Anxiety in Dogs

Which Medication Should be Used for Dog Aggression?

Typically when a dog owner first researches whether medication could be used for aggression, they learn there are a number of medications that could be used. Which medication is best?

Which medication(s) your dog will best respond to depends on the diagnosis, because aggression is only a symptom of an underlying problem, not a diagnosis in and of itself. In determining which medication should be used for dog aggression, a veterinary behaviorist will consider a number of factors related to your dog including:

The problems and symptoms presented (this may include more than one type of aggression and more than just aggression)
Genetic predisposition
Health issues
Complicating factors in the dog’s environment (such as young children present, etc.)
Specific behavior indications

Dogs needs to be carefully monitored and sometimes the dose will need to be changed or the medication changed altogether.In some cases more than one medication may be prescribed. In some cases if your dog does not have a physiological need for medication, medications will not work. Medications such as Benzodiazepines that cause your dog to be sedated should not be used to treat dog aggression.

Medications commonly used to treat dog aggression and other behavior problems

According to Clinical Behavioural Medicine for Small Animals by Dr. Karen Overall, the following drugs may be prescribed for these behavior issues. Each drug works slightly differently.

Fluoxetine (Known as Prozac® in human form, Reconcile® for dogs)

Owner directed aggression (has more success with this kind of aggression than fear aggression)
Fear aggression
Inter-dog aggression
Separation anxiety
Obsessive-compulsive behaviours

Sertraline (Zoloft®)

Owner directed aggression
Separation anxiety

Amitriptyline HC1 (Elavil®)

Owner directed aggression
Fear aggression
Separation anxiety

Clomipramine (Anafranil®, Clomicalm®) – more used for anxiety and compulsive disorders

Fear aggression
Separation anxiety
Noise phobias
Obsessive-compulsive behaviours

Buspirone (BuSpar®)

Fear aggression
Separation anxiety
Noise phobias
Obsessive-compulsive behaviours

Propranolol (Inderol®, Betachron®, Intensol®)

Fear aggression
General Anxiety

Risperidone (still considered experimental)

social directed regression
sociopathies
impulsive aggression
hallucinatory type signs

Learn more about other therapeutic aids to improve dog aggression.

How quickly will medications work?

Medication only helps aggression in those dogs who show signs that having unusual levels of neurotransmitters in their brain. For example, dogs who have had negative experiences during socialization or poor socialization may be physically normal. For those dogs that show symptoms of unusual level of neurotransmitters, medication is still not a quick fix.

The medications typically take 1 to 4 weeks before you see an effect, and may need up to two months for the full impact in dogs that indicate that they need them. In general behavior medication needs to be prescribed for a minimum of 6 months depending on the situation. Medication on it’s own usually does not have much of an impact on reducing aggression without behavior modification.

The medications often need to be “ramped” up or down when starting and finishing the medication. This means they will start on a small dose and slowly start to increase the amount over time that the dog takes, or when coming off the medication, reduce the dose or the frequency it’s taken.

Are there side effects?

Side effects vary and do not effect every dog. They are more likely during the ramping on and off phases. Common side effects may include a loss of appetite or lethargy for example, but in many cases these side effects will disappear after a few weeks as the dog gets used to the medication. Consult with your vet if you notice anything.

Although it is not common, paradoxically, some dogs may become more aggressive if the fear or anxiety was actually preventing them from acting more aggressively. In most cases reducing anxiety usually results in a calmer dog. It is an important reason to address the learning and habits of aggression your dog has developed through behavior modification.

Some medications are contraindicated (not recommended) with certain conditions, such as a history of seizures, blood disorders, cardiac issues or diabetes. Your vet will need to take your dog’s health history into account to determine which medication is safest.

See > Medications That Can Cause Dog Aggression

See > More on Common Behavioural Medications Used for Treating Dog Aggression

How anxiety relates to dog aggression and why we need to treat it

While you may think your dog is aggressive because of the neighbour’s black dog or the guy wearing that crazy hat, it is now believed by the scientific community that anxiety or uncertainty underlies most dog aggression (1). That anxiety or uncertainty in dogs underlies dog aggression is not immediately obvious. As a result it is overlooked unless you are aware of it. In fact you might want to check that any of your dog’s odd personality quirks are not a result of anxiety. And can your anxious dog who has not been aggressive before, become aggressive? In a word, yes.

