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Dear Yvette,

Our dog Sam runs at the fence when people pass by. He barks and this frightens people, but we know he is friendly. Sam loves attention. How can we teach him to be quiet?

Brad

Of course, barking is a nuisance. Once the chorus begins, owners have a difficult time creating peace. The dog is frenzied, and the environment provides a mixed bag of consequences.

When consequences are inconsistent, this creates a variable schedule of reinforcement. In layman's terms, the dog is getting feedback similar to a slot machine. He never knows when a payout will happen, so he learns to keep trying. If he doesn't get rewarded, he learns to try - try again. Rewards that happen unpredictably are stronger than rewards that happen all the time.

Rewards are not just treats. Cookies come in many forms. In some instances, people stop to visit with the dog. Other times they pass. For a friendly dog that has learned to keep trying, it means they should try harder. If the dog is fearful, those consequences are reversed. When strangers leave they reward the animal. Barking makes “danger” leave.

Inconsistency undermines the best intentions. People fall into the trap of thinking that rewards and structure are failing when the dog is not responding quickly. But the dog fails to respond because they have learned that rules do not exist.

If you are addressing a problem that happens outside, then you need to be outside as well. No training can happen without supervision. Supervision requires more than bodily presence, it requires presence of the mind. You need to be on the job.

The next step is to replace the behavior. Barking is not the only thing you need to address. In order to get rewarded by strangers, the dog needs to run to the fence. If you intercede early, you teach the dog to move away from traffic and lie down quietly. You cut the problem off before the dog becomes over stimulated.

Everyone wants to get paid well for a good job. Pay your dog well for doing the right thing. But remember to work at a level your dog is capable of handling. You cannot enforce what the dog does not know. Train first and then apply it to real life.

Once the animal is fluent in their behavior, you can begin to ask for what you want. This should happen long before the dog ever utters a bark. Never give up control and hope to get it back. It's an ineffective strategy.

If needed, keep your dog on a leash so you can prevent accidental darting. The leash should be used to jerk the dog around. It's a safety net to prevent the animal from making a mistake.

You may need to find your voice with other people too. If people coddle your barking dog with coos of, “He just wants attention!” then you need to speak up for yourself. Kindly ask people to pay attention to your dog when he's quiet. You need to live with the animal. It is completely unfair to allow others to reward inappropriate behavior and then fault the dog.

Being consistent empowers you, and allows you to reward the dog. Dogs will always choose the option that has the greatest payout. You need to ensure that you control when and how those payouts occur.

Yvette is an award winning pet writer and pet behavior columnist. She also is the author of Meeting Milo, a North American dog bite prevention program to reduce the approximately 2 million children bit by dogs annually. She is the owner of AwesomeDogs.ca and works as a behavior consultant in London, Ontario.

This column was originally featured in The Londoner
See more of Yvette... www.awesomedogs.ca
www.meetingmilo.com

Yvette has 2 dogs of her own, KIKI and KAYA. Take a look...

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