How do I stop my dog from barking at one person? (2023)

How do I stop my dog from barking at one person?

The Quiet Method

Once your dog starts barking in the presence of a stranger, let them bark a few times. Then, gently hold their muzzle and say, “Quiet.” Avoid shouting, as that produces negative reinforcement. Take your hands off their muzzle. If they remain quiet, reward them with a treat.

Dogs bark at people for a variety of different reasons, whether because they are excited, frustrated that they can't greet the person, or even worried or uncomfortable about another's presence. If your dog is barking while in your front yard, they may feel protective of their home or be warning others to stay away.

Never Punish Your Dog

You should never use punishment for dog barking. Examples of punishment would be yelling, throwing objects, or trying to interrupt the barking by spraying water at your dog, making loud noises, or using citronella-spraying collars or shock collars.

A popular method of curtailing excessive barking is teaching the “quiet” command. Use a calm, firm voice to tell your dog to be “quiet” and positively reinforce correct behavior with treats and affection.

If the dog begins to bark or act up, calmly say “no” and redirect the dog's attention. Aggression toward men, no matter what the cause, can be dealt with through positive reward training. Stay calm and remain patient with the dog, and remember that he is displaying the behavior for a reason.

There is a possibility that your pet considers your husband as a resource. Seeing you (or anybody for that matter) near your husband may make your dog feel insecure or uncomfortable, as they might think that their precious resource might just get exhausted or is under threat.

More often than not, the reason a dog reacts aggressively toward a family member is due to poor socialization or fear from a past experience.

Ignore your dog or leave the room completely if she is barking at you for attention. When the barking stops, return and ask her for a “sit” or another easy behavior. If she can do so without barking, reward her with the resource she seeks. If she starts barking again, walk away and ignore her.

Canines sense if the other person/people are threatening them and as a defense mechanism, they will attack and bite to protect themselves. When a dog is fearful or aggressive toward strangers, this is demonstrated by their body posture: ears laid back, tail between their legs, loud barking or growling.

Don't Yell When He's Barking

If you react to your dog's barking by screaming at him you'll do one of two things; he may become fearful of you as your yelling might be frightening or he'll think you're barking as well. Neither of these is conducive to change.

Do dogs think yelling is barking?

Yelling is confusing

A classic example of this is when you yell at your dog to stop barking. The dog focuses on the fact you are yelling rather than the words you are saying. The dog thinks you are barking, too, and will likely only bark louder.

Say “quiet” with treat in hand but with treat not visible. D. Say “quiet” with treat in hand, wait one second before giving treat (if your dog stays quiet). Repeat D, gradually increasing the length of time before your dog gets the treat.

You can help your dog understand that barking doesn't work. By doing the opposite of what your dog wants when they bark, you can train your dog to stop barking for attention: 1. Turn away, walk out of the room, drop the ball or put the leash down.

These are working animals so should not be paying attention to anything but their owner. They should not be barking or lunging at people. They should be walking politely and calmly by their owner's side and not at the end of a leash or on a flexi lead.

Quiet coyote

If your dog tends to bark when she senses a threat to her territory, teach her a command that means “be quiet.” In my house, that command is “settle.” Don't wait for your dog to be like Murphy, stuck in a barking loop in the backyard, before teaching her to calm down.

The likely reason why your dog growls or barks at some people and not others is because of their body language, the way they look or smell, how they interact with the dog or behave towards you or because the person reminds the dog of someone who previously mistreated them.

Your dog may smell something so subtle on one person that causes him to growl that your human nose would never notice. It doesn't have to be a concern to you. Your dog might perceive something that he has learned to associate negatively, like a strange dog or the smell of another dog's fear.

A lack of early socialization: Dogs who aren't exposed to children as puppies may become fearful when they meet them later in life. When they encounter children for the first time as adult dogs, they may be extremely frightened by the unfamiliar size, smells, noises, and movements of children.

Signs of dominant behavior in dogs:

Resistance to voice commands. Aggressive response to eye contact or verbal correction. Food guarding or other aggressive behavior while eating. Persistence about leading the way on walks or through entryways.

What are early signs of aggression in dogs?

There is no 'cure' for aggression. Training can help you better predict behavior in certain situations but behavior is never guaranteed in dogs, just like in humans, because moods and environmental factors play a large part and change daily.

This is well-intended but incomplete advice – if you only ignore the behavior, your dog will probably never learn to stop barking, jumping, or pulling. Just ignoring unwanted dog behaviors misses an important piece of teaching your dog what TO do instead. Dogs learn by association.

