Dogs bark. It's one way dogs communicate naturally - or try to - with us.

When barking develops into a persistent pattern of excessive barking, it's a good guess your dog is speaking louder and longer because you aren't getting the message.

How do you get whatever bark message your dog is sending and know how to act on it so your pup can relax?

That's why we've brought together Dogly Training Advocates (each one a force-free, certified professional dog trainer) in the Barking Channel - to give you the why, what, and how so we can all truly hear and help our dogs.

Okay, but tell me more...

When we learn how to decode what our dogs are saying with different types of dog barks and what to do about them, we can prevent or stop barking problems.

The happy result - your dog will feel more content, less stressed, and so will you (and everyone in earshot). The best part is you'll be strengthening your communication and deepening the bond between you and your dog.

The Barking Channel on Dogly helps you understand your dog's barking behavior and get started working with your dog to alleviate barking problems:

• Understanding what's behind your dog's barking
• Fear-based barking
• Alert/alarm barking
• Demand barking
• Excitement barking

We'll go through an overview of the learning and training sessions in each guide below and you can choose what applies to your dog and where you want to start training. You'll find links throughout the overview to make it easy to jump in and get started with what you'd like to work on with your dog.

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Here's an overview of the 8 guides in the Barking Channel -starting with understanding barking and what to do about it, then focusing in depth on fear-based barking, alert or alarm barking, demand barking, and excitement barking:

Dog Barking Guide 1: Why Dogs Bark & What to Do Explained by a Force-Free Trainer

The first thing to know about barking is it happens for many reasons and each bark has a function and purpose. It's a perfectly normal communication skill for your dog. Like most dogs, your dog can find it quite useful in a range of situations.

In this guide, you'll learn the purpose of 4 common types of barks and what your dog is trying to accomplish. Dogly Advocate Tiffany Baker also shares what you can do to anticipate and meet your pup's needs to preempt barking, or respond in the moment with the right help so your dog stops barking.

Get started here with the full guide including steps for exercise, enrichment ideas, and modifications of your home environment to get ahead of your dog's barking.

Dog Barking Guide 2: 4 Training Tips to Alleviate Your Dog's Barking

In dog training, we often talk about setting your dog up for success, and your dog's barking behavior is a great opportunity to do that. These training tips help you set the stage to stop your dog from barking before the barking starts (or make it easier to help your dog to stop barking if your pup surprises you at times).

You'll learn ever-versatile skills and tools you and your dog can count on: treat scatter, "go to mat" or "place" and how to use them when/where you need them; and how to incorporate mental exercise like enrichment toys and games as well as physical exercise into your dog's life.

You can jump into ways to set your dog up not to bark in the full guide here.

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Dog Barking Guide 3: How to Decode Your Dog's Barking & What to Do About It

Barking, together with body language, is your dog's natural way to communicate all kinds of things. Did you know the pitch, frequency/spacing, and duration of dog barks can tell you what's behind your dog's bark - and your dog's purpose for that barking?

Through examples of 8 of the most frequent types of barks and their characteristics, you'll learn how to use those aspects of your dog's bark to decipher what your dog is saying. And that's the secret to meeting your dog's needs and eliminating the reason for your dog's excessive barking. Get started with this guide to know how to read your dog better and make most barking unnecessary.

Dog Barking Guide 4: Fear-Based Barking - How to Stop Your Dog from Barking at Dogs & Other Scary Things

Does your dog react with fearful body language and barking around a perceived threat that feels scary - other dogs, bicycles, skateboards, new people, other scary things? Fear-based barking is essentially yelling, "go away!" to whatever the scary thing may be. And there you have the function of fear-based barking: to put as much distance as possible between your dog and the scary trigger, preferably to make it go poof altogether.

The first step to helping your dog and alleviating your dog's barking is knowing that your dog is feeling fearful NOT aggressive. For what to do next, Dogly Advocate Tressa Fessenden-McKenzie takes you step by step through how to use distance and counter-conditioning to change how your dog feels around the "scary thing," to teach your dog to feel safe and secure - and stop dog barking in the process.

