How to stop two dogs setting each other off

Find out which dog starts it, reduce that dog’s trigger, and train a quiet cue with each dog alone before you ask for it with both. The ASPCA calls the joining-in “socially facilitated barking”: the second dog often isn’t reacting to the doorbell at all, only to the first dog. Fix the instigator and much of the chorus goes with it.

How do I find the instigator?

Watch, or record an afternoon. One dog almost always goes first, and goes to the same place: the window, the fence, the front door. The other arrives a second later and looks at the first dog, not at the street. If you truly can’t tell, separate them for a day with a gate and see which room is noisy.

Why train them apart first?

Because in a pair, neither dog can hear you over the other, and you can’t reward the quiet one without also rewarding the noisy one standing next to him. Whole Dog Journal’s advice for multi-dog homes is the same as every trainer’s: teach the behaviour individually until it’s reliable, then add the second dog.

1. One dog at a time, in a room with the door closed, five minutes each. Teach the quiet cue.
2. Same word for both. You want one cue that works on the household.
3. Bring them together at an easy level: a mild trigger, both on leads or mats a little apart, and a helper if you can get one.
4. Pay the first one to go quiet, immediately. The other will notice. Then pay them both for staying quiet.
5. Build up to the real triggers over a couple of weeks.

What management helps most?

• Cover the instigator’s lookout window or move the furniture he stands on.
• Separate them with a gate during the worst hour of the day, such as the post or the school run.
• Exercise them properly, and sometimes separately. The bolder dog often needs more than the other.
• Don’t shout. With two dogs, you become the third voice.

Why do bark collars go wrong with two dogs?

Sound-triggered collars and ultrasonic boxes respond to barking in range, not to the dog wearing them. The AKC notes that in a multi-dog home every dog gets corrected. The quiet dog is punished for the noisy one’s bark, can’t work out why, and you’ve added anxiety to the household. The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior advises against aversive tools in any case. The alternatives.

And while I’m out?

Manage hard: view blocked, dogs in the quietest room, background sound, food puzzles as you leave. A shared cue is an advantage here. Once both dogs know the same word, DogHush can play it in your voice when the barking starts, and one recording reaches them both. It can’t tell which dog barked, and it isn’t for a dog who’s distressed at being left.

This guide is general information about dog behaviour, not veterinary advice. A sudden change in barking, or barking with signs of distress, is a reason to see a vet.