[Episode 32]

 

Demand Barking, Why This Isn’t Your Typical Barking Problem        

 

Most people don’t realize that dogs bark for different reasons. And the first step to stop the barking is to understand why is happening or what is causing your dog to bark. 

 

In episode 12 you can learn the 7 Reasons That Dogs Bark. Today we’re going to be talking about demand barking and how it’s different from the other reasons for barking and why you need to address it differently. You’ll also get 5 Steps to stop demand barking. 

 

Unfortunately, I learned all about demand barking from my sweet Italian Greyhound Sadie. I wasn’t a dog trainer back then and thought all barking was the same. I didn’t give much thought as to why she was barking or what I could be doing that made it worse. All I knew was that it was annoying and I was reaching my boiling point many times. Demand barking is different from the other kinds of barking. Because I didn’t know or understand any of this, I addressed this barking problem wrong and Sadie got worse. In fact, it got so bad that it took forever to change and the problem still surfaces today, years later. 

 

I had no clue that I was reinforcing or strengthening her demand barking and that doing that could create a lifetime problem. Luckily I am willing to do the work to change any behavior problem so it doesn’t surface that much nowadays. 

 

What is demand barking?

 

Demand barking is when your dog learns that barking gets him he wants, and what he wants is your attention. It’s not the same as alarm barking, fear barking, reactive barking or play barking. 

 

You’ll know that your dog is Demand Barking when he’s looking right at you and barks. 

 

How does it start? 

 

Demand barking starts when your dog barks at you and is reinforced (rewarded) for barking at you. Initially, it might happen by coincidence and when you reinforce it, once, twice, or maybe three times, you’re dog learns that barking at you works. In other words, you’ve taught your dog that when he barks at you, you give him attention. 

 

Any time you have a problem you need to ask yourself, how is this behavior being reinforced? Am I reinforcing this problem somehow? Is it being reinforced by the environment?

 

You’ll never stop demand barking, or any other problem if you’re reinforcing it. And demand barking is just one of those things that we end up reinforcing. 

 

Sadie, my Italian Greyhound can be reinforced for barking even when I look at her! 

 

Most of the time we want to tell the dog NO or NO Bark, be quiet, but all of those things won’t work and will make it worse. First, your dog doesn’t speak English, French or Spanish. Saying words that your dog doesn’t understand anyway won’t help your case. Secondly, saying no, even if you’re yelling is reinforcing to your dog. He was barking to get your attention and now he’s got it, even if you’re angry or annoyed. Negative attention is still attention. The first step is to stop reinforcing the demand barking. 

 

Should you just ignore it? 

 

It seems logical right? Your dog is barking for your attention so ignoring your dog when he barks will make it stop right? 

 

In the episode, you learned that the trigger of this behavior is when you remove your attention from your dog. If your dog barks when you’ve removed your attention then that can’t be the solution either because it’s what triggers the behavior to occur. 

 

I have to admit that I would lose my cool when Sadie would demand bark when I was driving in the car. I remember one time I tried to ignore her. She barked at me in the backseat for 20 minutes and I just couldn’t take it anymore and I yelled. Well, she stopped barking for about 60 seconds. So why didn’t yelling work?  Didn’t Sadie know I was upset now? Didn’t she know that she was being bad? Wouldn’t she just lay down and be calm? 

 

Nope, now of that will happen because I just reinforced that 20 minutes of barking. Sadie learned, it takes me 20 minutes of barking to get my mom’s attention. She did not learn to stop barking. By yelling at Sadie I reinforced that whole 20 minutes of barking. UGH! That means that it will take that much longer to change. In fact, Sadie has now learned that after 20 minutes of barking she will get my attention. 

 

Let’s say that your child wants to get your attention. You’re busy doing something and he starts to say mommy, mommy, mommy.  You’re busy so you ignore him. Then the mommy’s get louder and louder until your son is screaming at you. And of course, you have to respond now because you don’t want your son to continue to scream at you or think it’s ok to talk to you that way. You angrily say WHAT to your son. And he says, can I have a cookie?” Your son just learned that when he screams he gets your attention. This becomes a vicious cycle. 

 

An extinction burst is when the behavior escalates to a boiling point. You end up reinforcing the behavior because it was escalated. 

 

Ignoring demand barking or using extinction (which is the scientific term) is rarely effective.

 

What can you do to stop it?

 

1. Stop reinforcing it.

Nothing changes if nothing changes. In other words, training won’t help if the problem is being reinforced

2. Make sure your dog is getting 2 – 30 minute walks a day. 

Most dogs are getting enough walks outside and as a result they bark because they’re bored. Bored barking can easily turn into demand barking. All dogs need at least two 30 minute walks a day. They need the sights, sounds, smells and physical exercise that walking provides. 

3. Use interactive food toys to feed breakfast and dinner.

Similarly to #2 all dogs need mental stimulation. Your dog can’t read a book, scroll through Instagram or binge Netflix. Feed your dog using interactive food toys. Check out our Amazon store to get our favorites. 

4. Teach your dog to Go to bed or Settle. 

What do you want your dog to do instead of barking at you? You want him to relax, right? Teach your dog to Go to Bed (aka Settle). Get the How-to steps to teach your dog to Settle in The Dog Academy. Click here to learn more. 

5. Reinforce calm behavior

Most dog owners make the mistake of reinforcing naughty behavior and ignoring good behavior. Change that around and start reinforcing your dog when he’s calm and not barking at you. 

 

Is your dog demand barking at you? Tell us on Instagram at @allabouttrainingdogs