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Eight 3-Minute Games to Play with Your Dog to ✋STOP✋ BARKING! 
Dogs bark, that's a fact….. It's normal….it’s essential, but sometimes it is excessive.
The question is why, and is there anything you can do to improve the situation?

There are so many reasons that dogs bark and it is NORMAL but when it becomes a problem there are strategies you can use to improve the situation - GAmES!
GAME 1. Look at the BIG PICTURE….more than just barking, what triggers barking?

Is it strange people, unusual surroundings, noise, darkness, movement, confusion, low confidence, is your dog’s breed bred for guarding?
Understanding what triggers excessive barking is your first step to reducing barking. Keeping a noise diary can be a massive help to figure this out!

Building your dog as an calm, focussed OPTIMIST counteracts virtually ALL causes of barking!

GAME: Noise Box

Fill a large box or washing up bowl etc with items that make a noise, kiddies play pit balls, plastic bottles, cans, paper, plastic …..the list is massive…..scatter feed and allow your dog to explore at their own pace, let them choose…..when they do scatter feed some more in to the noise box.

GAME 2. Build Confidence and OPTIMISM with some cool GAMES…

Your dog doesn’t have to experience every single sight, sound, person or circumstance for them to become more confident with life…
Yes, life experience is important but it can be complimented by building OPTIMISM through teaching them the concept that novelty is COOL!

Utilising games incorporating noise, novelty allows the reinforcement of making confident steps to explore novel surroundings possible!

GAME: Cardboard Chaos

Make a pile of cardboard items, large, small, different shapes, heights and scatter feed….as they choose to explore scatter feed some more, reinforcing the choice to explore and growing confidence and optimism 

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GAME 3. Create Calm Chill Out Zones at Home….

Depending on your dog, the home environment can be a stressful place - whether that is exciting visitors or scary people and dogs passing the window... Creating calm chill out zones at home where your dog can choose to go can help to promote a sense of safety and tranquillity that some dogs really need.

In a busy family household this can be a great solution for everyone. It gives the dog a safe space to retreat and allows space for those who live in an active, lively household.

GAME: Filled Kong!

These promote calm and are great for bringing arousal levels back down, whether that is after a ‘reactivity episode’ when out walking in the park; or after being at an agility training session.

They are also a great way to add value to boundary games and for those occasions when you have a lot going on around the house. For example, you have tradesmen: pop the dog on a boundary and give them a stuffed toy and allow them to chill. 

There are a few simple steps you should follow when introducing stuffed toys to your dog.

1. Start by allowing your dog to eat out of an open ended hoof (or something similar) – this is simple and your dog will easily succeed!

2. Then make it a little bit more challenging by freezing slightly (remember the longer you freeze, the more challenging it becomes).

3. Once your dog has mastered the above with progressive levels of difficulty, start on something which has a more complicated shape to interact with. But, whilst making the shape harder, you should make the filling easier so that the dog isn’t worked too hard.

4. Now you are getting amazing results! Gradually up the challenge by using different fillings or start to freeze for a little longer each time.

By following these simple steps you are teaching your dog how to successfully finish eating those long lasting rewards. This will build up your dog’s tolerance to frustration and ensure they don’t give up. AWESOME!
GAME 4. Boundary Games!

What’s our secret weapon to creating and promoting much calmer behaviour at home and elsewhere? Boundary games. 

So many concepts for life are practiced when we teach boundary games and CALMNESS is one of them. To get started straight away here’s a free ebook teaching boundary games from zero to hero….

Here's the initial steps to get you started!

1. Reward any interaction with the bed or boundary (e.g. looking towards, stepping towards, putting a paw on, etc.) Basically SHAPING value to the bed!

2. Reward choice to go on bed with no verbal cue. You want your dog to ♥ LOVE ♥ the bed! You can’t have too much love for the bed!

3. Feed lots, be generous for being on the bed – drip feed to bed and don’t feed directly to the dog! You want to feed CALMNESS and you want to feed the BED! SLOW feeding, and then if you think you are feeding SLOW, get a little SLOWER again.

4. Release off  with a cue (e.g ‘okay’, ‘break’, ‘free’ you can decide the cue.). Throw food a second or two after the verbal release cue - whatever you have chosen.

