Dogs being man’s best friends have not only offered companionship but protection as well. Dogs that are purposely developed for protection work are trained to discriminate dangerous situations and to bark to alert the master. Barking is a natural behavior of dogs thus it may be thought that a training that will hone the dog’s instinct to bark is no longer necessary. However, making the dog bark is not as easy as you think given the fact that you need to make the dog understand when to bark and when not to bark. As the bark of the dog will alert the owner to potential dangerous situations, the dog must learn discriminatory barking.

For a dog to be an effective watch dog, it has to learn to bark at situations that would need the master’s attention. This is rather a hard task for dogs as these animals really do have the inclination to bark. The slightest movement and sound will already make a dog bark. These animals even bark at shadows created by leaves on the trees. Training the dog to bark though can be done.

Many techniques all hyped to be effective can be used to train the dog but because of individual differences one dog may learn after two or four session and another dog may never learn at all. In any kind of training using positive reinforcement is proven to be effective. Making the dog bark is actually controlling the dog’s inclination to bark. The dog must be made to bark thus you can leash the dog near the gate or fence.

Naturally the dog will bark at anyone thus your task will be to approach the dog every time it barks and stop the barking with a command. “Quiet” or “No bark” given in a firm authoritative voice will let the dog know that you, the alpha male means business. The dog will eventually understand that barking at the postman or at the passing cars will annoy the master.

Train the dog to bark indiscriminately by asking a person unfamiliar to the dog to enter the gate. Command the dog to bark as soon as the person approach the gate or the door. The command can be “bark” or “speak”. As soon as the dog barks immediately praise or reward the dog with a treat. Consistent training using the same command will eventually make the dog learn discriminatory barking. Entice the dog to respond well to training with treats and rewards. Treats and rewards are positive reinforcements that will make the training easier as these will be associated by the to the compliance of the given command.

Find out more about how to make a dog bark as well as dog first aid at Sarah’s Dogs.

As much as we love our dogs, dog barking at night can be very frustrating .

Dog barking at night can be explained in numerous ways .

Lack of Exercise

A main cause of unwanted dog barking at night (i.e. repetitive and directed at nothing) is nervous, agitated energy, which your dog will get from not having enough exercise.

Boredom

Another cause of dog barking at night is when your beloved dog is simply flat out bored . Your dog is social by nature, and demands a good amount of interaction and stimulation . How many times have you noticed your dog barking for no real reason ? This is a sign that she is most likely very bored, and desires some attention and stimulation .

Your lack of attention

Your dog may also bark at night to get your attention, particularly if this has worked for her in the past .

Take the illustration of you watching television. You hear barking, as your dog is trying to get your attention.  You stop whatever it was that you were doing, in order to spend some time with your dog . As you are trying to sleep later, the barking commences, and the process repeats itself .  Your dog now knows that she can get whatever she desires just by barking .

Too much crate time

Dogs are active animals by nature . Dog barking at night can result from your dog going stir crazy if cooped up in a crate for too long . Make certain your dog has a lot of physical exercise before going to bed for the night . This will help you learn how to stop a barking puppy.

Your dog’s territorial instinct is kicking in

Your dog will bark at night to warn you of a possible threat .

You should tackle this situation from the beginning . A properly trained dog will know when to bark, and when not to bark .

To stop dog barking at night, you will need to arm yourself with some understanding, and show some patience and consistency .

Fear aggression in dogs takes place when your dog is aggressive out of sheer fear or panic. If you have a fear aggressive dog, she is not necessarily of a violent nature, but rather is just scared of a certain situation. Her aggression is her way of telling you that she is not able to deal with the scenario.

Patience and perseverance are essential components when stopping fear aggression.

It can Occasionally be fairly difficult to stop fear aggression in dogs, as your dog is responding to a potent mix of instinct and fear. You ought to pay close attention to the reason for the fear, and work to desensitize her to it.

Do your best to raise her confidence

A great method to stop fear aggression is by positively rewarding your dog when she complies with her obedience training. With a very small dog, be careful not to give her too many treats, as this may perhaps disturb her system. As your dog becomes more used to your commands, progress to the next level. As your dog performs each of the commands to your approval, be sure to positively reward her. On the other hand, be sure not to baby her or reinforce her fearful behaviour with atypical attention and sympathy, as you do not want to be rewarding her for the very behaviour that you are attempting to train her to stop.

Desensitize her to the trigger of her fear

Desensitizing your dog is all about methodically and gradually getting her accustomed to what is eliciting her fear response, and can be a really efficient way to stop fear aggression in dogs. Your dog needs to learn through direct experience that the cause of her fear is not something that she should be afraid of, so undertake to keep your dog as cheerful and relaxed as you can.

