Should I ignore my dog when he barks at night?

Your dilemma is a common one for new puppy parents. A small degree of vocalization is normal, especially for puppies adjusting to change. Puppies use whines, yips, barks and howls to communicate needs or let out emotions. Ignoring the barking may mean missing what she's trying to tell you — fortunately, there are some simple strategies that can help her learn to sleep quietly through the night.

If you’ve just brought your puppy home, you need to be absolutely sure that she isn't barking because she needs to go potty because many young pups simply can't hold it through the night. She may also be getting used to sleeping in her crate or sleeping alone. She may cry because she feels isolated or lonely. In this case, her cries may be relieved with experience as she learns that time alone is okay. But it is also possible that your puppy may be distressed and crying out in panic.

The first step in addressing your puppy’s nighttime barking is to talk with your veterinarian. Underlying issues like urinary tract infections and pain have exacerbated problems for some of the puppies I’ve worked with, and treating these medical issues helped to resolve the dog’s behavior issues. It is also possible that your puppy is displaying early signs of separation anxiety, a condition best treated early with professional help. Your vet can help with this, too.

Once you have the all clear from the vet, there are several things you can do to increase your pup’s confidence and security in her sleeping space.

Teach your puppy to love her crate. Many puppies will initially react to a crate as if it’s puppy jail, because, in your dog’s eyes, the crate is a hindrance to reaching the fun things she enjoys, like people, toys, play and freedom. It is important to introduce the crate to your puppy as a happening place where she gets good things like attention, play, treats or meals. Teach your puppy to love her crate by making it part of her daily routine. Offer treats or indestructible toys in the crate; while your puppy is inside, close the door for short periods. Do this regularly throughout the day to get her used to being in the crate.

Make your puppy’s crate a peaceful, soothing place to be. Pheromone spray can help to keep your puppy calmer when she's in her crate. Items with the scent of the puppy’s previous home or with your scent may also help — toys like Scents of Security have pouches to hold scented items. For many pups, soft classical music or dog-formulated music, like Through a Dog's Ear, can also be comforting. A lightweight blanket draped over the top of the crate can help reduce the distraction of people moving around outside the crate and may help your puppy relax.

Having a pet can be one of the funniest responsibilities any animal lover will have and will want to have. However, being responsible for your pet’s behavior is a full-time job every day and sometimes even during the nights. The latter is especially true if you have a dog that barks while you are trying to chase some much-desired sleep. Some dog tends to be naturally yappy compared to others but this can still cause issues with your neighbors and the rest of your family. There are a few ways you can help your dog to stop their barking at night and give everyone around you some much-needed sleep.

Why Do Dogs Bark at Night?

Dogs do not bark without any reason even if it may seem as such. There could be a number of reasons they are making a noise at night such as:

• Loneliness- This can be the most common thing to trigger dogs to bark at night. Dogs are pack animals so a lot of them do need company whether it is a person or another dog.
• Attention- There is a difference between loneliness and attention seeking. Attention seeking dogs usually look for it throughout the day (when you are eating, when they want to be petted etc.) and every time you tell them ‘no’ or ‘stop’ you are giving them attention in return teaching them that they will get it from you if they behavior badly. Attention can be necessary but you need to decide when it is needed for them and when it is just them being a bit rude.
• Boredom- This could be that they are not tried enough to sleep or they have been left alone for too long during the day.
• Noises- As everyone knows dogs have an extremely good sense of hearing compared to people and this can make it difficult for them to ‘shut out’ the noise before they go to sleep. Therefore, they hear everything and this may lead them to…
• Making an Alarm- Dogs are animals that want to protect their owners and families. If they hear something that spooks them this could trigger them to bark to either try to chase the unknown away as well as to warn you.
• Lacks of Exercise- Dogs have a lot of energy that needs to be released and exercise is the best way to do this. But not having enough during the day could result in them becoming restless which could lead to barking in order to release more of their energy as well as to try to get your attention.

