Your adolescent dog barks at you for attention because barking has worked before

You sit down with a coffee and your dog barks in your face. You look up, tell them to stop, or fetch the ball. The barking has already worked.

This is one of the most ordinary adolescent nuisances there is. It is also one of the more workable ones, because you control the payment.

What is reinforcing it

Anything that follows the bark and interests your dog can keep it going. Eye contact, talking, standing up, a ball, or a firm no.

Behaviour change is built from management plus reinforcement. That is as true for behaviour you want less of as for behaviour you want more of.

Why ignoring alone often fails

There are two reasons. Ignoring says nothing about what to do instead, so your dog escalates, and a louder bark usually does get an answer.

The second is human. Most owners hold out for 40 seconds and then give in, which teaches your dog that persistence pays.

Ignoring only works when it is paired with paying the quiet, and with the underlying need already met.

Pay the quiet, before the bark

1. 1

   Keep a pot of food where you sit in the evening. Drop 1 piece whenever your dog is quiet near you, unasked.

2. 2

   Get in early. Feed at 4 seconds of quiet rather than holding out for the 4 minutes you would prefer.

3. 3

   When the barking starts, turn your head away and go still. Say nothing, and do not look at them.

4. 4

   The moment the barking stops, count 2 seconds, then feed. You are paying the gap, not the silence you hoped for.

Expect it to get louder for a day or two before it gets quieter. That burst is normal, and it is where most owners give in.

Then look at what the barking is asking for

Demand barking often points at something reasonable. A dog with 20 minutes of pavement walking and nothing to chew has a case to make.

1. 1

   Hand out a chew or a stuffed toy at the times your dog usually barks at you, before the barking starts.

2. 2

   Add 10 minutes of sniffing to one walk a day, on a long leash, with no agenda.

3. 3

   Build one settle spot on a mat, and pay your dog for lying there in short 2 minute sets. Stop before they get restless.

4. 4

   Put a short play session before your evening sit-down, rather than after the barking has started.

Today's version, in one line: pot of food where you sit, feed 4 seconds of quiet, and hand out the chew early.