home is also likely to significantly reduce long, sustained barking. Think about it: if they’re tired after exercise, most dogs will relax when their people are gone.

  Of course, putting your dog somewhere in the house where he can’t see all the activity going on outside—like away from windows with views of the street in front of your house—can help curtail his barking, too.

  In general, the best way to approach barking due to separation anxiety is to get your dog comfortable with being alone for minutes at a time when you are at home. Gradually insist on longer periods of acceptable behavior. For example, if your dog is uncomfortable when alone, start a training session right after a long walk or fetch session. Place your dog in another room (without you) and see if he’s quiet for a few seconds or minutes.

  For those who bark, set a timer on your phone to track how long your dog barks in a room alone before ultimately settling down. This is a great way to measure progress over time. When a dog is barking in another room, it can seem like an eternity. Very often, though, it’s only a few minutes. For example, if you notice that it takes seven minutes for your dog to stop barking, take advantage of knowing that and reward him when he is quiet after six minutes. A food or play reward isn’t usually necessary here as access to the more desirable environment where you are is usually rewarding in and of itself.

  Teaching your dog this kind of conduct requires you to do variations of this exercise over time. For example, if you have guests coming over, exercise your dog just before their arrival and place him in another room for a little bit. You literally want your dog used to being alone when you are still in a position to teach him. Since you’ve exercised your dog, compliance should come somewhat easily. If your dog is quiet during those first few minutes, let him out to enjoy the company! If he barks, he’s not yet ready for this exercise. However, stick with it and you ought to notice a notable reduction of barking over the next few weeks. And when your dog is quieter while you’re out of sight but still at home, then he’ll be quieter when you’re out of the house, too.

  HANDLING MULTIPLE DOGS WHO BARK

  If you have multiple dogs, you’ll need to work on excessive barking with one dog at a time to get it solid. I know that means more work, but trying to teach more than one dog a new skill at a time is likely to be futile. In other words, it’s ideal to have only one dog at a time out during primary training sessions. If you find that you are caught off guard and two or more of your dogs spontaneously begin to bark, prioritize the dog with the most training in this area. That way you can at least get one dog quiet so you can then work on training the other one (or ones). In some cases, once you get one dog quiet, the other dog or dogs might follow suit!

  CHAPTER 5

  CHEWING

  Chewing is very common among dogs of all ages. For puppies, they usually chew because they’re teething. For older dogs, they might chew due to boredom or anxiety or because chewing has simply become their favorite pastime. However, regardless of the reason, having a puppy or dog who likes to chew can be a major nuisance. First, they can destroy items in your home. Also, they can accidentally ingest something harmful ranging from toilet paper, rocks, books, and stuffed toys to socks, underwear, shoes, and hairbands. I hear of far too many dogs who have to have their stomachs pumped or objects
surgically removed. In other words, if your dog likes to chew, it’s critical to take steps to protect both her and your belongings.

  I filmed a video on this topic with a dog named Winston, a very large rescue dog who had an appetite for recreational chewing. He’d chew just about anything he could find. He was otherwise very well behaved and as sweet as could be—but he’d shred a couch in no time if left to his own devices.

  Overall, working with Winston on his obsession with chewing was a smooth process. Why? Because Winston’s overall foundation of training made it much easier. See, when training dogs, you can’t really deal with each issue on a stand-alone basis. There are fundamentals that must be in place (such as “sit,” “leave it,” and “look at me”) to get results on other issues (see chapter 3 for a refresher). Because Winston’s people were so good about basic training, it wasn’t that difficult to get Winston to take his attention off of things that were inappropriate to chew and to focus on acceptable things instead.

  The YouTube video with Winston, How to Stop Your Dog from Chewing, is certainly a great place to start when working on this issue. This chapter also covers everything you need to know.

  WHY DO PUPPIES CHEW?

  When puppies are teething, their need to chew things is intense for about six months until their adult teeth come in. (Yes, just like babies!) So, during this time, puppies require a variety of different things to chew on that have different textures. At one moment, they may prefer something soft like a plush toy or one of your slippers. Another time, they might crave something harder like a safe, natural bone or a coffee table leg. It’s unrealistic to expect teething dogs to understand the difference between what’s okay for them to chew and what’s not. That’s why it’s our responsibility to provide a selection of safe chewable items as our puppies teethe and work through this process.