Your Dog Barks If Left Outside Without You
If your dog barks excessively when they are outside on their own, firstly check they are safe and not hurt.
Then check there isn’t any birds, cats, or anyone on the other side of the fence they are warning you about.
If all is clear and they are just barking to come in, stay calm and quietly tell them to shush. Use distraction techniques.
Tell them to sit or lie down or even to go to bed if they have one outside. Distract them with a toy and when they stop barking praise them.
If your dog knows stay or wait with a hand signal, do the hand signal to tell them to be quiet.
If they keep barking, ignore them, don’t even look at them until they stop – even if it’s just for a few seconds – then let them in.
Remember to reward and praise them when they are quiet – it might only be a second or two but praise them. As soon as they start barking again, distract or ignore.
Turning your back on them is a great way to ignore them and let them know you aren’t happy. Break all eye contact.
We did all of these distraction techniques with our Evie (read the case study), the techniques that worked the best was the hand signal to wait and ignoring her, including avoiding eye contact.
To begin with, they will probably only stop barking to catch their breath, let it play out, they will tire soon. As soon as they quieten for a breath open the door and let them in, or reward them and then let them in.
Once they get better at staying quieter for longer, make them wait quietly longer before letting them back inside. It helps them learn patience as well as to stop barking.
We go a step further with our dogs – whether they bark or not – before they are let back into the house, they are asked to sit and wait until the door is open and wait until we give the release command.
Only then are they allowed to come in.
We also do this when leaving the house and coming back from a walk and getting in/out of the car.
It makes life a lot easier, less frantic, and better because you aren’t getting knocked over by dogs!