Learning to communicate effectively
Part 2: Barking Up The Wrong Tree
Once you know what they’re trying to tell us with their body language, we can look at dogs who use their voice to convey information. Some dogs are very vocal and most have a range of sounds that can help us decipher what is going on. We have whining, whimpering, growling, low growling, barking and then within barking we still have a whole range of pitches and speeds at which the barking occurs. For this blog we are going to focus on the 2 that we get lots of phone calls about, Alert barking & Demand barking.
Alert Barking:
The label of Alert Barking we are using to define barking that is done when the dog is telling us about something that is occurring in the environment. Typically this done when the dog would like to take action or would like us to take action because something is occurring that has disrupted the immediate environment. Keep in mind, what a dog deems disruptive does not mean that you will agree. Barking at squirrels, birds, noises, neighbors, visitors and so much more usually fall into the alert barking. They are excited and letting us know there is something going on that needs dealing with. Again, this doesn’t mean you need to agree with your dog’s assessment, in fact this is why we get phone calls. Most of us don’t agree with the assessment that something needs to be done, we find the stimulus to be totally normal and not something requiring action. We love alert barking when we have someone at our door that shouldn’t be there, when someone is lurking around the house or acting suspicious yet we dislike it when it’s the neighbor just watering their plants. How is the dog supposed to know the difference without us helping them understand. This is where communication is key. We need to teach the dog all that is normal and how to effectively tell us and then let us handle it.
Demand Barking:
The label of demand barking we are using to define barking when it is directed at you, the pet parent, or another person or dog and when the dog is trying to communicate a need for something. This could be the need for affection, action (play/potty/movement/interaction), communication (give me that toy you stole/I need to go potty/I’m very excited/ I’m very frustrated). Now there is a huge range of what could be communicating so we’re looking for what is the unmet need and what is going on in the dog’s world. Demand barking can be quite frustrating but can also be worked thru with some communication and training.
Communicating with the barking dog:
One of the first things we recommend to clients with barking issues is to establish some communication. This means that we need to be able to communicate WITH the dog. We have to understand the dog and help the dog understand the context of the situation.
Start with figuring out the context of when barking is occurring. Keep a journal to watch for patterns in the time of day, the stimulus seen, the schedule you’re keeping or anything else that is predictable. Determine if you’ve got frustration, over-excitement, fearful, bored, or any other things going on. This will help determine the next steps.
Confirm to Learn
For alert barking, specifically when something startles your dog or your dog is letting you know something is going on (noises, people, dogs, squirrels, cars, etc.) we need to establish communication so we can tell the dog what is going on. We do a program that we call: CONFIRM TO LEARN. Kim Brophey talks about narration to dogs and as a trainer who has worked under Kim for years this is a direct off shot from Kim’s teachings. Kim taught me these methods and they have worked wonders for so many situations. The only alteration we make at Behavior Tails is that we want you to follow the format of CONFIRM to the dog that you HEAR/SEE/ACKNOWLEDGE what they are alerting to and then help them LEARN the normalcy of the situation by creating the action step to follow as a pattern.
For example, “I SEE the dog, let’s go this way instead”. Confirm: SEE the DOG then learn: LET’S GO (increase distance away)
“I SEE that PERSON. That is a NEIGHBOR. NEIGHBOR is allowed to walk there (on the sidewalk in front of the house). Let’s Go."
You will develop a vocabulary with your dog with key words, phrases, and actions that follow.
Visitor = people visiting the house under social context. Thank you for alerting me but now I’ve got it handled and barking can stop.
Neighbor = people who walk on the road or are nearby the house but NOT on our property. Allowed to be there. No need to bark. We ignore neighbors.
Workman = someone who is doing a job and breaks the rules of social etiquette and we don’t have a social relationship with.
Person = just a person passing by but has no social context to us, we continue our walk or continue your down/stay where we’re hanging out.
Dog = its a dog. We can follow with “Look at That” (Leslie McDevitt Controlled Unleashed) or any other skill that you want your dog to learn is connected to dogs being visible.
Whatever else you come across regularly you can have keywords for. You’ll end up with random things but your dog will learn to focus on your candance, speech patterns, action patterns and should be able to learn new things by keeping all those other things consistent. It’s important that your speech patterns are LOW & SLOW. Do not get high pitched or fast. Speech should be very relaxed and nonchalant. I love to put the word “just” into the sentence to help keep me relaxed and slow. “Its just a DOG. I SEE it. Thank you for letting me know but LET’s GO”. Don’t get high pitched and stay away from words/phrases like “it’s okay”. Being able to narrate all the things that are normal in life will help your dog to learn to look to you for information. These patterns create ways to navigate new things.