When anxiety is not treated, but the aggression is suppressed, the anxiety can manifest in a different problem behaviour

Dog aggression is a complex problem. Given that that is most is rooted in anxiety punishment, shock collars, electric containment systems, choke chains, etc. can actually make dog aggression worse.

One of the troubling things about using punishment to control dog aggression (if it works and it often doesn’t) or any behavior in fact, is that it only suppresses the behaviour. It hasn’t eliminated the underlying cause. If anything it’s probably only increased the problem, which result in a more dangerous dog that may only be just keeping themselves together.

anxious dog — Dog anxiety might not be obvious

This is a problem for aggressive dogs that suffer from an anxiety disorder. When dog aggression is suppressed, but the anxiety is not treated, the anxiety can manifest in a different dog behavior. For example, self-induced lesions from licking and biting or other obsessive-compulsive behaviors can start to occur. Sadly, you might never make the connection or you might even see this new problem behavior tolerable to live with.

Should Medicine be a Last Resort?

Ultimately, whether or not your dog needs medication should be determined by a veterinary behaviorist. Medicine is seen as a quick fix by many, and seen as a bandaid solution, a crutch or a last resort by others. Both views are incorrect.

Dogs will need behavior modification in order to make new positive associations with the conditions that have elicited the aggression. However, dogs that need medication will not progress very far without it even under the best behavior modification practices, because the anxiety takes priority over everything else.

Anxiety is not just a behavior: from your dog’s perspective it can affect everything in your dog’s life even if you don’t recognize it. Medication might make all the difference in giving your dog a chance to breathe. Otherwise it makes it very difficult to learn.

These dogs may be incapable of relaxing. They may see or anticipate threats everywhere. It is not a choice, it is simply how they are wired. If your dog is diagnosed with anxiety, this should be a first report, not a last. But it should never be prescribed without proper behavior modification.

How Behavior Modification Practices Can Make Anxiety Worse

Systematic behavior modification is really the only way to directly change the moods and attitudes that are associated with behavior problems. On the surface, behavior modification appears to be a relatively simply concept: associate positive experiences with the target of the dog’s aggression or reactivity.

Unfortunately without taking the underlying state into account, many dog owners and even dog trainers do not get very far. They either conclude that behavior modification doesn’t work, or the dog is beyond help.

A lack of aggression is not necessarily progress

It’s not enough to persuade a dog with a fear of people to take a treat for a stranger’s hand. Unfortunately people look at this willing to snatch at the cookie and run away as a sign of success because the dog did not bark or growl. Then we wonder why our dog reacts badly the next time. All we have done is created a situation for the dog where they are conflicted.

A key component in behavior modification is understanding that we come to be anxious about the fear or the anxiety itself. Exposure must start at the lowest levels of anxiety so they understand that at low levels, they can cope with the anxiety. This is the only way the dog can get used to both the “stimulus” (the thing that stimulates the anxiety) and the anxiety itself. This is the only way desensitization can occur.

Otherwise, if we expose them to the “stimulus” at higher levels, they don’t lose the dread of being anxious or fearful and the continue to associate those feelings with the stimulus. All we have done is created yet another highly anxious situation for the dog and further reinforced the the association between the anxiety and the stimulus making the situation worse.

What is it like for a dog to live with anxiety?

Dog anxiety might be difficult to understand. But we are all driven by the same ancient neurochemistries. Various disorders in dogs mimic human disorders. In The Trouble With Testosterone and Other Essays On The Biology Of The Human Predicament (1997) Robert M. Sapolsky wites,

“People with anxiety disorders can be thought of as persistently mobilizing coping responses that are disproportionately large. For them life is filled with threats around every corner, threats that demand constant hypervigilance and an endless search for safety, a sense that the rules are constantly changing.”

