As a new puppy owner, you may be wondering how to get my puppy to stop barking whether it's when they're in the crate, overnight or for attention.
Brining home a new puppy is such an exciting time! However, it is full of trials and tests of patience. The good news is: Puppy barking is very normal and yes, there are ways to make it stop.
In this post you'll learn 12 strategies in order to keep your puppy calm and quiet.
How to Get My Puppy to Stop Barking
Puppy barking is a normal part of raising a puppy. Barking is a clear way to communicate with people and other dogs. However, the reason your dog barks could have several different meanings depending on the context.
Ignoring barking is very hard for humans to do, and while completely ignoring demand barking will help, it can take a long time for a dog to break that habit.
How to Stop Dog Barking in Seconds
The easiest way to stop barking with a puppy is usually to drop treats on the ground. BUT, be warned that this can encourage a puppy to bark until they get treats.
So this is not a good training method, but it could work if you're in the middle of a phone interview or something important.
If you choose to drop treats for your puppy, just be aware that this strategy is likely to only work in the moment and encourage the puppy to bark in the future.
My Dog Barks at Everything that Passes By
When a dog barks at someone approaching the house or walking by, this is usually a form of alert barking. Usually, a puppy barks at something new in order to either get closer to it or to avoid it.
When your puppy is unsure of something it is your job to show them how they should react. This means displaying calm, confident energy and to put them in a sit, place or heel command to keep their attention on you, rather than the whatever is triggering them to bark.
If a puppy barks because they want to greet a human or another dog, it is so important to wait until the puppy is calm and quiet to let them meet with someone.
This way, they learn that quiet, calm behavior gets them what they want, rather than heightened, out-of-control, loud behaviors.
How to Stop Puppy Barking for Attention
Puppies are quite good at following energy. If your puppy is barking for attention the easiest and quickest way to get them to stop the habit of barking is to leave the room anytime they seem to bark for attention.
This will create an opposite outcome to what the puppy is hoping for and therefore decrease the likelihood the puppy will bark for attention in the future.
It is important that if a puppy is barking for attention, that you don't speak to them or look at them. These behaviors from a human can often encourage barking in the future as a puppy is rewarded by attention from their person.
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How to Get Dog to Stop Barking at Night
A puppy barking at night is likely doing so because they aren't comfortable in the crate when they're alone. They may not understand yet that their crate is a comfortable place to be.
You can take them out to go potty, just to be sure that they don't need to potty, but then your puppy should return right back to the crate.
In order to help a puppy adjust to sleeping at night, make sure that they get enough exercise during the day so they are more tired at night.
In addition to this, you can try putting your puppy in the crate during the day while you're home in order to help them adjust to being in the crate for sleeping.
How to Stop a Puppy from Barking When Left Alone
When a puppy barks because they are left alone, they are likely trying to get you to come back. Here are some things you can do to ease your puppy's time being alone.
- Put your puppy in the crate while you're home and let them out of the crate when they reach a calm, quiet state.
- Practice (with a leash) putting your puppy in the crate and bringing them out. This will help them understand that coming out of the crate is uneventful and doesn't mean it's time to jump or bark at you.
- Give your puppy a long lasting, high value treat that they only get when you're gone.
- Put that high value treat in the crate with the door closed before you leave. This way the puppy wants to get in the crate.
- When you come home, do not let your puppy out of the crate until they have reached an energetic low point, or are completely relaxed with their chin to tail on the ground.
How to Get my Puppy to Stop Barking at Night
A puppy barking at night is a very typical behavior. This is usually a type of demand barking.
If your puppy is barking at night, first make sure that they don't have to go outside to use the potty.
If that's not the problem, there are several steps you can try.
The first is prepare for the puppy to cry at night. Give them something fun to do in their crate before they start barking. This could be something like a kong filled with peanut butter. The key with this trick to give the reward while they puppy is calm.
If your puppy is so worried they won't even look at the kong, the barking is probably a way to bring you back so that they aren't alone.
Unfortunately, this is something you'll have to allow your puppy to self-sooth. Teaching a dog it's okay to be alone can be a hard life lesson, but is an essential one for making sure that your dog doesn't develop separation anxiety.
As long as your puppy isn't displaying symptoms of trying to hurt themselves, like pawing until their nails bleed, aggressively chewing at the bars, or rubbing the crate so much their nose bleeds, the barking is usually indicative of a learned behavior.
If your puppy starts to become a danger to themselves or hurt themselves in the crate, it's probably time to reach out to a professional dog trainer in order to work through true separation anxiety.
