Is your dog nervous and fearful around other dogs, bicycles, scooters, new people... other scary things? And barking like crazy at the sight of them?

Barking and reacting with other "go away!" gestures is common among dogs who develop fear around various perceived threats. Sadly, it's often also commonly misread as aggression. A fearful dog's barking is simply an instinctive distance-creating reaction to make the scary thing back off and go away.

Knowing why your dog is barking and understanding what your dog is feeling is the first important step to eliminating your dog's barking behavior.

You'll learn the next steps in these guides from positive reinforcement trainers/Dogly Advocates who take you through how to replace your dog's feelings of fear with feelings of comfort (or at least neutrality) around triggers.

Together, you and your dog can eliminate your dog's need for barking in the process as the happy result for everyone.

Here's a brief overview of each of the guides on addressing your dog's fear barking...

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Fear Barking Guide 1: How to Stop Your Dog's Fear-based Barking

Once you realize your dog is barking out of fear, how do you help your scared dog conquer fear, build your dog's confidence that all is safe and good, and eliminate the need for "go away!" barking?

You'll get answers to how you can read your dog and provide the support to resolve your dog's fears and the barking that comes with them in this step-by-step guide from Dogly Advocate Tressa Fessenden-McKenzie.

What you'll learn in this guide:

• Why fear barking is not "aggression"
• How to note your dog's specific triggers and why the nuances matter
• Why it's important to keep your dog under threshold and how to use distance to do it
• How to use distance + counter conditioning (with high-value treats!) to change how your dog feels about "the scary thing," replacing its power to induce fear and barking with anticipation of the good things dogs learn to expect around the "scary" trigger
• What trigger stacking is and what it means for your dog, for making your dog's fear worse, and for how you train
• Pro tips for troubleshooting if any of the steps aren't quite working for your dog
• What success with counter conditioning looks like in helping fearful dogs (look forward to having your dog turn and check in with you for treats without barking at the sight of the former fear trigger)
• Why consistency and patience matter - and how to practice for success

Note on dogs afraid of loud noises:

This process for counter conditioning applies to sound fears and phobias (thunder, etc) as well as sight fears. In that case, the difference is not having the element of distance, and of course, hearing vs sight. You can find more in-depth help specific to noise sensitivity/barking here in the Anxiety Channel.

In all cases, remember that dog anxiety doesn't have to be logical to be real. Your dog may have extreme fear of something we all know is absolutely harmless. All that matters is that your dog feels fear, and thankfully, we have the tools to make it all okay!

Jump into this full guide here to start working with your dog to replace your dog's fear and fear barking with comfort and a confident expectation of good things.

And next up, how to alleviate your dog's fearful behavior and fear barking with visitors...

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Fear Barking Guide 2: How to Stop Your Dog's Barking at Visitors from a Force-Free Trainer

Do you brace yourself for a seemingly endless amount of uncomfortable barking when guests are coming to your home? You are definitely not alone among dog parents!

Thankfully, help is on the way. In this guide, positive reinforcement trainer and Dogly Advocate Ayelet Berger shares how you first figure out if your dog is barking from fear and then takes you step by step through how to work with your dog to change your dog's emotional response from fear to comfortable and happy around all things guest and doorbell.

What you'll learn in this guide:

• How to decode why your dog barks
• How to recognize what your dog's barking "style" is
• Questions to ask yourself/observations to make like "Does your dog bark but not charge at guests?" "Does your dog bark and retreat? Or retreat and then bark?" "What canine body language are you seeing? Tail tucked? Is your dog staying low... trying to appear small? Avoiding eye contact? Generally sending 'stay away' signals?"
• Why these signals say your dog is barking out of fear and unconditioned emotional response
• What an unconditioned emotional response is
• How to turn your dog's unconditioned emotional response into a conditioned response (you'll be working with your dog to replace your dog's fear with feeling comfortable and happy)

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3 steps to conditioning your dog's fear response to stay calm with visitors instead of barking:

1. Pair the sight of the visitor with the delivery of high-value treats.
2. Be ready to deliver the treats immediately so your dog makes the connection with the trigger and the trigger becomes predictive of good things (a clicker can help your timing).
3. Have treats in your hand, instantly ready to throw "treat scatters" away from the door to create distance and space.

These are just the simple highlights - you can get started with the full guide and video here for all the specifics on helping change your dog's emotions around visitors from fear to comfort and calm (with no need for barking!).

Next up in the Barking Channel on Dogly

Now that we've talked about how to understand and help with fear barking, check out the rest of the Barking Channel for guides dedicated to solving other types of barking problems from demand barking to alert/alarm barking and excitement barking, each guide from a force-free, certified professional dog trainer and Dogly Advocate here to help you with any barking issues in your dog's life.

For any questions about your dog's barking, just ask in the discussion here in the Barking Channel.

Or if you ever need more personalized dog training guidance, please ask us and we'll connect you with a trusted Dogly Training Advocate.