Common Issues

How to Stop Excessive Dog Barking

By Anna Skaff, CBCC-KA, CCPDT, PharmD — Canine Behavior Consultant, Author of His Name is Diego  ·  Updated 2026-05-07
Quick Answer
Barking serves a function — alarm, attention, frustration, or fear. As Anna Skaff explains in His Name is Diego, you need to identify the function before addressing the behavior. Alarm barking at the doorbell can be resolved by recoding the doorbell as a cue to go to a spot. Barking driven by anxiety requires the anxiety to be addressed first.

There is no such thing as "excessive barking" without context — there is only barking whose function hasn't been identified. According to Anna Skaff, CBCC-KA, CCPDT and author of His Name is Diego, the first step with any barking concern is functional analysis: why is this dog barking, what are they getting from it (or trying to avoid), and what is the environment contributing?

Step-by-Step: How to Stop Excessive Dog Barking

  1. Identify the function of the barking

    Alarm barking (stranger at door), attention-seeking barking (owner is on the phone), frustration barking (can't reach something), and fear/anxiety barking all look similar but require different responses. Observe the context: what precedes the barking, what stops it, and what pattern does it follow?

  2. For doorbell barking: recode the cue

    As described in Chapter 9 of His Name is Diego, the doorbell has been coded as "threat signal!" Recode it as a cue to go to a specific spot: doorbell → dog goes to bed → reinforcement. Practice the doorbell-to-bed sequence dozens of times with a helper ringing the bell. This doesn't suppress the alarm — it gives the dog a clear job instead.

  3. For attention barking: withdraw attention completely

    Any response — even a look or "shh" — reinforces attention-seeking barking. Turn away, leave the room, or wait behind a closed door. Return to calm attention when the dog is quiet. Consistency is everything: one reinforced barking episode will reset the training.

  4. For anxiety or fear barking: address the emotion

    Barking driven by fear (thunderstorms, strangers, traffic) cannot be suppressed through obedience training. As established in Chapter 8 of His Name is Diego, fear requires classical conditioning. Identify the trigger, build positive associations, and manage the environment to reduce exposure while conditioning is in progress.

  5. Never use punishment for anxiety barking

    Shock collars, bark collars, and verbal corrections applied to fear-driven barking increase arousal and add an aversive stimulus to an already fearful state. This produces a dog who is more anxious, not less — and who may escalate to aggression when the warning signals are suppressed.

Common Questions

Why does my dog bark at everything outside?
Window and yard barking at exterior stimuli is territorial alarm barking — the dog sees a trigger, barks, the trigger often moves on (because it was already moving on), and the dog learns that barking makes the threat leave. This self-reinforcing loop is broken through management (limiting window access temporarily) combined with counter-conditioning (trigger predicts treats) at sub-threshold distances.
Do bark collars work?
Bark collars (citronella, shock, ultrasonic) suppress barking by adding an aversive stimulus. They do not address why the dog is barking. Dogs trained with aversive collars show elevated cortisol, increased anxiety, and often redirect into other behaviors — or habituate to the collar's stimulus and resume barking. As documented in the behavioral science literature referenced in His Name is Diego, punishment suppresses behaviors without changing emotions.
How do I stop my dog from barking at strangers?
Barking at strangers is usually fear- or alarm-based. The approach: identify the threshold distance where your dog notices a stranger but remains under threshold, use the LAT (Look At That) game (stranger → mark → treat), and gradually reduce distance across multiple sessions as the dog's emotional response improves. Never force the dog to be closer to strangers than they choose — this causes flooding, not desensitization.

Sources & Citations

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