Most of us probably have not looked at anxiety like that before, and we certainly don’t want that for our dogs! And if that quote is not enough to help us understand, these 12 thought provoking pictures by photographer, John William Keedy, who has struggled with his own anxiety might shed some light on just how mentaly consuming anxiety disorders are. In some cases a picture represents a thousands words, right? Click through to see them all.

“Photos Reveal What It’s Like to Have Anxiety Issues”

anxiety_photos — What photos can reveal about the underlying cause of a lot of dog aggression

A more anxious dog is a dog with a lowered threshold to behave aggressively. If your dog is anxious or aggressive, you should consult a veterinary behaviorist. If you want to learn more about treating dog aggression, check out The Dog Aggression System Every Dog Owner Needs.

References

(1) McMillan,Franklin D, Mental Health and Well-Being in Animals,(p135) Blackwell Publishing, 2005,

(2) Overall, KL, Manual of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Dogs and Cats, (p. 609), Elsevier, Mosby, 2013

Dog training tip: training a dog that isn’t food motivated

This dog-training article about food motivation (see below) was written almost a year ago, and yet trainers still struggle with clients and others that insist their dogs are not food motivated (or worse – using food for training leads to euthanasia – yikes!) But seeing this article pop up on the K9aggression Facebook feed reminds that these myths and beliefs are still being perpetuated.

If you are new to training, you might be confused about who’s opinion to listen to. Or maybe you have been taught that training with food is just plain wrong. But before you get started, be aware that we all have an unconscious tendency to look for evidence that supports our beliefs and reject evidence that doesn’t.

In an ideal world, we acknowledge this, and then try to form an objective opinion. Nothing is perfect, but this is what science attempts. Reading about this tendency, hopefully gives you pause for thought.

But it’s pretty safe to agree with the trainer from Paws for Praise, that without nourishment, we die. The search for food is hardwired in our brains, just as the pleasure we get from being satiated by food is as well. So if you think your dog is not motivated, perhaps click through to her article My Dog Isn’t Food Motivated….Really???????? and see what you think:

Years of research on dog aggression and how dogs learn certainly indicate that there are certain circumstances where dogs will not take food. Sometimes it’s because a dog is highly toy ~~obsessed~~ motivated (like some herding breeds). But usually when dogs don’t respond to food, it is almost always due to the food choice, the dog being full, or a result of the dog is too close to the thing that has kicked his fight or flight (sympathetic nervous system) response into gear.

If your dog isn’t not responding well to food, it may have more to do with your techniques than how food does not motivate your dog.

In conclusion:

Most dogs prefer food. But there are reasons why a dog might not take food:

Anxiety
Taste aversion (dog may not like the taste or be feeling ill)
Satiety (feeling full)

What can you do if your dog doesn’t want the food:

Move to lower stress situation or environment
Try a more delectable foods such as beef, chicken, etc. without any training and see if they like it
Change the ratio of food fed for dinner to food used for training (i.e. feed less dinner, feed more during training)
See a veterinarian or veterinary behaviorist if you dog still is uninterested in food, or continues to be anxious

5 Harsh Realities of Treating Dog Aggression

On the surface treating dog aggression – if not a simple fix – can at least appear to be relatively straightforward. Teach your dog to do something that is incompatible with aggressive behavior. How hard can that be?

Well, after the initial cycle of excitement and enthusiasm, there is the inevitable wake-up call to reality. This is going to be a little harder than you thought. It is at this critical moment when you start to wonder if you have got what it takes; if your dog is beyond help; if whether you even want to keep your dog.

When you know what to expect, it’s easier to hang in there. In fact, the more you learn, the more interested you will probably become. With that in mind, here goes…

1. Dog Aggression is not simply a “behavior”.

Aggression includes a whole internal set of emotional and physiological responses each time it occurs as well. Many of these responses are involuntary.

Aggression is not just a behavior but also a reaction; a coping response of sorts. In addition there are certain neurochemical payoffs to behaving aggressively, such as the release of a neurotransmitter called dopamine. This neurochemical is associated with pleasurable feelings, and the release of it probably offsets the sense of dread anxiety and fear produces. These complications are why punishment-based techniques are usually not effective long term (if not outright dangerous) and why simply trying to give treats to a dog usually doesn’t work too well either.

