Recently, I put up a post about how to teach dogs to stop barking. I suggested that when a dog is barking, the dog’s person put one hand on the back of the dog’s neck, and with the other hand cover the muzzle and gently press down, at the same time saying “Quiet!” in a low tone. This mimics the natural behavior of a dog mother who is disciplining her pup.
After this post, I got the following question: how do you keep a dog from barking in a car? Anyone who has been around a barking dog inside a car knows how annoying this can be, and dangerous as well if the barking distracts the driver. The person who asked me this question said that her dog barks in the car at dogs who are being walked along the sidewalk by their people.
To solve this problem, I suggested that the dog’s owner invest in buying a head harness, such as for example a Gentle Leader®. Then there should be a period of time for the dog to get used to wearing the harness.
One of the mistakes that I see people make all the time is that they put a Gentle Leader® on their dog and expect the dog to instantly like having something on his nose. Most dogs, in my experience, spend some time pawing at a head harness when it is first put on them, trying to get it off. This is the time to make having a head harness fun for the dog. When the head harness is put on, the dog can be given a treat, along with lots of praise. And the head harness can be put on just before some favorite activity of the dog, such as going for a walk. Over the space of several weeks, the dog adjusts to wearing the head harness, and even looks forward to it, because it means that something good or exciting is about to happen.
Once the dog is used to wearing a head harness, my suggestion was that the dog’s owner ask a friend to help out with the barking-in-the-car situation. One person can drive the car, while the other person can sit in the back seat with the dog, hold the dog with one hand and hold a leash attached to the head harness with the other hand. When the dog starts to bark, the person holding the leash can gently pull downward on the leash (which tilts the dog’s head down) and say “Quiet!” in a low voice. This needs to be repeated, consistently and often, until the dog stops barking. When the dog stops barking, the dog should be praised, either verbally or with a treat. A cautionary note is that this technique should never be done by only one person who is also the driver, as there is too much risk of becoming distracted and having an accident.
With consistent application of this technique, barking in cars should soon become a distant memory, both for the dog and for the dog’s person.
--- Con Slobodchikoff
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Posted by: dog houses | January 24, 2008 at 10:22 PM