A Few Simple Training Rules

Training is a good way to stop your dog from barking and there a few simple rules you (and your family) should keep in mind with going about training them. The first one is that you should not yell at them regardless of how tempting it may be. This could make it seem as if you are barking with them and therefore giving them attention. Another simple rule is to try to keep the training positive as well as upbeat. The final rule is to keep the training consistent. This is where the whole family needs to get involved since teaching them different methods of training to stop their barking can confuse them.

How to Make Them Stop

You need to figure out the reason behind their barking. If they are lonely you may have to let them sleep in the house with you but if that is not an option getting another dog can help keep them company. However, if the sight of another dog (or a different stimulus) is what triggers them to bark then you need to train them to not do so when they see their trigger. You can ask a friend to help as well as use the following method to teach your dog that the stimulus is good and not a threat but could lead to treats.

Ask your friend to have their dog stand out of sight of your dog. When they start getting closer to your dog start giving your dog treats (to stop them from barking and they like treats) so that you can make a link between the stimuli and treats. When the friend and their dog are out of view again stopping giving your dog treats. Repeat this couple of time for a few days or even weeks until your dog learns that not barking at the stimulus will lead to treats. This means that if they see or smell another dog at night they will not bark at them. However, if possible, check if that unknown dog is on a lost dogs website in case some other owner is looking for them.

Commands

Certain commands such as ‘quiet’ can help them stop barking. This can be done by having a treat with you and when they start barking; you say ‘quiet’ without giving them the treat. Once they stop you give them the treat as well as a lot of praise. Do this a few times extending the length of their silence before the treat.

Another command can be ‘go to your place’ which can be incompatible with them barking. This can be done by having a treat in their place and teaching them the command. Once they learned what ‘go to your place’ means you can take it a step further. When they go to their place you go to open any door. When they leave their place to see what is happening you close it straight away. You may need to take away their treat and start again. You keep doing this until they learn to stay in their place when something happens. Once they learn this you reward them with more treats and praise. These commands can help at night when they are barking in that you tell them ‘quiet’ and they should stop barking or ‘go to your place’ which should make them go to bed to sleep.

Tough Love

However, if the commands do not work you may want to try a more ‘tough love’ method. This is ignoring them every time they bark. You do not speak to them or pet them or give them any attention what so ever. As soon as they stop making a noise show them love. You may have to do this for a while extending the length of how long they stay quiet before you give them attention.  This may be harder for you than it is for them.

Exercise

Depending on the age and breed of your dog, you may want to increase their exercise routine in order to tire them out. This can be done by taking a long walk before bedtime or playing a nice long game of catch. This is also a way to give them attention so that they do not seek it at night with their barking.

It is possible to stop a dog barking at night but it may take a lot of time, understanding, and a lot of treats but it can be done. Good luck.

If your dog demands your attention by barking or jumps up on you, you might have seen the training advice to ignore these unwanted behaviors. This is well-intended but incomplete advice – if you only ignore the behavior, your dog will probably never learn to stop barking, jumping, or pulling. Just ignoring unwanted dog behaviors misses an important piece of teaching your dog what TO do instead.

Dogs learn by association. If they plop their rear on the floor when you say "sit," they get a cookie. Since that turned out to be a great deal for them, they are more likely to sit when asked the next time, or even offer more sits without even being asked!

But this association works both ways — if they bark at you and it results in your looking at them or responding in some way, they're more likely to do it in the future. Our dogs are fast learners and masters at reading our body language and can figure out that certain behaviors get them what they want. I always say that dogs can make the best human trainers!

Often, unwanted behavior is in and of itself inherently rewarding for your dog. Most of these behaviors are normal dog behaviors, just not very appreciated by us humans! It might feel good for them to bark or jump on people. More than likely, those unwanted behaviors have always worked for them in the past. Let's look at when ignoring your dog's bad behavior CAN work, so you know how to do it the right way!

When Should You Ignore Your Dog's Behavior?

