Westies - Training a West Highland Terrier To Bark Less

How to stop your Westies barking less is going to depend on what is causing it. If it is happening when you are home, then you can start with some basic obedience commands.

Have him lay down and stay, when he starts to bark or when a situation arises that may cause him to bark. It is hard for a Westie to bark when lying down. If he barks when you are gone, then you need to determine why he is barking. It may be because he sees other animals out of a window or he is bored and is looking for attention. Lastly he is suffering from separation anxiety.

If he is bored you can try a Kong toy, which allows you to put treats inside so he has something to do. You put in different sized treats so it takes him a while to get them out. If you have a neighbor that can walk him if you are gone for several hours, this may help.

If it is due to separation anxiety, it is important to determine what causes the anxiety and then try to correct it, usually with behavior training. You need to teach your Westie to replace the barking with a more appropriate behavior. You can use a head collar with an indoor lead to correct your Westie, by closing its mouth and encouraging him/her to sit and relax.

Keep the Westie sitting until calm…then reward and tell the Westie "Okay." This only works if you can catch the Westie within the first 30 seconds of the behavior.

Barking At Night. The simple answer is to ignore your Westie. By barking, he is training you to respond. You might have a few noisy nights, but you will be showing it that barking is not productive. Certainly do not respond by shouting or scolding. If you do, the Westie will only know that its barking has been productive by making you shout (bark) as well.

Barking When The Owner Is Out. This is a big problem caused by bad owners. The Westie is a pack animal and wil be a member of the family pack. If it is given the freedom of the home by being allowed to rest on the furniture and sleep in bedrooms, then it will suffer a form of stress when the pack goes off to work because it expects to go with the pack.

When people leave home they should not look, touch or talk to the Westie for about 10 minutes beforehand. The same applies when coming home. Ignore the Westie and have no talking, no patting, and no looking. Nothing. This way, the Westie understands that its barking has not brought the owner back.

If it has been barking while you were away and is rewarded by your attention when you come back, it then thinks it was barking that brought you back to the house.

Barking at the mailman or any kind of regular deliveryman is regarded by your Westie as an intruder. Therefore he barks and is immediately rewarded by the postman going away. He thinks he has frightened off the intruder and done his duty. Talk to your postman and try to get him to cooperate. Tell him you will leave a tit-bit outside the door and ask him to push it through the letterbox before the letters.