For illustration, if she has a fear of the vacuum cleaner, as most dogs do, start slowly integrating it into her day-to-day life. begin by merely leaving it out in a prominent position, where she will have some incidental contact with it. Grant her plenty of opportunity to sniff it and walk around it, and play with her and feed her close to it. Methodically progress to turning the vacuum on, with your dog a fair distance away. Leave it on for a while, to get your dog used to the sound. Gradually see that she goes a little closer to the vacuum as it is running.

Be certain not to crowd your dog in any way. In the event that your dog is frightened in any way, it is vital that she has her own space.

Pay close attention to your dog’s body language. If at any point she shows signs of panic, fear, or skittishness, turn the vacuum off for a while, and then start again.

Counter-conditioning

Once you are of the belief that your dog no longer fears the primary trigger, you can begin the course of action of counter-conditioning as a further means to stop fear aggression. This means associating good things with the object of her fear. The best way to stop fear aggression in dogs in this regard is through the good old use of treats and lavish praise when there are improvements in her fear levels. Positive reinforcement, one of the tenets of operant conditioning, must be applied regularly and consistently to see positive results.

Socialize your dog regularly

Although the first phases of a dog’s life are the most important with respect to socialization, you should still consider it throughout your dog’s life, should fear aggression develop. The more she is exposed to other people, other dogs, and a variety of situations, the more she will see that the aforesaid are not to be feared. The less you will have to worry about learning how to stop dog aggression as well.

Seek professional help

If nothing you do seems to work, you should think about seeking the assistance of a professional dog trainer. It could possibly be the case that they can find something subtle that you could not, which could make a significant difference.

There are a number of myths surrounding hunting dogs and children.  In fact, one perpetual myth is that a hunting dog should never be kept in the home because they have gotten a taste of blood from being trained to hunt.  This is simply untrue and has no basis in reality.  Hunting dogs can make a great family pet in addition to their jobs in the field.  It’s important that we all remember that dogs are not vicious by nature. Only their training can make them that way. Hunting dogs by nature have an instinct to hunt. However, not everyone who purchases (or adopts) a hunting dog is going to train them to be hunters.  Like all other dogs, a hunting dog wants to be loved, accepted and praised.  A hunting dog makes a great pet especially retrievers, as they have naturally a soft mouth approach to retrieving and hence will not bite down when playing.

America’s favorite dog is the Golden Retriever.  Their unique traits make them wildly popular – they’re natural swimmers, are calm and gentle, are very intelligent, and are generally content.  Plus, they’re just beautiful to look at.  They’re also large enough that children can play and roughhouse with them and they never seem to run out of energy or patience for this.  These things also make them ideal service dogs.  And yet, most people that own one don’t realize that all of these things were bred into them so that they would be great bird dogs.  They’re so common that most people don’t even think of them as being hunting dogs. 

If you’re nervous of how a hunting dog will interact with your children, remember their instict to follow the “alpha” dog – you.  As long as you’re a strong leader in his mind, he will think of your children as his litter-mates.    As your children get older and they learn to be pack leaders themselves, your dog will learn to follow them too.

Not only are most hunting dogs very docile, but they are usually very sturdy dogs. Because of this, they are more likely to stand up to the less than gentle playing that children are so prone to.  Always monitor what is going on so that your children don’t hurt the dog, especially when he’s a puppy since they do not always understand their own boundaries.  Knowing what your children and dog are doing when playing will help make your hunting breed a beloved family pet and keep both children and dog safe. 

Training a hunting dog to be a pet isn’t much different than training any other dog. Setting up boundaries of what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior including table food, begging and other behaviors that should be discouraged from the time they are puppies.  Even though your children may be amused when the puppy is begging for food or trying to get food off the table, you won’t be so amused when you have a full grown dog sitting begging during a large holiday meal with friend and family. Educating your children is as important as training your dog – perhaps even more so.  While your dog is a member of your family, he is none the less a dog and shouldn’t be treated like another child.  Dogs have to be trained to do things in a totally different manner than children and you should teach your child how you are training your dog.  This will allow for consistency which is so important in training your dog.

There is no price that can be set on owning a dog.  Their unconditional love will be remembered forever in your children’s hearts.  Every dog is unique.  Think about your first dog – can you remember the special tricks he did, what treats he loved to eat, the little quirks of his personality?  Who would not want that for their own children?  Dogs help us remember that the little things in life are what’s most important, and they give us an appreciation for nature.  In this respect, hunting dogs are no different than other breeds. 

To help you train your hunting dog you should make sure you have the proper hunting dog supplies. Some of the more popular supplies include: Tracker Maxima 5000 Tracking Collars and  Innotek ADV 300 Dog Training Collars.