It is not enough to teach your dog to sit. You will need to have some understanding of what is going on underneath the behavior in order to adjust their attitude. You need to understand that the dread produced as a result of anxiety is not a choice and that the anxiety makes them feel they need to do something about it – urgently.

Ask yourself: why does understanding your dog’s anxiety help?

2. Too Few Of You Take Prevention And Management of Your Dog’s Aggression Seriously.

Well, besides the obvious stress as I mentioned above, the harsh reality is that most of you do not take the prevention of your dog’s anxiety seriously enough, let alone avoiding those situations that cause your dog to be aggressive. Sure, it’s great that you are feeding your dog treats every time your dog spots the target of his or her aggression. It’s far better than using a prong collar, shock collar or choke chain to manage the aggression, absolutely.

But any time your dog practices anything, the neurons in the brain – the very cells that communicate with one another – fire faster and become more efficient. It doesn’t matter if it is a behavior or an internal response. If your dog is getting anxious at these treat stuffing sessions, the neural network for that anxiety process is likely getting stronger and more efficient.

What is more concerning is that stronger neural networks dominate over other weaker neural networks in the brain. That’s right, stronger neural networks bully out those weaker ones. This is why it can be so hard to replace bad habits with alternative good behaviors!

The goal of management and prevention of anxiety and aggression is to weaken the neural network involved in the anxiety/aggression sequence. This is the only way other (practiced) alternative behaviors have a chance at becoming the dominant neural network in the brain.

Imagine there are less opportunities for your dog to behave aggressively. What would the positive outcomes be for you?

3. Most People Don’t Act on Their Dog’s Stress

If your dog is being aggressive, your dog is stressed out (regardless of what neurotransmitter is being released to cope with it). Think of aggression as a coping response to the experience of stress and anxiety. But all the physiological responses that have occurred in response to the stress do not disappear right away. Some changes last for hours, others for days, and even weeks. Chronic stress can makes us unable to regulate and respond to future stressors.

Aggression can be a vicious circle, then. But most dogs can become stressed for other reasons, too. Like when:

People pet your dog when they don’t want to be petted. Do the Consent test. Pet your dog (or have someone pet your dog) for a few seconds. Move away. What does your dog do? Any dog that wants to be petted makes it really obvious. If they stand there without approaching you, they are only tolerating it. If they turn their head away, move away from the petter, lick their lips, etc. then they may be actively stressed by it.
Your dog is unable to predict when things happen – good or bad. Unpredictable occurrences can cause stress. Build in signals that prepare your dog for when things are going to happen as long as it does not cause anticipatory anxiety for your dog.
Your dog is exposed to anything that makes them feel anxious – not just the things that they are aggressive towards. Like nail trims or thunderstorms. Does your dog have a fear of thunderstorms? Help them. Talk to a vet. Seriously. Does your dog hate nail trims? Desensitize and counter condition them to make it easier for them.

How would a less reactive dog impact your life?

4. Just Because Your Dog Has Learned To Sit and Relax Does Not Mean That it Has Become Automatic.

You may have got to the point where you are starting to work with your dog and their triggers. You may be asking them to sit and be calm in the presence of their triggers and are rewarding them for doing so. Excellent!

But there is a difference between something learned and something that has been overlearned. Overlearning is the process where something becomes habit. In other words, the behavior takes less conscious thought to perform and there for less self-control to accomplish. Sure, something new can be easily learned, and your dog can even perform it every time you ask. But it doesn’t mean that the behavior has become automatic. Just like when we have learned to tie our shoes or drive a car, we have to think about what we are doing at first. But in time we hardly need to think about it. That’s when it becomes automatic.

Why is this important? Because half the time when dog owners start trying to do desensitization and counter conditioning, their dog’s ability to sit calmly (calm being the key word here) is not even an automatic behavior in non-threatening situation.

