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The best in health, wellness, and positive training from America’s leading dog experts

Demand Behavior

Why Dogs Bark and How to Stop Them

Barking is a natural, normal canine behavior. If you have a dog, you need to understand and accept that sometimes dogs bark! Dogs bark for a variety of reasons. How you work to manage and modify your dog's barking will depend, at least in part, on what motivates him to bark.Step one of any good dog barking modification program is minimizing your dog's need and opportunity to bark. Exercise, an important element of many good behavior modification programs, is useful here as well. A tired dog has less energy, hence less need to bark, and a well-exercised dog tends to be emotionally healthier as well.
A dog scratches at a glass door

Stop Your Dog’s Demanding Behavior

A dog's demand behavior is her effort to communicate her wants and needs to you. Her demand behaviors increase in intensity because she is frustrated when she doesn't get what she wants. Imagine how frustrating it would be to keep asking for something and have someone deliberately ignore your requests. No wonder she gets frustrated!

Solving the Barking Problem in Your Home

Dogs bark to communicate. If we start with that simple understanding, the idea of dealing with a “problem barker” becomes a whole lot easier. It changes our focus from doing anything we can to make the dog “shut up,” to figuring out what the dog is trying to say – so we can address his concerns, and finding more constructive and quieter ways for communication to occur. We’ve asked two canine behavior experts to step in and help us solve the barking problem.
Puppy begging is adorable, but it is a problem behavior.

Is Your Puppy Ruining Your Family Dinners?

Puppies begging for food are adorable, but begging at every meal will quickly drive puppy owners a little crazy. Here are some effective ways to stop puppies from begging and reinforce good behaviors instead.
Why do dogs bark at nothing? There could be several causes for the behavior but it isn't nothing to the dog.

Why Do Dogs Bark at Nothing?

Every dog who barks has a reason for it. Every dog who barks has a reason for it. Determining the cause of barking though depends on the individual context.

Latest Blog

How “Bird Flu” Could Threaten Your Dog

The “bird flu”, or avian influenza, has been around for a long time; it’s circulated in wild birds since the late 1990s. But like all viruses, it mutates over time—and influenza viruses are known to mutate very quickly. What’s more, some emerging strains are deadlier than others.