You love your dog – but he barks - a lot! The barking can become a serious problem if it doesn't let up.

Well, there are the age old ideas. Dog obedience training is one option that will stop the barking and transform your pet into an easy-to-love companion. Exercise for your dog can sometimes be enough to stop that barking. If your dog is worn out he isn't going to bark as much.

Of course, sometimes barking is a good thing. He may have heard or smelled something and wants to let you know. Just acknowledging him may well stop the barking, he knows you've heard and understood. If the barking keeps up, have your dog sit or lay down. If that stops the barking, reinforce the good behavior with goodies or affection.

Giving your dog something to chew on is also a good deterrent to barking. Have you ever heard a dog barking with food in his mouth? Your dog will be totally focused on the reward and forget about barking!

If you still are not successful stopping a dog from barking, you might want to use a bark control collar. Many of these work by using sound so that the desired behavior, (in this case stopping barking), can be associated with the sound. Some of the more sophisticated, and of course expensive, models also use electric shocks to deter the dog from barking.

There are two types of bark detection used in Bark control collars. Some collars activate when they hear the dog barking, others activate when they feel the vibration from the bark. Both types of collars have good and bad points. So now they make dual collars that use both types of detection and even have protection against false activation.

No matter what you do in stopping a dog from barking, if you are committed to it you can do it and you and your dog will both be happy.