Barking For Attention

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This article is part of our E-book, ASK THE TRAINER: Answers to common questions about dog training and behavior issues, including jumping, leash manners, aggression, fearfulness, and more.

Question:

My dog barks for attention. I have been telling her NO. It hasn't worked. Now when she barks, I've been looking away and ignoring her, but nothing seems to have changed. What do I do?

The Trainer Answers:

You are on the right track, but you’re missing a crucial step! For dogs who bark (or paw at or jump on you) for attention, people often inadvertently perpetuate the behavior by giving attention, albeit what we consider “negative” attention, such as scolding, yelling, or pushing them away. While people think this will stop the behavior, it often encourages it because the dog is receiving some form of attention.

Looking away and ignoring the behavior is one step toward eliminating the obnoxious behavior, in this case barking. If they receive no attention and are not getting a desired result, the behavior will eventually go away. However, because it has been rewarded in the past, it will likely take longer to eliminate. And if it is rewarded only occasionally, it will often stick around for a very long time.

The crucial step that is missing, and that will help eliminate the behavior much sooner, is to teach your dog an ALTERNATIVE behavior. If barking no longer works, then she will eventually replace the barking with another behavior. However, if you leave that choice up to your dog, she might choose another behavior that you don’t like any better than the barking. By teaching her a better way – what I call a more polite way – to get your attention, you can choose the new, less obnoxious behavior.

For example, when we first adopted Jahzara, she would bark at me for attention. I ignored the barking from the start, so there was no history of reinforcement. I also taught her to sit and make eye contact with me. In her case, it took about a week. She never barked at me for attention again, but for the rest of her life, when she wanted some lovin’ she would come up next to me, sit and look up pleadingly at me with her big brown eyes. And I was happy to give her attention for that.