Dog Barking

[M ARTIGOLLE]

Hello,

My dog is used to have our helper around the entire day, however on Sunday it is her day off and as soon as she leaves the dog barks continuously. Any tips on how to handle this situation? not sure giving the dog a chewing treat is the answer as the dog will associate barking with treats later.......any suggestions please

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forums!

I will be able to provide some tips, but will need some more information. 

What breed is your dog?

How old is your dog?

Are you home with your dog when your helper leaves and your dog starts barking? or is your dog completely alone?

Does the barking subside after a little while or is it sustained?

How long does the barking last?

Is your dog ever left alone at other times?

Does your helper also feed your dog, walk your dog, play with your dog, give attention?

I understand your concerns about giving chewing treats when your dog is barking, but in these cases, if the barking is triggered by stress/fear of being left alone, consider that you cannot reinforce fear, because fear is an emotion.

For sake of an example, imagine a child who cries when mom drops the child off for daycare. If the daycare workers give the child a lollipop and let the child play, the child will be less likely to cry in the future because he's learning to feel safe and not afraid. Soon, his emotional state changes, and there's no more need for crying.  We are basically working on tackling the underlying emotions, and the barking is only external manifestation of an internal turmoil. If we tackle the underlying emotions, as a result we should also address the associated barking so its function becomes redundant. 

However, giving treats when a dog is barking is a rather a simplistic description. When dogs show signs of separation anxiety/isolation distress, behavior professionals work on it using desensitization and counterconditioning, which may look like giving chewables when the dog is left alone, but there's a lot more going on than that. We are systematically working starting with low intensity contexts, while also changing the dog's underlying emotions so to create better coping mechanisms.