Page 21 - Cinci 2018

www.GreaterCincinnatiPetPages.com 21 Communication
Why Does My Dog Bark So Much?

In last year’s issue of Greater Cincin- that is farther away from the street noise
nati Pet Pages, I wrote an article about or the view that is causing him to bark.
a subject that has been the single most In my communication work with
asked question from my clients of cat animals, I would also suggest that you fol-
households. I attempted to solve the low the techniques we have discussed in
problem of “Why doesn’t my cat use the previous issues of the Pet Pages. Visualize
litter box?” This year’s subject is a lot your dog acting in the manner you want
more complicated and difficult to solve. her to act, NOT the bad “barking” behav-
“Why does my dog bark so much?” ior that you are actually experiencing.
Let me first tell you that I am NOT a Remember to use all positive commands
dog trainer. I AM an Animal Communi- “I want you to stop Barking, NO Barking.”
cator. I am not saying that one is very Do not use negative commands like “Don’t
different than the other. They can often bark or why won’t you stop barking?”
accomplish the same thing but in a dif- When we use words like “don’t” and
ferent manner. “won’t,” we are actually visualizing the
My first thought was to ask for advice behavior that we DO NOT want from our
from another animal communicator pet. If you need to review why these terms
who has quite a bit of experience with are different you can go to the Greater
training dogs. I phoned my good friend, Cincinnati Pet Pages web site and re-read
Kim Billings and asked her the question, some of my former articles. You can read
“How do you stop a dog from barking so the Pet Pages at www.greatercincinnati-
much?” She gave me several wonderful petpages.com - click on Past Articles, then
suggestions. Pet Communication. You will be especially
Her first suggestion was something I interested in reading articles from 2010,
would never have thought of on my own. 2013, and 2016.
If a dog is barking because it is actually Always visualize the animal doing
seeing something that stimulates him what you WANT him to do, NOT what
to bark, simply remove the image that is you don’t want him to do. Most animals
tempting him to bark. In other words, if want to please us. They read our thoughts
your dog sits at the door or window and constantly. If you think about the BAD be-
barks at everything he sees, change the havior, the animal believes that if you are
view. You can cover the window with thinking about it, you want him to do it.
curtains, blinds, or some other easy way See it in your thoughts the way you WANT
that will keep the dog from seeing out the the animal to act, NOT the bad way he is
door or window. acting. Practice these communication
If he is activated to bark at sounds skills and try a few of the simple ideas of
he is hearing outside of the house you distracting your dog’s attention from the
can attempt to keep noise to a minimum sight or sound that is causing the barking.
by closing windows, playing music in the You may be delighted with the results.
house or other means of distracting his at- Donetta Zimmerman is a well-known animal
tention from outdoor noises. You can try communicator living in Cincinnati. She can
moving his bed to a location in the house be reached at 513) 541-2537.