Doing anything that requires conscious thought uses up resources in the brain. It uses up self-control. While self-control is like a muscle that can be developed, every time we do something that requires self-control or any kind of executive functioning in the brain, we use up brain resources. That means if your dog’s ability to sit calmly is learned but not yet automatic, they are using up resources processing what you want rather than using those resources toward keeping their cool instead.

So what would it mean to you if your dog automatically sat and looked to you calmly when you asked?

5. Fear is not Forgotten

Yes, this is unfortunate. Trainers are familiar with the term extinction. Extinction is the gradual weakening and disappearance of a learned response. When we work with our dog and their triggers, we are trying to make the aggression response extinct.

But extinction is not the same as forgetting. It is a relearning process – what is defined as inhibitory learning. Unfortunately it takes longer and is more fragile than fear learning. A fear response that has thought to become extinct can re-appear under stress, over time, or if the part of the brain that is involved in inhibiting the fear response is otherwise occupied on another mental task.

That is why we need to continue to monitor our dogs for stress and anxiety even after significant improvement has been made in our dog’s aggression problem.

If you understood that under the right conditions you dog may become anxious or fearful under the right conditions, what would that change for you?

It’s easier to treat dog aggression when we know what to expect

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to improve dog aggression, but it does help if you know what is involved and where the traps can lie. Understanding these 5 realities about treating dog aggression can help you avoid some of the common mistakes people make with their dogs.

Barking control

Most people find excessive dog barking very annoying. But barking is only a symptom of another problem. Understanding why your dog is barking is the first step toward controlling it.

Dogs may bark from boredom to anxiety. The dog, the owner and the environment can all influence nuisance barking.

Here are some of the potential reasons dogs bark:

Welfare Issues, anxiety or distress
Separation Anxiety
Social or territorial or Alarm Barking
Attention Seeking
Barking from confusion or frustration
Play
Barking due to Fear or Aggression
Barking related to a disorder or dysfunction
Predatory barking

Sr Sophie Yin conducted a survey of people who owned dogs that barked. (996 survey responses). Approximately 88% of these barked when they were stimulated by squirrels, sounds, people walking by and other dogs.

More than half barked when they played. Almost half barked to seek attention, and approximately 10% barked for unknown reasons including boredom.

But there are other concerns with barking. For example, barking can considered to be a sign as an indication of poor welfare. (1)

A large percentage of dogs barked both when their owners were home and when they were not, indicating that training when the owners were home could potentially have some effect when they owners were not.

Attention Seeking

If you think your dog is barking for attention, you will need to determine whether it is a learned habit, or a symptom of a greater problem. If it is a learned habit we have good and bad news for you. First the good.

Learned behavior can be be replaced with other learned behaviour.

And now the bad news.

The longer your dog has practiced the habit of barking for attention the harder it will be to change it.
Inconsistently responding to your dog barking for attention makes it even more difficult to change it, than it would be if you always responded to it.
If you are consistent in ignoring him or her, it will get worse before it gets better. This is known as an extinction burst. Essentially it means the dog will try even harder to make the barking work for them until they finally give up.
Giving in once may re-establish the annoying habit.
It’s hard to make other people follow the rules (if this is the case for members of your family, you might be interested in this article: Secrets to getting your significant others on board with your dog training.
Sometimes it just feels good for your dog to bark – that means they are barking for their own reasons and rewarded by it.

First make sure your dog’s needs are met. Feeding and walking your dog at the same time of day will help your dog know when to expect things.

Environment enrichment, training, play and exercise may help change this habit as well. Teaching your dog not to bark may be effective as well. For a helpful video on how to do this, see the video farther down the page below under Treatment > Positive Reinforcement.

Treatment for Excessive Barking

The goal here is to reduce barking. You might use one or a combination of the following techniques and tools to help you.

Note that it is unrealistic to attempt to eliminate it altogether. If you have issues with neighbours, you may have to consider moving if they are unable to tolerate any of it.

Medications for Anxious Dogs

For those dogs who are barking due to anxiety, whether separation or otherwise,may benefit from a medication that can help treat the anxiety such as fluoxetine (Reconcile™). Clomipramine is another medication that is used to treat separation anxiety. Unfortunately, Clomipramine is considered to have reduced effect in excessive barking (5). There are always potential side effects of medication, and medication without a behavioral therapy usually is not as nearly effective.

