Do Dog Whistles Work To Stop Barking?

Do Dog Whistles Work To Stop Barking? Sound is one of the main ways dogs communicate, so it would make sense to use it if we want to have a word with our pups.

Our dog’s hearing is much more sensitive than ours and often times can hear things we can’t. One really good reason not to assume your dog is barking ‘at nothing’.

You may have heard of sound being used to train dogs. Clicker and dog whistles being two popular tools in a good dog trainer’s tool bag.

But most of us aren’t dog trainers and I’m not sure if they offer a service to train dogs to bark less. I’ve never had a dog trained by one so I could be wrong.

I train all my dogs to be well-behaved citizens and have actually never come across the topic through my extensive research so I assume that’s how it is.

So it’s left up to us to train ours or our neighbor’s dogs to stop barking. In theory, you’re going to blow the whistle every time the dog barks.

Sounds cumbersome though, right? No worries, I’ve got a better solution for you that works the same way but will take little to no effort on your part. First, let’s discuss this so we can really wrap our heads around what this is and why it will or will not work. We’ll talk about dog whistles and if this method can actually work to control barking.

What Is a Dog Whistle?

A dog whistle is a small device that you blow into to sub-vocally (ie, out of normal human hearing) get the dog’s attention because the sound emitted is irritating to the dog.

If a dog is constantly barking in your neighborhood when you are trying to sleep it can be incredibly frustrating. A typical dog barks at a decibel level of 90 decibels which is more than an alarm clock, a blender, or an electric drill.

Because your neighbor’s irritating dog will not know what you mean if you step out to your back yard and yell “shut the hell up” you need a different approach. For most, that approach is a subhuman dog whistle that can’t be heard by humans but which emits an irritating sound to the dog which is similar to the human equivalent of scraping nails on a blackboard. Yikes!

Why Do Dogs Bark?

Barking is a dog’s natural way of communicating and there is no way to entirely eliminate barking. Dogs bark to get food or water. to express pain or discomfort, to maintain their territory and out of sheer boredom.

Dog barking is completely normal yet at the same time, there are many cases where it can be inappropriate.

For example, if a jetliner goes 10,000 feet over your yard, one or two barks may be appropriate but not 50. So if the dog is a night barker, you should be sure the dog’s physical and emotional needs are being met. If so, it’s time for alternative reinforcement.

How Sound Can Affect Dog Barking?

Dog’s can hear up to 4 times what a human hears, (check out this article by the American Kennel Club, so much goodies in there!) and at greater frequencies. Even the physicality of a dog’s ears is different. They have up to 18 muscles to control hearing while humans only have six. No wonder they can hear so much better than us! :O

Since dogs have greater hearing, they may bark in response to many stimuli such as:

• when the mailman comes to the door
• they notice other dogs barking at strangers in the neighborhood
• a person using a drill in a garage
• they scared themselves and their friend dogs with a fart (true story!! Mine do it all the time, LOL!!)
• and many other things you may not think they may bark at.

Again, however, the problem is not the occasional barking, but inappropriate or inappropriately delivered barking. By emitting a sound, you disrupt the dog’s own vocalization in a dog-saavy way.

See, I think the hardest thing for us as people to understand is that dogs don’t understand language. In other words, they don’t speak words regardless of the language they are spoken.

Dogs speak in sound production. So when you yell at your dog, they don’t hear the words they hear the aggressive sound projected towards them challenging their statement.

Ever notice when you yell at your dog it barks louder?! Yeah, cuz you just threw gasoline on the fire and your dog is yelling back its point.

Think about it. When someone cuts you off because they don’t want to hear what you’re saying, doesn’t that fire you up to yell louder? It’s like if you yell the person might hear you then…or something, lol.

It’s the same with dogs. They WILL be heard! Its better to respond to your dog’s barking with statements like ‘It’s ok’ or soothing him/her because your vocal projection will be a lot calmer.

Do Dog Whistles Work To Stop Barking?

Dog whistles emit a frequency of 20,000 kilohertz or more, that is beyond human hearing, but quite irritating to the dog.

The trick of a dog whistle is to get the dog to associate his barking with the irritating noise the dog whistle makes.

As said earlier, not all barking of dogs is sheer boredom or a desire to play or get attention. If it’s an outside dog for example, and the dog is out of food or his water dish became tipped over, the dog will bark. So too will he bark if he cut his paw or has other physical distress.

