I personally don’t think teaching a dog not to bark is cruel or anything and I definitely don’t think it’s an innate behavior like wagging their tail. They can learn not to bark and still be perfectly happy. It doesn’t have to be taught in a mean way at all. It’s just like teaching house manners and no jumping or stealing food and stuff like that. I wouldn’t put up with that and I wouldn’t put up with excessive barking. And yes, there IS such a thing as excessive barking and problem barking and dogs that truly do bark at nothing.
Often it’s boredom or a lack of proper exercise so that would be the first thing I would try... can’t bark if you’re ridiculously tired! Hah
Then I’d probably try rewarding them when they are quiet and not barking. Then maybe adding a command to that like “quiet” or “enough” and getting them to do it on command. If they stop, they get a treat, or pats, or play time, or whatever the chosen reward is.
It doesn’t have to be anything cruel or nasty or anything.
It’s just a command just like anything else you’d teach them, such as sit or something.
And I personally think stopping barking on command or stopping anything on command, like playing with another dog or chasing something, should be taught to every dog. Of course those latter two are more related to having a solid recall which is a separate command but still.
I just think not having a dog excessively bark or one that knows how to stop when told makes them easier to love with. Also, IMO, makes it easier on them. A lot of dogs are also anxious and bark because they’re scared and are trying to scare it off. Showing them they don’t have to be scared of everything can increase their confidence too.
But obviously some dogs do bark more than others and certain breeds do it more so I would never try to change that or get a dog that I knew was a barker to begin with, wouldn’t be fair to either of us, BUT I do believe that even if they bark more they can, and should, learn how to stop on command. You can also teach them they are allowed to bark in certain situations. Such as teaching them a “speak” command or allowing them to get super hyped up before an agility run or allowing a few barks to tell you someone’s at the door, etc. it doesn’t have to be stopped completely but it can be lessened.
I had a dog that used to bark all the time, sometimes at night, he eventually stopped that but it was all night sometimes and very annoying, never did get him to stop that but he eventually stopped on his own. He just like had a phase ha but anyway, he did also bark at like anything and everything outside, neighbors, dogs walking by, animals, etc. so I did eventually teach him to stop it and come when called and he got very good about it, he’d usually stop right away and come. Not always but usually.
DB & SIL have two dogs and they have been very strict right from the beginning with both of them about not letting them bark so... they don’t. They hear other dogs barking in the distance while they’re outside or see someone walk by, nope. Whereas Gator would have gone ballistic. It’s very nice. They will go up to the fence to check out who’s walking by but no barking. They don’t even bark when people come over or they come home. They just get very excited and want to see who it is haha
I personally think it’s a little bit excessive, I think some barking is okay, but it is definitely nice to not have a barker haha
They do bark sometimes especially at night at wild animals and can be hard to get them to stop and like the other night we had a ton of wind and they were freaked but they usually don’t bark.
Nice compared to friends dogs, not usually big barking breeds, who have been allowed to bark nonstop, or even Gator who used to bark at everything.
I think theirs are a little micromanaged in general but it works.
They’re both basically pups (under two years old) and extremely well behaved. There are obviously some things that are still a work in progress and they’re at the age where they’re testing everything and everyone but they mostly listen.
And they don’t even really use treats now that they’ve grown up, they just expect them to listen.