DAP (Dog Appeasing Pheromone)

Pheromones are chemical substances that are released by an animal that affects the behavior of others in the same species.

DAP is a synthetic analogue of the group of pheromones that are secreted by mother dogs after giving birth. These seem to have an appeasing affect both on young and adult animals. It has been considered to be at least as effective as Clomipramine when both are used with a behavioural plan (3) An electric diffuser can deliver DAP can be used which makes it easy.

DAP, in combination with a behavioural plan, can often quickly reduce the undesirable behaviours exhibited by dogs suffering from separation-related problems and overattachment to their owners.

Check out one of the DAP products here:
Dog Appeasing Pheromone Diffuser

Interomones

Interomones are pheromones in one species that can effects other species.

Research is early at the time of this writing, but there are indications that interomones may help control barking in clinically anxious dogs demonstrating excessive barking and jumping up. (6)

For barking due to fear or aggression

Read on, but also check out the treatment methods for dealing with aggression.

Behavior Modification

Behavior modification includes techniques like Classical Conditioning, desensitization and counter conditioning. These techniques work at dealing with the underlying causes of barking, by either:

Desensitizing them to whatever is setting the barking off
Developing new positive associations with whatever is setting the barking off so they are less likely to bark
Training them to do something that is incompatible with barking such as sitting, looking at you and remaining calm.
Another alternative can be to give them a job to do.

Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning does not involve teaching the dog to do anything. It merely takes advantage of the dog’s own inherent – and involuntary – learning. In the case of aggression, we are looking to to evoke an involuntary response (such as salivating) physiological response.

Classical conditioning for an anxious dog at the door

Case study: Dog was anxiously barking in a new apartment building There was a case of a woman in an apartment dwelling that used a remote treat delivery system to encourage people outside in the hall to remotely deliver a treat to the dog inside whenever they went by.

In time, strange sounds in the hall stopped being so alarming. Soon they became predictors of treats. In this way, sounds stopped being “strange” and started to became known. In addition rather than the sounds predicting the onset of anxiety, it predicted something to look forward to.

Read about it here: Moving with Minnie. It’s a good read!

Remote Treat Dispensers

These tools are for the above situations. These are affiliate links to Amazon which means we get a small commission if you buy at no cost to you, but we only encourage you to buy what you think will helpful! These are not the cheapest tools to use but we know people who have used them when nothing else would do.

Premier Treat & Train Remote Reward Dog Trainer This is the defacto remote control treat dispenser invented by the late Dr. Sophie Yin.

These can be used for a variety of different training scenarios. For example, if you dog barks at the door, you can use these beside your dog’s bed while you answer the door.

There is a new remote treat dispenser on the market that uses wifi and video to allow you to treat from anywhere. This would allow you to operate it while you were out of the home.

Petzi Treat Cam: Wi-Fi Pet Camera & Treat Dispenser

We haven’t used this, but it got great ratings on Amazon, and it seems like a wonderful idea for training your dog to when you are not in the house.

Classic conditioning for dogs reacting aggressively at the door

Classical conditioning has been used for aggressive dog at the door. This involves hundreds and hundreds of repetitions over a period of several weeks of ringing the doorbell.

The idea is that the dog eventually starts to develop the association of the bell or knock with the coming of food. The anticipation of this food will start the dog to salivate(and now you understand why so many darned repetitions are needed to compete with previous associations).

The point? The desire – the salivating – is part of the parasympathetic nervous system. This is parasympathetic nervous system is thought to be largely incompatible with the sympathetic nervous system which is part of our stress response.

At this point, the dog is still aggressive. However the edge has been taken off the dog do that operant conditioning can be effective (see more below).

Care must be taken not let someone in the house while the dog in there until the intensity of the dog’s response has been reduced substantially. Once this occurs, you can start to desensitize the dog to going to the door, reaching for the knob, opening the door, etc. The goal here is to break down all of the activities and situations that the dog has come to use to predict someone is coming in.

