Morris, an Australian Shepherd, knows his job. Whenever someone walks or cycles near the garden fence, he barks. His owner, Manuela Zaitz, is perfectly fine with that. She lives off the beaten track on the outskirts of the German city of Moers, and doesn’t want anyone approaching her house unnoticed.
But Zaitz, who’s a dog trainer, knows that not every dog owner is pleased if their four-legged friend is constantly making a racket in the yard. In the city, this can not only get on the owner’s nerves, but the neighbours’ as well. She’s got good news though: Dogs can be trained when to bark and when to keep quiet.
Humans have benefitted from dogs’ vigilance for millennia. The animals have guarded camps and farmsteads, the latter still home to the classic watchdog that scares off uninvited visitors with loud barking.
Christa Bremer, vice president of the German Kennel Club (VDH), knows a thing or two about dog training herself. She taught her female Airedale Terrier to bark in a controlled way if someone approaches the house.
When given the command “Down!”, the dog lies down and remains quiet, but continues to watch what’s going on. The situation is resolved for the dog when the visitor is invited into the house or the door is closed.
“You’ve got to teach this to the dog from an early age though, so that it knows what it’s supposed to do and what not to,” Bremer says. “The dog has to be controllable and mustn’t bark non-stop. It’s got to learn this very early.”
While breeds such as German Shepherds, Rottweilers and Hovawarts are seen as typical watchdogs, the formidable bark of a small terrier can make it sound larger than it really is, she notes.
Experts discourage using a dog as a living alarm system and confining it in a cage though.
“Cages are no longer an option, as dogs badly need an attachment figure,” remarks Bettina Haas, a dog trainer in Vorra, a Bavarian municipality.
Since many dogs are naturally vigilant, she says, “I warn against reinforcing their protective behaviour with training. Most dogs that are peaceable and approachable around people react differently when a burglar approaches the house at night. A dog will react in a situation like that – you don’t have to specially train it.”
Canine vigilance can result in undesirable behaviour, for example when the dog starts yapping by the garden fence.
“As a trainer, the first thing I then look at is why the dog is barking,” says Haas, and suggests that a dog left alone in the garden might be bored and bark for lack of something to do. Or being alone may make it feel insecure.
“A dog that barks a lot should be frequently rewarded for quiet behaviour,” Haas says. She advises dog owners not to leave a “compulsive barker” alone in the garden, but to occupy themselves with the pet there. This can help the dog learn to relax in the garden, she says.
Zaitz discourages the use of anti-bark collars that release a spray, ultrasound or electricity meant to silence a barking dog.
It’s not only questionable from an animal welfare standpoint, she says, but could even be counterproductive. The same goes for so-called throw chains used when dogs misbehave.
“If a dog at the fence sees passers-by, barks at them and then has a throw chain flung at it, it won’t feel better about passers-by. On the contrary, it’ll try even harder to drive them away with threatening barking,” says Zaitz.
Instead, she recommends reinforcing desirable behaviour, for instance with clicker training.
The owner can sit down beside the dog in the garden and click the clicker – a small mechanical noisemaker – and give the dog a treat whenever people get close to the fence. The reward will interest the dog more than what’s happening at the fence.
“The dog discovers that whenever someone comes by the fence, it gets something good from its master. This changes its mood.” – dpa
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