The first thing most owners say to a dog
that barks a lot is “Don’t do that”. This is a perfectly good command to
teach a dog when it starts to bark at the doorbell, the postman or for any
reason. After the dog barks, when you repeat the phrase and reward the dog
for being quiet, you are conditioning the dog to respond to the words.
This will reduce periods of excessive barking in the dog when you are
around.



There are many types of training aids to stop the bark of a dog, but there
are some that a vet will tell you not to use. For example, don’t use a
shock collar that delivers a shock to the dog each time it barks. This is
not very humane and is painful to the dog. Actually it is the least
effective training aid that you can buy. The bark collar for a dog that
emits a sound to the dog’s ears is effective, but it is very irritating to
the dog. If you use the microphone that comes in the collar, this may pick
up other sounds that will activate the sound and the poor dog gets
punished even when it doesn’t bark.



The best method to use for a bark collar for a dog is the citronella
collar and to use the hand held remote rather than the microphone. This is
very safe and humane because it only sprays the dog with a shot of
citronella when it barks. With the hand held remote, you determine when to
activate the spray for the dog’s bark and “Don’t do that” along with the
spray will condition the dog not to bark in that circumstance. You have to
train the dog for the circumstance as well by bringing it back to the same
stimuli until it stays quiet. Make sure you praise the dog and reward it
for staying quiet.