Desensitization

Many confuse desensitization with counter conditioning because desensitization often occurs while counter conditioning. But it’s important to understand they are different things. Desensitization occurs when a dog becomes less sensitive to something.

However people sometimes think they are desensitizing, when it fact they are using flooding which can often have a very negative effect. The main difference between the two is that in the case of flooding, the dog is exposed to he thing he or she is anxious or afraid of until he is no longer afraid. Clearly this can backfire and result in a traumatized dog that is even more reactive.

Desensitization depends on the dog being able to be calm. This means you need to find a distance (or duration) where the dog is only on the edge of an emotional response. If the dog cannot calm down it must be moved away from the trigger of the response immediately.

The focus on desensitization is achieving a calm relaxed state within the presence of his or her trigger.

Using a less stimulating approximation of your dog’s trigger to desensitize

Creating low-stimulating “approximations” (similar sounds like another kind of bell or knocking or a recording) of the sound may help your dog desensitize to the sound. For example for a dog that reacts to knocking, lightly knocking on a table. Use a recording of your doorbell and play it quietly, and slowly increase the sound as your dog manages to remain calm.

You will need to be creative. If your dog reacts and cannot be calm, you need to go back to or find a less stimulating example.

Counter conditioning on the other hand is specifically focused on teaching the dog to do an incompatible behavior to the one you are trying to change. So while it’s possible for the dog to be taught to do something incompatible, the dog still might be anxious. While still anxious they still have a strong likelihood of reacting if motivated enough.

Positive reinforcement, operant conditioning, counter conditioning

Positive reinforcement, in other words, rewarding the dog for being quiet is believed to be more effective to control barking than anti-barking devices (2). Using positive reinforcement for rewarding a desirable behavior incompatible with the problem can be called operant conditioning go or counter conditioning. Operant conditioning in this case above would have the dog do something incompatible with barking such as sit calmly and quietly. Once they are calm and quiet they are rewarded for doing so.

Check out this video below on how to teach the dog to bark and be quiet. You should have a basic understanding of clicker training to understand how the trainer is using the clicker to get what he wants from the dog.

Prevention of barking triggers

Since so many dogs response when stimulated, it may be possible to at least cut down on the stimulation in some cases.

For example, in the case of a hyper vigilant dog who is always looking through windows outside, it may be possible to use something such as a window cling like this Non-Adhesive Frosted Window Film, to let in light, but mask outside activities.

Sound may help to muffle the trigger sounds, but is not consistently effective because dogs have very good hearing.

Head halters

You may be interested in this article on managing dog aggression by using a head halter. Check this video out by veterinary behaviorist Dr. karen Overall for a demonstration on how to use one for barking at the door.

Environmental enrichment

Environmental Enrichment as mentioned above is a relatively passive way to improve behavior problems and stress in many animals. It is a key factor in reducing distress in shelter animals. It may or may not help depending on the causes for your dog’s barking. Check out our information on environment enrichment for dogs. The article is directed towards aggression in dogs, but it can have behavioral benefits on all dogs.

Problems with anti-bark collars

Anti-bark collars showed some short term effectiveness (54 and 66% for citronella and ecollar respectively), but neither was effective long term.

Close to 40% of dogs controlled with e-collars showed adverse effects most commonly fear of the collar itself or fear of the area were they had experienced the shock.

While intermittent use may be the most effective, findings indicate that dogs generally get used to the citronella spray collar regardless of how the animal is exposed to the device.(4)

Problems with using muzzles to stop barking

Muzzles can be an excellent tool when preventing a dog from biting or controlling aggression, but they are problematic because the dog is unable to pant. This can be dangerous in summer. In addition it makes it difficult to eat or drink which means rewarding the dog with a treat for being quiet is difficult.

Finally for these various reasons, a muzzle which prevents the mouth can increase the risk of frustration, and in turn increase the risk of aggression. You are better off trying to treat the cause, than using a muzzle.

You might also be interested in this post on improving barking in time for halloween or this creative way to deal with barking which link to the case study above in more detail.