When your dog stares imploringly into your eyes, he most definitely has a message for you. Staring is a means of gaining your undivided attention. You are the center of your dog's world, and his most cherished "possession." For you to engage with him is the most powerful reinforcer he knows.

Dogs often bark when people come to their house, either out of excitement or to make them go away. Sometimes it's the doorbell or someone knocking that triggers the barking. If they are not excited to see people, their barking could be territorial, or it could be “stranger danger” (fear of strangers).

Often, the use of treats or favorite toys is involved so that the dog learns that all visitors have something fun and wonderful to offer. When a dog has grasped the strong connection between visitors and good things, happiness can replace fear as the dog's response to people coming to the house.

The best way of treating aggression towards strangers is to prevent it by socializing your dog when they are young, exposing your dog to lots of different situations and people in a safe, controlled environment, and teaching your dog that strangers are not a threat to you or him.

Learned Behavior

In the study, dogs acted guilty when scolded by their owners, regardless of whether they had actually committed the act for which they were being scolded. Based on this, it seems likely that dogs learn quickly that when pet parents unhappy with them, they can placate their humans by looking sad.

Yes, even if it is “only” a spray of water, if you have to use it a more than twice to try and suppress the same behaviour, clearly something is off. And even a squirt bottle can easily become abusive.

While a dog doesn't hold a grudge against you for hitting him, the story is different if the pattern of hitting is repeated. According to Current Biology, a pooch can go back in time and recall certain events and places plus the emotions connected to them.

How do you teach a dog no?

Call your dog over and let him see the treat in your hand. As you close your hand, say "No!". Let him lick and sniff, but do not give him the treat. When he finally gives up and backs away, praise him and give him the treat.

Do not scream at your dog as this flies in the face of what you feel like doing. Yelling at your dog does not work because it will just get him more stressed or it will only increase his energy level and how excited he is about the situation.

While dogs can indeed get upset by a situation, they don't get mad at someone in the same way that you do. According to HealthyPsych, anger is what psychologists refer to as a secondary emotion, which is a human response to primary emotions like fear and sadness.

Teach your dog a “quiet” cue.

If he doesn't quiet within a few seconds then move him to another area and have him do a few behaviors (Sit, Paw, Roll over, Stay, etc.). This will refocus him and decrease or cease the barking.

Vocalizations are one way that dogs can communicate about how they are feeling and what they want. Dogs may bark to get attention, because they are alerting to something going on around them, because they are bored, anxious, frustrated, or feeling defensive of their homes or families.

What is direct interactive punishment, and how does it work? If you catch your dog or cat engaging in an incorrect behavior, try a loud noise such as clapping your hands or a loud “no”. Remember, reprimands need to occur while the behavior is happening, preferably just as it begins, and never after.

Essentially, your dog wants your approval. So, rather than yelling or constantly saying “No”, quicker progress can be made by teaching your dog a 'no' signal – one that tells him to stop whatever he is doing whenever he hears it. A suitable command can be “Leave”.

Dogs bark at people for a variety of different reasons, whether because they are excited, frustrated that they can't greet the person, or even worried or uncomfortable about another's presence. If your dog is barking while in your front yard, they may feel protective of their home or be warning others to stay away.

Can you teach a dog to bark quieter?

Your dog can be taught to be quiet by teaching the bark command then reinforcing quiet. You can effectively stop barking by using a food or toy lure or a head halter and then reinforcing quiet behavior.

There are multiple reasons that a dog may exhibit aggression toward family members. The most common causes include conflict aggression, fear-based, defensive aggression, status related aggression, possessive aggression, food guarding aggression and redirected aggression.

The likely reason why your dog growls or barks at some people and not others is because of their body language, the way they look or smell, how they interact with the dog or behave towards you or because the person reminds the dog of someone who previously mistreated them.

Typically when a dog sniffs a person they are uncomfortable with, it's due to the pheromones that person is giving off. To the dog, those pheromones may signal a threat or an alarm telling the dog to beware. Humans can also give off pheromones that reek of fear or nervousness to a dog.

The instant your dog pauses, place a tasty treat (cheese, hotdogs, liver snacks) directly in front of his nose and say “quiet.” You are encouraging your dog to be quiet by coupling two incompatible behaviors—it's difficult for a dog to bark while sniffing and eating! Give a few more treats while he is quiet.

Remember that when your dog barks or growls, they are trying to get your attention. If you punish or shout at them instead of staying calm and acknowledging what your pet is trying to tell you, they may resort to something stronger to get your attention next time, like biting.