As you'll see throughout this article, ignoring unwanted dog behavior will only work when combined with effective proactive training. My first "go-to" in any training plan is preventing the bad behavior from happening at all, and then training a replacement behavior. But adding in this ignoring technique can be helpful to communicate with our dogs what doesn't work anymore.

In my experience, ignoring unwanted behavior works well for:

• Demand barking
• Jumping on people
• Other pestering or demanding dog behaviors (like pawing or nudging with their nose)

When You Shouldn't Ignore Your Dog's Bad Behavior

There are some behaviors you don't want to ignore, such as puppy nipping or pulling on leash. Any behavior that feels good to your dog, is naturally calming (such as licking or chewing), or is fun to do is not likely to go away when ignored. Territorial barking or leash reactivity, such as when your dog is barking at the UPS driver when they deliver a package to your front door, are not behaviors you should ignore either, as these can make other people uncomfortable or put them in danger. Let's look at the two most common dog behaviors where I combine ignoring with the rest of the training plan: barking and jumping on people.

Ignoring Your Dog When They Bark

There are many reasons dogs bark, which you can read more about in my article "Why Your Dog is Barking and How to Stop It." Ignoring all barking just isn't going to work. However, if your dog is demand barking in particular, you do want to make sure you're "ignoring" it correctly, so your dog doesn't learn things like:

• Barking = My human looks at me!
• Barking = My human talks back to me! (even if it's "no!")
• Barking = My human throws the ball!

Here's an example of Finnegan, one of Preventive Vet's office dogs, demand barking:

Ignoring your dog's barking doesn't mean not doing anything though. Use the concept of negative punishment. This means that we take something away from the situation to make a behavior decrease in frequency. For example:

• Your dog demand barks at you while playing fetch = ball or frisbee goes away and you turn to look away from your dog.
• Your dog barks at you for attention = you take away all attention (e.g., stand still and look away, turn your back, go into another room, and shut the door)

When you start correctly ignoring your dog's barking that in the past has worked for them, you might notice that the barking actually gets worse. This is normal and is called an extinction burst, which I'll explain further below.

Ignoring Your Dog When They Jump on You

If your dog jumps on people, ignoring the behavior can be difficult (and potentially dangerous if you have a large dog or small children). You don't want your dog to learn:

• Jumping = My human will touch me! (Even if it's forcefully pushing them off)
• Jumping = My human will talk to me! (Even if it's yelling "off!")
• Jumping = I get attention!

Here again, ignoring this behavior doesn't mean not doing anything. Negative punishment to the rescue again! For example:

• Your dog jumps on you when you arrive home = you turn and walk back out the door.
• Your dog jumps on you for attention = you turn away, removing all attention.
• Your dog jumps on a favorite person in greeting = you lead them away from that person.

You want your dog to make the association that jumping on someone means that interaction with that person stops.

Catching your dog doing the "right" things — the behaviors you want — and rewarding them is more important than reacting to the unwanted behaviors.

What is an 'Extinction Burst'?

An extinction burst is when behavior gets more intense (for barking, this would mean louder and more persistent) before extinguishing itself. A dog who has learned that barking gets any kind of attention, and all of a sudden their owner is not responding to the barking, will bark MORE.

I'll give you a human example. Say you put your dollar bill into a soda or vending machine and push the button to get your soda. Nothing happens. What do you do?

You will most likely see an extinction burst with dogs who have previously been reinforced for barking or jumping when you begin ignoring the behavior correctly. They're working through the process of unlearning the association that barking/jumping = attention.

Why Does Extinction of a Behavior Take So Long?

Something to consider with extinction bursts, for both humans and dogs, is what's called "reinforcement history." If something has worked for a long time, and we've had more experiences of something working for us more than something not working for us, we have a strong reinforcement history. If your dog has been rewarded (even inadvertently) for demand barking or jumping for a long time, or even intermittently, that behavior will be harder to extinguish.