You can dive into the full guide here to learn how to build your fearful pup's confidence and eliminate the need for all that "go away!" barking.

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Dog Barking Guide 5: 3 Trainer Tips to Stop Your Dog from Barking at Visitors

Plenty of dogs bark at visitors as a way of saying, "hey someone's here, hi, hi, hi!" or something to that effect. After that, most dogs stop barking. But if your dog is barking from fear at this invader, the constant barking continues until the threat goes away.

It's not terribly practical to make your guests or the person fixing your washing machine disappear, and thankfully, Dogly Advocate Ayelet Berger has you covered with a better answer on how to prevent dog barking. You'll learn step by step how to change your dog's emotional response from fearful to comfortable, maybe even happy or at least neutral when you have visitors.

You can start working with your dog to feel at ease around new people in the full guide here.

Dog Barking Guide 6: Alert Barking - How to Stop Your Dog's Barking to Alert You to Any/Everything

Is your dog the self-appointed security officer alerting you to anything and everything around your home like when the doorbell rings or a delivery person arrives? Dogs barking to alert everyone to just about any sight, sound, or motion from a squirrel sighting to a package delivery are practicing what trainers call alert or alarm barking.

Force-free trainer Tressa Fessenden-McKenzie shares step by step how to replace barking with alternative, wanted behaviors and use counter-conditioning (and plenty of high-value treats) to create new patterns when dogs bark excessively to announce what's happening.

You can start working with your dog on alert barking here.

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Dog Barking Guide 7: Demand Barking - How to Stop the Barking When Your Dog Wants Something

Demand barking is a pretty straightforward proposition, and most dogs practice it at least occasionally. Why? Because we often reinforce it to quickly get rid of the noise in the moment by giving our dogs what they're asking for. (It also can be a close cousin to excitement barking covered in the next guide.)

You'll learn why prevention is the best way to resolve demand barking and the steps to take with exercise activities and enrichment ideas to preempt your dog's need for demand barking (before that important conference call). And for when demand barks do pop up, you'll learn pro tips on breaking the connection between demand and reward with skills like "touch."

Jump into the full guide here to get on top of your dog's demand barking.

Dog Barking Guide 8: Excitement Barking - How to Stop Your Dog's Barking from Excited Anticipation

When your dog barks excessively out of the ecstatic anticipation of some beloved thing that's about to happen, that's excitement barking. Excitement barking can become disruptive, especially if other dogs are involved, and not a healthy pattern. It can be an ever-growing, hard habit to shake though because it works for your dog - at least in your dog's mind!

Your dog sees signs that the great thing is about to happen, it happens (as it was always intended to), and your dog concludes the barking made it happen. You'll learn how to break the barking pattern and get on with enjoying all the happy, exciting things with the step-by-step pro tips from Dogly Advocate Tressa Fessenden-McKenzie.

You can get started with the full guide on redirecting your dog's excitement barking here.

Note on separation anxiety barking: If your dog is barking as part of experiencing separation anxiety, which can be a complex emotional reaction, you'll find answers and steps to take in the 9 guides devoted to separation anxiety in the Anxiety Channel.

That's the Barking Channel here on Dogly!

If you've gone through each guide in the Barking Channel, you and your dog should be well on your way to better communication and a lot less barking. Congrats!

If you're just getting started, that's ok too! Start with why dogs bark and what to do about it, followed by 4 training tips to alleviate barking and then focus on the specific training exercises for your dog's excessive barking behavior whether it's fear-based barking, alert/alarm barking, demand or excitement/anticipation barking.

Barking is just one of many channels here on Dogly. Be sure to check out the other channels like Allergies in Wellness or Home-cooking in Nutrition to learn everything you need to know about your dog's training, nutrition, and overall wellness.

And, as always, you can speak with or work with any of the Advocates on Dogly if you ever need more personalized help. Don't go through stuff alone with your dog - we're here for you!