However, since much of the inappropriate barking is the dog having trained the owner to give him attention if he barks enough, they learn quickly to bark inappropriately.

In this case, dog whistles first distract dogs from barking. A dog whistle will sound like air blowing to a human, but at 20,000 megahertz or more, the dog’s hearing instantly picks the sound and gradually learns to associate the irritating sound the dog whistle makes with their barking.

A More Convenient Option

Ok, so Do Dog Whistles Work To Stop Barking or not? The answer is a resounding yes, however, there is one major problem with using a dog whistle.

Using a dog whistle can be quite cumbersome and inconvenient. First of all you have to blow it every time the dog barks inappropriately. This can be heavy on the lungs and your patience especially in the beginning phase.

I mean, we’re not talking about barking once in a while for short times and everything is good and normal. We’re talking about constant firing off of barking AND you have to do it until you get your dog’s attention in the first place. Yeah…not ideal…BUT there is a better option coming shortly!

Also, if a dog starts barking in communication with other dogs at 2 in the morning, you need to get up open your window blow the dog whistle. And if you are in a 2-bedroom house, you may have walk down the stairs, open your back patio door and stand outside and blow every 30 seconds or so to distract the dog.

Another problem inherent in dog whistles is that many dogs won’t learn to associate the irritating sound the dog whistle makes with their barking unless the irritating sound is immediately reinforced after their barking begins.

So, while you may have great success in training your own dog at home with a dog whistle during short, intentional sessions, you may find it difficult to keep up with throughout the day and night.

Even under the best of circumstances, it may take two or three weeks to get the dog trained, and camping out in a tent in your back yard waiting for the neighbor’s dog to bark is hardly the best of circumstances. And the dog may be acting territorial to you being in the back yard near his yard.

To combat these drawbacks, we recommend you use a GOOD ultrasonic dog control device. These devices work on the same type of irritating high-frequency noise as a dog whistle, only remotely instead.

You place one in line of sight to the offending dog in a tree, on a pole or on a dresser (depending on your circumstances), and the second the dog barks, the speaker in the device emits a sub-vocal sound at the dog.

Not only is the negative reinforcement instant, but the irritating sound is now being controlled by the dog. If the dog barks 10 times, up to 10 “noise bombs” are triggered by the dog. If the dog barks five times, then stops for a minute and then picks up back where he started, instantly the device will respond.

And because some devices can respond to a dog barking from more than 100 feet away, even stubborn dogs gradually get the message.

These ever-constant sound reinforcement devices not only work much better than plain dog whistles, but you don’t require any cooperation from your neighbor. This is great especially if they are the type of combative, non-friendly type. You just set them up and slowly begin to train the neighbor’s dog to stop inappropriate barking on auto-pilot.

And one of the best parts, unlike spraying harsh chemicals into the neighbor’s yard or other potentially illegal substances, barking noise inhibitors are neither illegal nor do they in any way harm the dog. Chances are, your neighbor won’t even know you’re using one.

Our #1 Recommendation For Ultrasonic Barking Control Devices

Now you can really see the benefit and sense of to using an Ultrasonic Barking Device to control your’s or your neighbor’s dog’s barking, I can’t leave you without sharing why I emphasize on the word ‘GOOD’. Honestly, there’s a lot of crap out there that claims to work but they’re complete garbage.

Personally, my main goal is to create a happy balance between you and your dog. The LAST thing I want is for anyone to give up their dog because of barking.

That is my ENTIRE drive behind creating this site. It’s unfortunate that the top reason that dogs are abandoned or surrendered is because of barking, something that is so misunderstood but fixable with the right tools and training.

So that being said, I will never just choose some random piece of crap and say its the best. Because that helps neither dog(s) nor people.

We’ve found that the Best Ultrasonic Bark Control Device out right now is the Dog Silencer® MAX. It’s superior in just about everything. Its louder, reaches further, and more durable than any other ultrasonic anti-barking device on the market.

If you want to learn more about this device you can click here to read our full review. You can also see what other options you have by clicking the button below because there are a few other styles that might suit your needs better than this one.

As always, please feel free to ask any questions you may have, add feedback, requests or any other comments in the comments box below. Hope this was helpful and look forward to serving you more good info on dog barking and how to control it in future articles to come!

Click Here To See More Ultrasonic Barking Control Devices!

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