A Florida dog owner has been praised after she shared her top tips to stop and reduce “demand barking.”
Dogs are known for being man’s best friend, but there are some instances where their calls for attention can rub people the wrong way.
In a viral TikTok video, user vigothetoller shared a 22-second clip offering advice about handling demand barking.
The video showed the Miami-based owner with her dog Vigo as he barked while she was sitting down and looking into the cellphone camera.
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Captions on the video read: “This was a day where all of Vigo’s needs had been met but he wanted to play. You can see he tried to nibble my arm, and I did my best to not pull away and engage his prey drive. I wanted to be as still and unresponsive as possible.
“Even though it can be so difficult, I try to not give him any attention (no eye contact, no petting, no speaking) when he gets like this, to teach him that this is not how he can get our attention.”
She continued: “After about a minute he gave up. But that minute felt like 15 – this is a great example of why setting a time when behaviors like this start can be so helpful.”
@vigothetoller My top tips to reduce demand barking: 📌 Ignore the barking. I know it’s hard but by playing, you’re teaching your dog that THIS is how they can get your attention. 📌 Try not to shout. Again, I know demand barking can be headache inducing but by shouting, your dog may think you’re barking back and it could increase their barking rather than put an end to it. 📌 Set a timer. This has been gold for me. One minute of a barky puppy feels like 15. Setting a timer helped me see how long he was keeping this up for and manage my own expectations and frustrations of feeling like it was going on forever. This is by no means me saying Vigo is perfect at not barking, but this is how we’re trying to manage it at home. Again – this is just how we do it. We give him so much love at other times but cannot reinforce this behaviour by caving when he gets like this. I’d love to hear if you have any other tips to try and stop demand barking! #demandbarking #dogtrainingtips #puppyadvice #puppytips #puppywitchinghour #dogmomaf
♬ original sound – Vigo the Toller
Joe Nutkins, a U.K.-based dog training instructor and co-director at Dog Training for Essex and Suffolk, told Newsweek the advice in the video “holds good merit.”
She added: “It doesn’t matter what they are barking for, because they want to play, it’s time for their dinner, they heard someone coming home and want you to check it out, or just want you to pay them attention if they bark to ask for it they will learn extremely fast to bark next time, and the next time.
“This doesn’t mean never paying attention to your dog. They may change their bark to let you know something is wrong or to say there is someone at the front door you don’t know about. Sometimes just thanking our dogs or actually going to check out what they are telling us does the trick and that’s that.
“However if our dogs are barking at us, looking at us, standing in front of where we are and it’s clear the barking is for us to respond to, this is more likely to be attention seeking. Not asking what they want or telling them to be quiet is the first top tip and is seen in the video too. When a dog barks for attention, any time we talk to them we are actively giving them attention. So then next time they think ‘I’d like a game now’ they will come and bark and bark.
“Alongside not talking to an attention-seeking dog, we also include not giving eye contact or touching which includes stroking or pushing away—again touching is a response which encourages the barking, and eye contact is a huge green light for dogs to incidents ‘do that some more.'”
According to a 2023 American Pet Products Association (APPA) survey, dogs are the most popular pets in the U.S.
The APPA said that an estimated 65.1 million households own at least one dog and that cats—the second most popular pet—are found in 46.5 million homes across the country.
Since being shared on August 18, the clip has attracted more than 230,000 views and an estimated 9,279 likes.
The overwhelming number of people who commented on the post praised the information in it and shared their experiences with demanding dogs.
TikTok user Zee said: “Ugh this is so true, a timer is such a good reality check. I’ll be convinced it was 20 minutes and it was like three.”
What up fellow gamers added: “Mine will do this for hours and when I ignore her she’ll start pawing at me and scratching me.”
While Jenna Danielle Lakey posted: “Reinforcing good behavior as well so when he settled and stopped barking give him lots of praise and cuddles.”
Newsweek has contacted vigothetoller for comment via TikTok.
Meanwhile, another TikToker went viral for sharing a video of the dogs at her local shelter who were put down “to make space” for incoming dogs, a cat went viral for snuggling her terminally-ill pup friend, and a woman posted her dog “helping” her in a very unhelpful way.
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to [email protected] with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.