[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by QuickSilver

To answer the original question, I think email is sort of off the mark. Dogs bark for these primary reasons:

- Alert barking: to notify the pack of an intruder, and also tell the intruder he has been spotted.

- Attention seeking barking: if you make the mistake of paying attention to your dog when he barks, of course he will bark more to get more attention!

- Frustration / Excitement: A dog may go nuts barking at the dog park because he is so revved up, and wants to get off his leash.

- "Spooky" barking - this is really the only "out of control" barking, where the dog is saying, "Don't come any closer, I'm dangerous!" This is often fear-motivated, and that's why it can be so hard to control.


You can have a dog that's superbly trained in Agility, but barks his head off whenever he sees a cat. Or you could have a dog that doesn't bark, but steals food off the table. I'd consider anti-bark training to be about impulse control, which would also cover "Stay".

Excellent answer!