Going back to the elevator example. The next time we want to take an elevator after the previous "unsuccessful" call button, we'll probably try pushing the button first rather than just heading straight to the stairs. Elevators have worked well for us many times before — why would we let one failure of the call button change our expectations? We have been consistently rewarded in the past for pushing the button to call the elevator, so we are more likely to try this first, before just taking the stairs. But — if the button doesn't work for the next five, ten, fifteen times we want an elevator, we'll likely just choose the stair option and skip the button altogether. It takes some consistent "training" for us to learn that the button won't work for us anymore.

The same goes for our dogs. It takes time to unlearn a behavior. If your dog has been rewarded for jumping on you or barking at you in the past, when you begin correctly ignoring the behavior, your dog will still try it out. Don't give in! Training will go so much faster if you focus on proactive training rather than only ignoring the bad behavior.

Waiting for 'Extinction' is TOUGH

In all honesty, it is very hard for us humans to make it through extinction bursts, especially when it comes to barking or jumping. Unless you live in an area without neighbors close by and have noise-blocking headphones, waiting through a barking extinction burst will fray your nerves and make your frustration go through the roof. And if you have a large dog, waiting for them to stop jumping on you is asking for injury.

Did you know that a dog's bark can reach 80–90 decibels? For comparison, an emergency vehicle siren is 115 decibels. Dog barks are loud! Prolonged exposure to dog barking can result in hearing loss. If you are going to wait out loud barking from your dog, invest in high-quality earplugs or headphones to protect your hearing. The Preventive Vet office swears by these Eargasm earplugs – they don't muffle voices and sound but do reduce the harmful decibel levels that damage your hearing.

Eargasm High Fidelity Ear Plugs

And if you decide to ride out the extinction wave of a behavior, you must be consistent and not give in!When done correctly and when combined with proactive training, ignoring unwanted behavior can work. However, the time it takes depends on your dog's reinforcement history and their own personal enjoyment of the behavior. For some dogs, they get through an extinction burst quickly, while others can take quite a while. The more proactive you are in capturing an alternative and appropriate behavior, the faster these extinction bursts will be.

This is why I always recommend that you instead focus on learning the why behind your dog's nuisance behavior and then addressing that underlying cause. Set your environment up for success and reward your dog for incompatible and quiet behaviors before they start barking or jumping. Practice lots of positive training for teaching your dog to be quiet when asked and keeping all four paws on the floor. Then you won't ever find yourself riding that extinction burst wave.

Proactive Dog Training is Better than Ignoring Bad Behaviors

You have to make sure you're also frequently rewarding your dog for incompatible alternative behaviors instead! Remember, proactively training what you do want is always better than reactively training against behaviors you don't want.

How to Train Demand Barking Proactively

What's even better than ignoring your dog's demand barking is to prevent the demand barking from happening in the first place. "Easier said than done," you might be thinking. And this can be tough! Take a step back and think about what you'd like your dog to do to get your attention. Is it approaching and sitting quietly? Is it just gently nudging your hand or leg? Focus on training those behaviors, and then pay attention to when your dog is doing them! If you miss the opportunity to reward a wanted behavior first, don't be surprised if your dog takes it to the next level with a bark. Click here for more tips to fix your dog's demand barking.

How to Proactively Train Your Dog Not to Jump

Dogs jump on people out of excitement and play (and in rare cases out of anxiety or fear), so it's important to manage the environment to discourage jumping to begin with and teach our dogs what to do instead!

• Teach your dog how to calmly greet other people, showing them that sitting or keeping four paws on the floor is what gets them the attention they want.
• Or set up a gate in your entryway to prevent your dog from making contact when they try to jump on you, and then focus on training them to do an alternative behavior to say hi.
• And if you don't have the time or energy to train while you have guests over to your home, simply have your dog settle in their crate or safe space.

Prevention is always better than trying to corral an excited and happy dog that wants to jump on everyone! Read this article for an in-depth look at how to teach your dog to stop jumping.

If you're in need of one-on-one help with your dog for these issues or others, schedule a private coaching session with me or enroll in our Jumping & Counter Surfing Workshop or All About Barking Workshop.