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Page Five of a twelve-page article:
A Detailed Examination of the Process of Bark Training a Dog

Bear Reverts

When spring rolled around our lease was up and we got a line on a better house in another part of town, for less money. It was the end of the line for me and the little shepherd boy. It tore me up to leave him there, knowing what things would be like for him after I was gone. Bear's life was a sad story with a sad ending, but then, that's usually the case. More often than not, when you hear a barking dog, you're listening to a wail of sorrow from a desperate animal that knows his life is passing him by.

A few months later I took a walk through the old neighborhood. I saw Bear but he didn't see me. His attention was focused on some people standing across the way. He watched them quietly for a moment, probably wondering whether they might have time to socialize with a guy such as himself. Then, he barked. He barked and barked and barked.

Behavior Chases the Contingencies

If there is only one thing you take away from the story of Bear, let it be this: Bear's behavior was determined by the situation in which he found himself. When the situation is arranged one way the dog barks. If the situation is arranged a different way he stops barking. When the situation reverts back to the old conditions the dog reverts back to the old behavior.

That's why it is so exasperating to witness the finger pointing ritual of the irresponsible dog owner: "He's too stupid." "He can't learn." "He can't be trained." "He's too young." "He's too old." "He's hopeless." "He's psychotic." "He's neurotic." "He's insane." "He's barking because he saw another dog." "It's because he saw a cat." "He saw a squirrel." "He saw the mailman." "He's out of control." "That's just the way it is." "It's not my fault." "Hey, dogs bark, man, whadaya expect?"

The problem with those arguments is that they are all a crock. Your dog is barking because you have placed him in a situation in which it is more rewarding for him to bark than it is for him to be quiet. Your barking dog is not stupid. He's not crazy. What the dog is doing makes perfect sense, given the situation in which you have placed him. It's your dog. It's your situation. It's your fault. Take responsibility for it!

Too Stupid To Live

Arguing with someone about whether their dog can be trained not to bark is like debating whether the earth is flat or the moon is made of green cheese. It's ridiculous, and it brings to mind the old truism: "Any excuse is better than none."

The fact is that, if there really were such a thing as a dog that was too stupid to learn not to bark, he would also be, quite literally, too stupid to live. Think about it. If every time your dog barked you went outside and gave him a sharp smack, or threw water on him, or dispensed some other punishing aversive, and he continued to bark chronically, that would mean he was unable to make the connection between what he just did and what just happened to him. A dog so totally unable to grasp cause and effect relationships would stick his nose in the fire over and over again without ever making the connection between the pain in his snout and the fact that he put it in the fire. He would walk endlessly through the briar patch on bloody paws, forget to eat, run in the sun until he died of heat stroke, and stand in the snow bank until he was frostbitten. It's an absurd notion. If you dispense aversives immediately, every time he barks, he will respond.

Your dog, then, is definitely smart enough to learn. The question is, are you smart enough to teach him, and are you committed enough to follow through with the effort?

There Are Two Types Of Bark Training

1. No Barking Bark Training, in which you teach your dog not to bark.

2. Watchdog Training, in which you train your dog to bark at certain things, but not at others.

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