When your dog barks excessively at you, do you know what your dog is trying to tell you? And what to do about it?

Dogs bark for all kinds of reasons, and it's critical to know the why behind your dog's bark to know how to redirect your dog's barking behavior to stop the barking. If your dog is incessantly barking at you, it's likely he or she wants something and is trying to let you know... often repeatedly.

In this guide, force-free certified professional dog trainer and Dogly Training Advocate Tressa Fessenden-McKenzie takes you through what you need to know to understand your dog's demand barking and how to teach your dog to stop barking.

If you're ready to jump into the full guide now, you can get started here:

• Why and how to stop demand barking

Or here's a quick overview of what you'll learn in the guide to demand barking below.

**plan-panel

Demand Barking Guide: What to Do when Your Dog Barks to Get Something He or She Wants

Is your dog barking to get something - attention, a ball thrown, food, or any other favorite thing? At first, it can seem rather charming - your dog is talking to you! But as it continues as a pattern, fairly quickly it becomes a less than wanted behavior.

It helps to first understand what your dog is thinking and feeling, then learn how to work with your dog to redirect his or her communication in more welcome ways. Or even better, set your dog up to make demand barking an unnecessary behavior by preventing it before there's a reason for it to happen anymore.

What you'll learn in this guide on barking behavior:

1) Why demand barking is so common

Demand barking tends to happen more than most vocalizations from our dogs, mostly because it's easy to reinforce the behavior, sometimes without giving it much thought.

It's so much easier in the moment when you're on a conference call, for example, and your dog is barking for a favorite ball or a treat or whatever to just give it to your pup. Of course, since dogs do what works, you can expect more demand barking by doing that. After all, it worked for your dog!

**follow-panel

2) What kind of body language is usually a sign of demand barking (in addition to the barking)

It's a good chance it's demand barking if your dog is looking at you or at some object (even the door) and insistently barking. Your dog could also be pawing, jumping, or spinning around while barking at you (or whoever the demandee is).

3) Why prevention is your first, best solution to stop the barking

We always talk about "setting your dog up for success" in just about everything because it's so much easier to celebrate and reward behaviors you want to see than to work with ingrained, unwanted behavior after the fact.

Tressa shares exercises to try with your dog to set your dog up for success with alternate behaviors to replace the cycle of barking to get the desired something - including a 2-step exercise including your "touch" skill. (If you and your dog don't have "touch" in your repertoire, you can learn this super versatile, foundational skill here in the Training Channel.)

4) Can excitement/anticipation barking turn into demand barking?

Barking out of excitement can often turn into demand barking. Your dog begins barking in anticipation of something desirable, the desirable thing happens, and before you know it, your dog begins to think the barking must happen to make the thing happen.

The solution is similar to addressing demand barking - working on alternate behaviors to preempt the excessive barking = desired thing cycle. See above and try this approach or see the full guide on excitement barking here in the Barking Channel.

5) How to retrain a longtime reinforced demand bark

Tressa uses the example of Rocky, a dog whose demand barking was unintentionally reinforced over many years, to show you how you can work with even the most ingrained demand barking habits to teach that not barking is more rewarding.

**channel-panel

Tressa takes you step by step through how to teach your dog not to demand bark in this guide and video including...

• Pro tips on how to retrain your dog not to bark when he/she wants something
• How to use quick clicking and treating when your dog stops barking (or hasn't started) to teach your dog that silence is more rewarding
• And troubleshooting if it's not working at points along the way.

6) Could boredom be the reason for your dog's compulsive barking?

If your dog is barking for your attention, it could be that his or her needs for physical exercise and mental engagement aren't being fully met.

What you can do to keep your dog engaged and relaxed...

Tressa reminds us all that every dog is different and some need more exercise and engagement to be their best, relaxed selves. As with pretty much everything you'll find in Dogly, the number one rule is "know your dog."

Observe your dog and note your pup's likes and personal-best activity level - both physical and mental. You can find multiple ideas throughout the Training Channel to fulfill what works for your dog - from all-you-can-sniff walks to how to prep licking mats and stuff-able chew toys.

To dive into all the specifics on managing your dog's demand barking, you can find the full guide here along with the video where Tressa takes you through the retraining steps when dogs bark excessively to make their desires known.

**plan-panel

Next up in the Barking Channel on Dogly

Once you know how to manage your dog's demand barking, learn what to do if your dog has other excessive dog barking behaviors like excitement barking, alert barking, or fear barking in the other guides in the Barking Channel here on Dogly.

If you have any questions about your (too frequently) barking dog, just ask in our Community Discussion. And continue in our Barking Channel where you'll learn everything you and your dog need to know about dogs' barking from our community of Dogly Training Advocates.

Or if you ever need more personalized dog training guidance, please reach out!