How To Stop A Dog From Barking When Left Alone

Barking is a canine behavior, and all dogs bark to communicate with their owners, other dogs, or to catch their owners’ attention. However, barking can also become an obsessive behavior that dogs intentionally use to get attention. It can be one of the most common issues for dog owners. To stop a dog from barking when left alone is NOT an impossible feat to accomplish.

Does your dog’s barking happen inappropriately or obsessively?

The American Kennel Club recommends intensive training, and encouraging your dog’s good actions rather than discouraging their inappropriate behaviors. Dogs are pack animals, and they learn from reinforcement (and approval) from their owners faster than its opposite.

A dog’s barking might go up to 80dB, and could lead to noise complaints from the neighborhood in extreme cases.

Learn more about barking behavior, including why dogs bark, and how owners can discourage inappropriate barking when their dogs are left alone for long periods of time.

How To Stop A Dog From Barking When Left Alone?

All dogs bark for communication, though some dogs will use barking as a way to get attention from their owners. It can create a cycle, whereby dogs continue barking when they notice their owners responding to it. As a starting step, ignore your dog’s barking when it’s being done for attention reasons.

Owners should ignore behavior like jumping or barking, and reward good behavior like sitting or lying down. Dogs learn faster from positive reinforcement, and it leads to much better, quicker results during training. 

Dogs are also more likely to engage in barking for long periods of time when their attention isn’t being held by something else. Playing, puzzles, and encouraging playing with toys could help to distract your dog from otherwise disruptive or destructive behavior.

The Decibel of a Dog’s Bark

A dog’s bark might go up to as high as 80dB, which can be considered a noise disturbance for most apartments and neighborhoods. Owners leaving their dogs home alone might come home to several noise complaints from the neighborhood. Which often brings them to the point of total frustration.

The good news about this is that a dog’s barking is easy to discourage through reinforcement and distraction, sometimes through adaptations in their dog training.

Monitoring Your Dog’s Behavior

Owners might not know their dog barks for hours at a time unless someone tells them. However, there are easy ways to test your dog’s behavior or monitor your pets when you aren’t at home.

Start by leaving the house, though staying close enough to hear whether your dog begins to bark. Use this as a gauge for training, and to establish a starting point for what your dog is actually doing when you’re out of their sight.

Owners can also set up a camera system, monitoring their pets remotely for when they aren’t at home.

When coming back, focus on reinforcing positive behavior. Share in your dog’s excitement for seeing them again. But try to avoid the same excitable behavior when leaving (as it just causes them to fall back into a behavioral loop).

Why Do Dogs Bark?

All dogs bark, mostly as a form of communication between themselves and other dogs (or their owners). Dogs might bark to signal danger, or might bark to signal their excitement. Though obsessive barking comes from showing their frustration or boredom with their environment.

Obsessive barking is best treated with proper distraction, giving them something else (like a toy or puzzle) to occupy their attention for the time you might be away.

If your dog barks in response to others, remember that there isn’t much you can do to control what other dogs are doing: however you can focus on your own dog’s training to make them much less reactive to other dogs.

Barking is also something that dogs do when they feel isolated, understimulated, or bored!

Can It Be Separation Anxiety?

Obsessive barking can be a sign of separation anxiety for your dogs, especially if it goes together with other signs like chewing or biting behavior. Separation anxiety is a specific mental health condition in dogs that must be treated as such. Luckily, can be treated with the right training adaptations.

Dogs need constant reassurance even when their owners aren’t there.

Toys, clear play-time, and very clear cues could discourage dogs from inappropriatebarking or anxiety-powered behavior.

Tips & Tricks: How to Stop Your Dog from Barking

Professional dog trainers recommend discouraging barking by ignoring the behavior as much as possible. When dogs notice that a specific thing like barking or chewing gets their owner’s attention, they might very well continue doing it just to get another reaction out of their owner.

Dogs will also keep barking when they’re understimulated or bored. Giving your dog something clear to focus their attention on such as toys, discourages barking and other behavior.

Here’s what else you might be able to do to stop a dog from barking when left alone.

A talking board

The use of “talking boards” for dogs are becoming more commonplace, giving dogs a chance to press one of several cues with their feet. In this way, communicate better with their owners.

While it’s not perfect for everyone, dogs might feel much more encouraged to use the talking board instead of barking. Incorporate it into their training slowly, and teach them other ways to get your attention instead.

Clear cues

Use clear cues if you see your pets getting anxious when you’re preparing to leave the house. Don’t leave the house on an excited note, as this often encourages dogs to prepare for playtime – and might lead to worsening the behavior.

When coming back, it’s okay share your pet’s excitement for seeing them again. However, if they start with barking, ignore them until they have stopped.

Dogs want to please their owners, and will do most things – including a cessation of barking – in order to see it happening.

Don’t encourage barking!

It’s tempting for all dog owners to rush back and calm their pet once the barking starts. However, that’s the exact opposite of what they should be doing. Encouraging barking behavior and reacting to it, only reinforces the wrong idea. That when they bark, it will get an inevitable reaction from you.

Don’t accidentally encourage barking by focusing on it, or rushing to their immediate attention. Even though it sounds difficult, learn to ignore their barking when it happens in your presence – and often, this is enough to get them to stop.

If you show absolutely no reaction to your dog’s barking, they’re more likely to see the behavior as being completely pointless rather than drawing your attention with it every time.

Interactive puzzles and toys

Interactive puzzles and toys can be a great way to engage your dog’s attention, making sure that they’re busy rather than barking at everything in their immediate environment. Distraction and engagement are recommended as a means to occupy their attention until you come back.

Dogs will eventually learn the value of engaging themselves, usually using their toys as a vehicle to have fun rather than feel anxious.

Having a special toy corner can engage them whenever they need reassurance or feel bored when you aren’t home.

Adapting their training

Make small adaptations to your dog’s training routine, whereby using clear cues to leave and return: don’t accidentally encourage barking by focusing on the behavior or rushing to their aid immediately as it tends to only have the opposite effect.

Ignore any barking or obsessive behavior, and praise your dogs when they engage in other, playful and appropriate actions.

When You Need Professional Dog Training

Professional dog training isn’t just for dogs, but sometimes useful to their owners as well. If you’ve done everything here to discourage your pets from barking and the behavior continues or persists, at least one professional dog training class is advised.