Help, my English Bull Terrier doesn’t stop barking! How to stop barking dogs

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Barking outside on the street at other dogs, people, cyclers, cars ….

When a dog barks a lot outside, again it is important to identify the triggering situation. If it is not possible to avoid it, it is necessary to find a way to work with it.

Outside this may not immediately address the barking itself.
It may be necessary to work on other issues first in order to limit the barking.

For example, if a dog barks a lot at harmless things it perceives as a threat, habituation may be the key.
That means trying to confront the dog repeatedly with the triggering situation in a training environment and gradually raising the bar until the dog gets used to the trigger and does no longer perceive it as a threat.

If the dogs barks at other dogs or people because of dominance, the dominance it the issue that needs to be addressed, not the barking.

This is a topic for a different essay, but in short: You probably already guess that I am not the one who follows the traditional “pack and alpha dog theory” recommending to control dominance by submission.
In fact I think submitting a dog can be quite damaging for the dog-owner relationship, if the dominance is caused by insecurity – which is often the case.

Just as some kids in school, some dogs decide to go forward instead of backing out of a situation they perceive as intimidating or threatening as their way of dealing with their fear, stress and anxiety.
Looking at it from this angle probably already explains, why using additional pressure may not be the best way to handle the behavior.

Being a firm, but also friendly and trustworthy leader is vital for such dogs.

Again also in these situations some people like to apply aversive methods (submission, force, intimidation), because that usually delivers more immediate results. It may be working in some cases. But it may just as well lead to unexpected reactions and trigger even more aggression. And – again and most importantly – it can damage the dog-owner relationship so much more than it is able to help.
Regaining a dog’s trust after it felt being let down by its owner or being treated unfair can become a very long road to go.

Some dogs only bark at others from behind fences or when leashed. Often this goes along with pulling and excitement.
When dogs are pulling and barking on leash, the problems to address are often also insecurity or protective behavior, in many cases impulse control and in some cases proper basic leash walking.
When dogs play “Django ON leash” often the owner is part of the triggers. Once the individuals on both ends of the leash become a team, learn to communicate and the owner learns to be confident and in control of the situation, not only pulling but also barking usually ceases pretty quickly.

Firm but fair leadership, an owner who does not need physical force to correct the dog and acts as a strong partner, will lower the dog’s impulse to be in control of everything and encourage the dog to start relying on the guidance of the owner.

I will post another essay about dominance issues in maturing and adult dogs soon. So far maybe you find some helpful information in this essay: The aggressive puppy – do I have an aggressive dog?

Last but not least:
If you live in an apartment building wall to wall with neighbors and have a dog that barks quite a lot, making some friends can be very helpful.
An occasional apology in the hall along with the information that you are already working on the problem and maybe even a quick personal introduction of your dog (if it’s friendly towards people) can break the ice and raise more empathy for and patience in the given situation. This may take some pressure off of your shoulders. Give it a try. 🙂

After all, dogs are dogs and no machines, and sometimes … they bark. And there are situations in which the barking alert can be really helpful. The factor we need to get a hand on is how long and how often they bark.

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Ruby navarro
7 years ago

Hello,

I am having a hard time trying to train my 4 month old bull terrier, Pluto is his name. He is full of energy and I have a few questions to figure out how to make him stop acting up. He is always ripping the carpet in my house, He starts to get crazy (happy and excited) when he sees people, or other dogs, he doesn’t stop barking even if I speak to him in a calm voice, and in the car he will continue to bark at me or try to get on my lap. I really want to get some help on how to train him because I don’t want him to get out of control when he gets old or become aggressive. Please help me.

Paige
6 years ago

Hi, we have a 8 month old English bull terrier named Bently, we purchased Bently after our previous English bull terrier passed from bladder cancer. We have raised them both the same way, all women in the house so we are very loving with him but also strong voices so when he is naughty we’re very vocal to let him know. But he is by far the naughtiest dog we’ve ever had, he chews EVERYTHING up and demolishes anything in his path, we bought a non chewable bed for him, he chewed it to pieces. He is very playful, and can be quiet vicious when he is, I don’t think he realises it but you can tell when you’re playing with him he’ll be playful and doesn’t bite hard but he passes a barrier and will just sometimes randomly attack you to the point you bruise and bleed from him, especially if you’re walking him, sometimes he can turn and will attack you on his lead in public. We can handle all of that but what’s most annoying is that because he chews all of the furniture up we only let him in the living room when certain people aren’t in there (as he attacks them constantly) and if there is somebody that can pay constant attention on him to stop him from chewing these things so when he’s in the other room seperated by a baby gate he barks, continously, for hours on end none stop, nothing will stop him, I must admit we have tried many things, shock collars aren’t one because we don’t agree with that, we have admittedly tried the spray gun but he just thinks it’s fun and tries to eat the water, telling him no doesn’t stop him, we’ve tried the treats method trying to train him with treats, we have this device which lights up when he barks I’m guessing sending out some kind of noise that he can hear when he does but that doesn’t bother him one bit. We’ve tried everything, our previous English bull terrier was a beaut, no problems would never harm a fly even if you tried to play with him he’d think he was biting to hard and would stop, he never barked unless he heard something he just loved attention and being close to us, the only issue we had with him was he was VERY lazy, to the extent to walk him you had to drag him as he’d sit down and refuse to walk. We’re all out of options. We just miss having a calm, loving dog. He does seem un trainable! Also another thing, We wanted our previous English bull terrier to be trained so we did take it to professional training centre which was very expensive they had dog pools and everything, they turned him down after a couple of sessions saying he was un trainable and that’s when he was a puppy so I’m dreading thinking that Bently can’t be trained because he really needs it.

Melanie
6 years ago

Hi there how do I stop my bull terrier from barking st his shadow and chasing his tail

Chicobean
4 years ago

I have a bull terrier , hes a great doggo . His names chico , he was dropped off by a friend i have no clue how old he is n even due to the weird circumstances he has grown to trust me n behave n listen . He barks at people he knows around the house though , my little siblings , my uncle n aunts , n no he hasnt barked at me . They all show him the same affection , &’ we havent done anything to frighten him in anyway . Please tell me what triggers him to do this n how to resolve it ! <3

Destiny Nasir
4 years ago

My Staffordshire bull terrier recently started barking while inside his cage. It started this weekend when my 5 yr old nephew came over, and he has been coming over for months. My nephew left last night we first suspected that it was jealousy but he is still barking. I don’t want to give him back to the shelter, but I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried exercising him, rewarding him when he stops barking, giving him attention when he stops barking, putting him outside, letting him sleep with me, and now vibrating collar. I don’t want to but I don’t know what else to do. what way can I stop him from barking?

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