How to Stop a Labrador Retriever Barking
When you first bring your puppy home you will be happy that he is so quiet and calm. After a few days of getting familiar with his surroundings, he may decide to take on the guardian role and bark at everyone that comes to the door. While this is cute at first, it can get really old really fast. Not only will the barking become a pain for you, but also your neighbors might not be all that happy either. It will also be difficult for your friends and family to come visit because that puppy will grow into a large dog that can look very intimidating when it is barking.
The first thing you want to do is to try to fix the problem before it really becomes one. You have to make sure that your dog is being properly socialized. This means that you will want to allow your dog to experience other animals such as dogs, cats, bunnies and anything else you can think of. You also want to make sure that your dog is properly exposed to other people and a variety of people at that. Allow your dog to be around other races of people, both male and females, old and young as it is important for the social development of your dog.
You can take your dog to the park, walk him around the block every day or take him to a pet store that allows dogs to come in. This is the best way to make sure that your dog understands that other animals and other people are not always a threat. But that is outside of the home. You also want to make sure that you are inviting as many people over so that you can show the puppy that it is okay that they are inside. Your puppy may be okay with someone at the store but would not be happy with them standing on his front porch.
Your puppy could also begin excessive barking out of sheer boredom. It is after all how they communicate. If you have not had a lot of time lately for walks and playtime and your notice that your dog has begun to bark more and more, there might just be a connection there. To correct this, try making sure that you are setting aside ten or fifteen minutes a day after work that will be just for you and your dog. Not only should the barking slow down, but your dog will be so much more emotionally stable for it.
Avoid shock and spray collars as they do nothing more then torment the dog. You do not want to emotionally scar your dog so take a different approach. If you find that you are having a lot of problems getting your dog’s barking under control after a few weeks, it may be time to seek out the help of a professional dog trainer to see what they can do to help. You should find that the barking will decrease when a trainer gets involved.