My teenager has discovered his voice!

[Chris Smith]

Nalu has always been a quiet dog. Even with the tons of barking that all of the neighbors dogs do, Nalu was still pretty quiet and would rarely bark. If someone came to my door that he didn't know, he would just wag his tail.

Well, at almost 9 months old, the quiet times have changed. It's almost as if his puppy voice changed into a man and now he blasts out loud and aggressive barks very frequently.

Whether he is inside the house or in the yard, if he hears anything, his ears perk up and he starts barking very deep and aggressively. He is always barking for a reason - there are people walking by the house, there are kids playing in the street right in front of the house, a stranger is standing and talking on a cell phone, a car has pulled up with the music blaring, someone is rummaging through the recycling bins, the birds are taunting him, etc. So I know that he is not barking "just to bark".

I am not sure if I should try and curb this type of barking since most of it is him being protective of his home (and me) - at least I think that's what it is. It is pretty annoying especially when it is 11pm or 5am. And he is home alone alot so now I am concerned that he is barking during the day at every sound that he hears.

Is there any way to control this? What should I do?

[Andre Mendizabal]

Dear Chris, same thing happened with my once very quiet beagle Nala... around her 8th month, now she barks at everything and anything, we are lucky enough that she has such a deep sleep she won't wake up with noises at night... we really can't control it, I read somewhere that you might teach him to be quiet with a command, like "shush" or "quiet" or something but I really haven't tried it. Well, I have no great advice but I just wanted to sympathize with you... :D

[Hee Yung Lee]

That's what I have heard too. You can teach a command no bark or something, although I have no idea how you do it. Luckily I have never had to deal with a barking problem (I hope I never have to either). Anyway, just wanted to wish you luck.

[Jo Russell]

The easiest way to teach "quiet", "no bark" or "shush" (whichever command you choose) is to begin to work with the dog when it is barking. That is, when the dog begins to bark say "speak" or "bark". Then the instant the dog stops barking say "quiet", "good quiet" or click or treat for the quiet.

If you start this way you will soon be able to incorporate these commands into training sessions, if you do them. I have a habit of running a few mini training sessions most days, just putting my two through their paces; sit, down, stay, speak, quiet and the tricks that each of them know, etc. I incorporate hand signals with most commands, so that for "speak" my hand makes a movement like a mouth opening (think shadow puppets) and for "quiet" a movement like zipping my lips. If you have taught "watch" or "look", it can be fun to see if you can get results with hand signals too.

One of my dogs, a third hand Pomeranian adopted a year ago, had a bit of a barking problem. There were days when he wouldn't have much to say about what was going on around him, then there were the other days when he had to pass comment on EVERYthing and nothing and would sometimes get so much in the barking zone that it was really difficult to get his attention. It was hard, but I've had some success getting his noise making under control - not perfect, but much better. He's a breed renowned for vocalising who had an ingrained habit.

Your dog is young and hasn't been doing this long enough for it to be an habitual behaviour, so you should get really good results if you address it now.

[Jo Russell]

I meant to say too, that if you're worried he might be barking when you're not there, you could always check with close neighbours, or do what I do sometimes and press the record button on a blank cassette tape as you leave the house. I've been reassured by listening to hours of silence played back to me. :)

If you discover he is barking when you're not there you could try leaving the radio playing quietly, or have a fan or dehumidifier or something running that makes "white noise". This will just help to block out some of the outside noises he might react to. Or confine him to a part of the house that is furthest away from the most noise - he is inside when your not there, isn't he? You don't want him getting stressed out by being in alert mode all the time.

Like you said in your post, I also don't want my dogs to never bark. It's part of what most of them do and they make noises of all different sorts to communicate many things - joy and excitement, or worry and warning, for example. I just want mine to be a bit discerning about what needs to be brought to my attention and what they can let slide when it comes to the worry/warning end of the spectrum. With tools like "speak" and "quiet" you have a means of controlling barking.

[Grace Erick]

My husband likes white noise when he sleeps, so he turns on the fan. A white noise may be a solution if he is barking during the day. Dogs can hear things that we tune out so they react to them. I'm not suggesting you use a fan though. Who knows, it can burn out and cause a fire.

You could always try to quiet your dog in whatever way you choose after he barks a few times, so maybe he will still bark to be protective, but not carry it on so long. Who knows, I'm just making stuff up, lol:) It sounded good! Actually, it may be a good idea.