Boundary are CRUCIAL to tackling barking struggles!


GAME 5. Low Arousal Calming Activities!

In your calm zones use part of your dogs daily food amount by providing chewing activities/filled kong.  Licking and chewing can bring arousal levels down and help your dog to become calmer and more relaxed.

GAME: The Calmness Protocol

1. Offer your dog a medium-value treat when he is settled and relaxed. If he gets up from position when you walk away, ignore him. If he stays settled and relaxed, return to him and give him another treat. 

2. Ignore your dog – especially when he is opting for attention-seeking behaviours. Wait for the moment he settles and relaxes and then call him over to you for attention. Do not do this too regularly or he may start to yoyo between his floor space and where you are located. However, this strategy is a great way to communicate to your dog that the attention-seeking behaviours won’t work – but being calm, relaxed and relatively independent will!

3. Time the rewards (treat or attention) with external distractions. For example, wait until someone is walking past the house, you hear a dog barking in the distance, or when someone starts cheering in the neighbouring agility ring. This rewards your dog for remaining calm in the face of distraction. 
GAME 6. Help them feel SAFE!

Some dogs feel threatened in certain situations, people, other dogs, children, sounds. The strategies they use can often be inappropriate…barking, lunging, spinning to name a few!

We can help them feel safer and able to choose other strategies, and we do this through Naughty but Nice games!

The first one to get started with right now is MIDDLE! Middle involves your dog recalling to you and standing between your legs as a safe place! If your dog is too big, then try training a 

GAME: Middle

1. We like to shape this trick, which means rewarding successive approximations of the final behaviour - or rewarding things your dog does that are closer and closer to the final behaviour in mind!

2. To do this, we mark and reward turns and steps towards behind us to start with, rewarding by placing the treat or toy behind us and eventually between legs.

3. Do this until your dog is consistently heading around your leg and then between your legs. At this point, placement of the reward should always be in the final position - between your legs.

4.  Build duration into maintaining position between your legs by providing a rapid rate of reinforcement in this position. Then work on reducing the rate of reinforcement while your dog stays in one place.

5.  Now work on the final behaviour, a sit! You can: 
1) Shape the sit by marking and rewarding weight shifts
 backwards until your dog sits.
2) Cue a sit, repeat a few times and then wait your dog out
for him/her to o er it.
3) Cue a hand target with your hand above your dog’s
head such that he/she sits when targeting.

GAME 7.Make household noises…NORMAL!

Through Boundary game training, we can incorporate household noises in to the training:

* Knocking at the door 
* Saying “Hello”
* Telephone ringing
* People arriving
* Cars driving past
* Gates opening
* Washing machine’s spinning
* Doorbells ringing….etc

GAME: The Crazy Lady Game!

Pair these every day activities by following up with a calm reward delivery! For example, say a word…eg ‘hello’ and reinforce remaining calm with a calming marker word, eg. ‘Nice’ and a calm delivery of food reinforcement.

Add in other noises as confidence and calmness grows and get creative. Don't be scared to look CRAZY doing this around the house and even on walks!

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To celebrate the release of our book for Naughty but Nice dogs, Optimism Rocks!, you can grab it for FREE and start playing right away!
GAME 8. Understand Arousal levels and How to Read your Dog

Situations that can trigger barking can often be spotted much earlier if we learn to read our dogs body language.

Early recognition of body language changes can mean early intervention can be made. This reduces the chance of arousal levels increasing to a point where things get out of control.

Understanding how our own behaviour and energy levels can increase and decrease our dogs arousal levels can be a simple strategy in reducing the chances of excessive barking. The big question is - what do you DO when your dog barks?

One simple strategy to employ in an emergency can be to scatter feed on to the grass or ground. This brings arousal levels down and occupies your dog in an alternate behaviour at the same time. Don't worry about "rewarding" the "bad" behaviour - if your dog is barking, they likely are too aroused to learn anyway so the key is to reduce their arousal levels!

GAME: OBSERVATION CHALLENGE GAME

Observe your dog over the next week and note any body language you notice several steps prior to barking…..scatter feed before the barking starts and mark with a calming verbal marker 
eg. “Nice’

You will be amazed how much more you notice about your own dog and how much quieter your household and walks will be too!

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