I am a fan of changing a dog’s behavior through positive reinforcement, rather than relying on devices for anti-barking.
So I’ve been digging around for some books on the subject. Nor surprisingly, there aren’t too many books solely focused on controlling excessive dog barking.
Rather, you need to sift through regular dog training manuals in order to find the section on barking control. If you’re short on time this could be a problem, so I’ve done the hard work for you.
Here are my top 5 books that contain excellent information specifically on controlling excessive barking.
Barking: The Sound of a Language
Turid Rugaas
This book is one of the Dogwise Training Manual series. It has excellent ratings and reviews at Amazon – 4.5 out of 5 stars.
This book sets the basis of knowledge for dog barking. Without understanding why dogs bark, you’ll have a harder time getting them to stop.
Rugaas teaches that barking is natural for dogs as it is form of communication – their language.
You will discover the 6 different types of barking and how to tell them apart. This is excellent knowledge to have if your dog barks excessively and you need to curb it.
Thankfully, also covered are methods to minimize negative barking behavior.
Above all Barking: The Sound of a Language will help you to be calm and understanding, rather than angry and frustrated when your dog barks.
I highly recommend this book for ALL dog owners, if for nothing else other than its detailed approach to barking as a specific subject.
Get it for only $9.32 at Amazon
Good Owners, Great Dogs
Brian Kilcommons & Sarah Wilson
Being a 4.5 out of 5 star book at Amazon with 160 or so customer reviews (with over 130 of reviewers giving it a 5/5 rating), I had to take a closer look at this book.
I enjoyed the conversational style of writing by Kilcommons, it makes this an easy volume to get through relatively quickly if you wish to read it from front to back (a habit of mine).
Of course, you can also just skip to the sections that concern you, such as how to control barking. The tips relating to other behavioral issues are also worth a look in, even if you are not experiencing them right now.
Whether you have never been involved in training a dog before, or have some experience, this book will teach you something new.
Get it for only $10.87 at Amazon
Cesar’s Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems
Cesar Millan & Melissa Jo Peltier
If you’ve ever watched the TV show The Dog Whisperer, you will be familiar with Cesar Millan. I don’t normally go for books written by TV presenters because they are usually nothing more an a franchise cash cow, but I did get the idea that this guy knows what he’s on about, so I wanted to check out his book.
I’ve singled out this book amongst the hundreds of other dog training books out there because I like Cesar’s approach, particularly this line in the official review:
“Problem dogs” can be attributed to “problem owners,” owners who don’t understand and misinterpret their dog’s behavior”
The above is so often the case with excessive barking, where dog owners simply have no idea of what is normal dog behavior. they expect dogs to act like people, but obviously this isn’t the right approach to training. This book should steer you back on the right track.
I also like his section on “The difference between discipline and punishment”. This is a topic covered in most books, but Cesar has a great of explaining it well and to the point. Make sure you read this part a few times. Pack mentality is the underlying message and focus of this book, and will change the way you think about dog training forever.
Not surprisingly, this book is a top seller. Currently there are almost 750 customer reviews at Amazon. This is the break down of the ratings given, I think it tells the story:
737 Reviews
5 star: 474 people
4 star: 94 people
3 star: 54 people
2 star: 43 people
1 star: 72 people
Get it for only $10.04 at Amazon
If you like Cesar Millan’s style, then also check out his Be the Pack Leader: Use Cesar’s Way to Transform Your Dog . . . and Your Life
The Dog Listener: Learn How to Communicate with Your Dog for Willing Cooperation
Jan Fennell
With a 4.5 rating from 100+ reviewers at Amazon, this book caught my attention. I also enjoyed reading Jan’s book The Seven Ages of Man’s Best Friend back in 2006.
Jan is a staunch opponent of using threats and pain in dog training – something that some trainers are unfortunately still using. She doesn’t agree with choke collars, harsh language or smacking either.
Like Cesar, Jan focuses on understanding natural wild dog behavior as a basis for being able to train them and to change unwanted behaviors.
At 400 pages long there’s a lot of information packed in here, with very little fluff and space filler which can often beset a book of this size.
People have had great success following the principles outlined by Fennell in this book. One reader noted:
"Having read stacks of dog training books, and always feeling like there was something missing, I was left with my dog still barking at strangers, misbehaving off-leash, and howling for hours when I left for work. Jan explains it all, and how to fix it, in such a clear and easy way that readers are left wondering why they never thought of it that way before…"
Get it for only $11.55 at Amazon
The Only Dog Training Book You Will Ever Need
Gerilyn J. Bielakiewicz & Andrea Mattei
With a title like “The Only Dog Training Book You Will Ever Need” one has to wonder whether the author is being funny or cocky.. or a bit of both. I wanted to find out by reading it.
The sub-title of this book is “From Avoiding Accidents to Banishing Barking, the Basics for Raising a Well-Behaved Dog”. The banishing barking part is what spiked my interest. So many books claim to have barking “cures” but then only touch very lightly on the subject.
But thankfully this book dives into the barking topic quite in depth, as well as other behavioural topics. It does also go on about clicker training which won’t interest everyone, but there are still principles to be learned about humane and positive training for your dog.
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