One of the most irritating things in modern suburbia is having a neighbor whose dog is continually barking, night after night after night. So a natural question is, Will A Dog Whistle Stop Barking? Those who are bothered by barking pooches, certainly want to know.
Why do dogs bark?
Why do dogs bark in the first place? And can’t they just stop?
First of all, dogs bark because that’s just what dogs do. After all, they can’t communicate in any other way. Therefore, dogs will often bark to be territorial, warning other dogs that they are here.
On the other hand, sometimes dogs just like to yelp to be communal. After all, deep in their genes they still essentially pack animals.
By far the most common reason dogs bark is to communicate with their owners. They may be hungry, thirsty, fearful, anxious when left alone, or just plain bored.
Even the slightest noise such as the ringing of a doorbell, a wind gusting through the trees, a thunderclap, or a banging window may alert a dog.
So in many cases, they are simply acting as natural defenders of the home turf, which they have done for thousands and thousands of years.
How Whistle Training Works
In many cases, the owner of the dog is just as frustrated as you, their next-door neighbor. Nobody wants to be the pariah of the neighborhood.
Eventually, the owner may get around to trying to train his dog with a whistle.
First, realize that whistle training will not work if your dog has underlying issues. For example, does s/he bark insistently because he’s run out of food or water? Is he cold? Has it been weeks since someone took your dog for a walk?
So take care of the essential issues first. But if your dog insists on barking, whistle training will help.
Step one is to initiate your dog to bark. Amazingly, just because you are paying attention to your dog, when it comes time to train him or her, they won’t bark at all.
If so, then initiate barking by having someone ring the doorbell or perhaps bang a pot to get their attention.
When he does begin to work, blow your whistle, once, sharply.
Don’t blow the whistle repeatedly. Your dog should get the point after one sharp blow of the whistle. If he stops, immediately reward him with a treat. If he doesn’t stop, try blowing again, once.
Repeat this process many times in a month and your dog will gradually learn to control his excessive barking. Just don’t expect whistle training to work immediately, or that your dog will never bark again. That’s not happening.
It may take a month or even longer for a dog to catch on, so come to this training with plenty of patience.
Will a dog whistle stop a dog from barking?
Yes and no. If you mean forever, no a dog whistle won’t work that way. Dogs have been bred for thousands of years as beasts who warn humans of approaching predators or threats.
No matter how long you attempt to train a dog with a dog whistle, you’ll not breed that out of them. Nor do you want to.
What if you have burglars approaching the house? What if there is a fire? Do you just want our dog to sit idly by and think, “must not bark, must not bark?”
There are indeed plenty of situations where it’s entirely appropriate that your dog warn you of impending danger.
Will A Dog Whistle Stop The Neighbor’s Dog From Barking?
There are three answers. No, no, and no.
First of all, while a dog whistle may temporarily distract a dog, it’s only temporary. In order to train a dog not to bark, he must associate not barking with a reward.
Are you going to throw hamburgers over your neighbor’s fence to reward him? Hardly. And what about if the dog is two doors down, not immediately next door. The dog then has no association between barking and the whistle. In fact, the dog just may assume you are a threat that deserves his owner’s attention.
Secondly, as it may take a dog to learn to bark less with a whistle, are you going to camp out in your backyard every night waiting for the dog to start barking.
As dogs can bark just as well at 10 p.m. or 3 a.m., there may be no rhyme or reason to his barking pattern.
Third, you do not generally know the exact reason the dog is barking. Do you know for example whether he is healthy? Whether he has enough food or water? Do you know in fact that there isn’t a burglar surrounding your near neighbor’s house?
For you to assume that a few blows of a dog whistle will quiet the dog down is to not know anything about dogs and their physical and emotional needs.
And here’s another factor to keep in mind. The further the dog is from your backyard, the less effective they are. And rather than stopping the dog from barking, you simply will tend to irritate an untrained dog
Instead, speak to your neighbor about the problem. You don’t know, they may even work at night and are totally unaware of the problem.
Discuss possible solutions to the problem such as them hiring a dog trainer. If that doesn’t take care of the problem, then file a noise complaint.
Conclusion
Will A Dog Whistle Stop Barking? Not, if you are an outside stranger. Only the owner can take the initiative to actively train their dog to limit its barking as far as that goes.
So what can you do? A good option is an ultrasonic dog barking device. This works using ultrasonic frequencies that work within the dog’s hearing range to quite it down.
It is not a guarantee either but the signal will emit further and more strongly than a whistle meaning that it will have a greater effect on the dog.
If you want to learn more about ultrasonic dog barking control devices, click the link below. Or if you have any questions, comments or other feedback, let’s talk about it in the comments box below!
Click Here To See More Ultrasonic Barking Control Devices!You may also like:
The ultrasonic barking control device sounds really interesting and something I’ve never even heard about.
Have you used it yourself to train your dog? How’s the experience?
The main premise is that the dog will likely be more aware of it to respond since it emits sound more strongly but how about the neighbors and such? Does it emit a very loud sound?
Hey Julius,
Thanks for your comment and question. Yes, I have used an ultrasonic barking control device with much success.
Good ones work by emitting sounds that are detectable to dogs but not so much to humans. All dogs within the hearing range of the device can hear it. The range depends on the device you are using.
The one we recommend has a very high range and can work on dogs a couple of houses away! The sound is loud to dogs but not detectable to humans.
If you want to learn more about Ultrasonic Dog Control Barking Devices checkout the links below:
1) Do Ultrasonic Dog Barking Control Devices Really Work? [The Truth May Shock You]
2) Best Ultrasonic Dog Barking Device | Silence The Neighbor’s Dog
Hope this helps and please let us know if you have any more questions.
Have a good holiday weekend,
Marlinda
I wish I could print this out and hand it to some people I know. Their dogs are the most obnoxious things in the world!
I’d love to give it to them but I doubt they would listen even if I personally delivered it to them myself. Hopefully, this will help others with their or their neighbor’s barking dogs.
Thanks for posting it for those responsible pet owners who actually want to try.
Hey! Thanks for your comment and for sharing your thoughts. I’m glad you found value in this information. Have a blessed day! 🙂
Hi there,
Thank you for sharing this awesome article; I found it very useful.
I’ve had so many problems with my neighbors because my dogs were barking all the time. I’ve tried collars, pepper, and all kinds of things, and nothing helped, except one thing. I realized that when there were inside the house, they didn’t bark.
And that’s because they couldn’t see or hear something that could potentially make them bark. So now they are most of the time inside the house, and I don’t have any problem with my neighbors anymore:).
However, I’ll give it a try with the whistle and see how it works. To be honest, I’ve never tried this so far.
Thank you for this excellent post.
Hey Daniella,
Thanks for your comment and for sharing your experience. It’s likely that your dogs feel safer in the house. Trust me, they still hear what’s going on outside unless they are hearing impaired.
If they are hearing impaired, the vibrations of sound may have been making them uneasy being outside. That might be why they bark outside instead of inside.
Let me know how it works for you. If you are still looking for something we highly recommend this Ultrasonic Anti-Barking Control Device. You can click the link below for more details.
Take care and have a wonderful Independence Day if you celebrate! 🙂
Marlinda
Dog Barking Control Devices Founder
>Click Here To Learn More About Our #1 Recommendation for Barking Control Device