How to Stop Puppy Barking

How to stop puppy barking is probably one of the top 25 search terms for frustrated owners on their first night after bringing their new puppy home.

It’s easy to see how owners of new puppies get confused and a little frustrated when their little bundle of fun has kept them up for a few days running and they have to make it into the office the next morning.

I don’t think there’s Family Medical Leave available for new puppies, but that could change. Until then, new puppy owners are generally left in the dark over what to do and how, so we’re going to address many of the simple things new puppy owners can do to stop puppy barking and whining when they introduce the crate.

Prepare Before the Puppy Comes Home

Generally, I advise owners to prepare for their new puppy before it ever comes home. I have a list of all of my favorite things for new puppy owners to have on hand, which I have curated over many years of raising and training puppies of all sizes, breeds, coat types and temperaments.

Being prepared is always better than being caught without adequate provisions, but even in the time before crates, it is still possible to help your puppy adapt to his or her new home quickly, and without too much inconvenience.

First things first: whatever your means of confinement is going to be, don’t wait until you are putting your puppy to bed for the night before introducing the puppy to this new space. Most people bring their new puppies home fairly early in the day. Folks who plan ahead usually bring the puppy home at the beginning of a weekend, so there should be plenty of time to start practicing these things as you integrate your new pup into your home from the very beginning.

Restrict access to places your puppy shouldn’t be. Don’t allow the puppy to go under or behind furniture. Make sure you restrict access to carpeting or surfaces that are difficult to clean. Make sure the pup has had plenty of time to ‘go’ outside before exploring in rooms you don’t want pup to have access to until maturity, if at all. A light leash on a properly fitted puppy collar (cat collars work great for tiny toy breed puppies) in responsible hands is helpful in keeping the puppy away from tight spaces and potential danger. Every brief period of exercise and exploration should be punctuated with an invitation to take a few sips of water and the ability to quietly investigate the new living arrangements.

Introducing the Crate

If you have chosen a crate or playpen, be sure your puppy has had an opportunity to relieve itself first. Allow the pup to explore the space on its own (without being forced, tricked, bribed or abandoned) using quiet encouragement and enticement, like a cozy blanket, soft and washable stuffed toys, flavored chews and an opportunity to explore these things without human supervision or intervention. Please refrain from putting potty ‘pads’ in the space. The puppy will have absolutely no idea what they are for and it’s likely that the pup will think they are toys to shred. This becomes a problem later if you plan on pad training your puppy.

New puppy owners frequently make the mistake of becoming a constant feature of the landscape from the very beginning and often this sends the wrong message. The puppy needs to learn how to be alone and to moderate its own emotions. Relieving it from the mild discomfort of being by itself every time it starts to bark tends to create needy, anxious adult dogs who could require remediation throughout their lives.

Once the puppy has entered the space, leave it alone. Retreat to another room and wait there quietly and observe. If the puppy becomes agitated, simply remain stoic and wait until the puppy settles back into whatever it was doing. It’s better to start early by helping the puppy self-settle, so we can render ourselves non-essential quickly and without a lot of effort.

Don’t expect the puppy to enter the crate willingly. When puppies are very young and still portable, I physically place them in the crate, avoiding both resistance and the emotional baggage that comes with it. The crate should just be an extension of your good management. Teaching the puppy to stop barking while in the crate starts here. Our immediate focus is helping the puppy to accept confinement. We do that passively at first, actively, considerably later.

Why Responding to Barking Makes It Worse

Most people fixate on interrupting the puppy with the wrong kind of feedback when trying to stop puppy barking and that generally makes the problem worse. The puppy gets overstimulated by all the attention and actively seeks that behavior in the future. When owners get frustrated, they either overcompensate by punishing the puppy unfairly, or by accidentally reinforcing the puppy by providing it with unearned freedom, or worse, the opportunity to cuddle in a nearby lap. The puppy learns very quickly that its demands for attention yield instant and gratifying results.

If the puppy starts to make noise, ignore it. This is easier to do during the day when there are fewer people around to complain. If you have the disadvantage of living in a shared space like a condo or apartment complex, it is important that you approach many training tasks when your neighbors are most likely to be at work for the day. It may be a little bit harder, but it can be done with a little planning and a lot of patience.

One thing people overlook is not allowing the puppy out of the crate until it is calm. I do not permit dogs to exit the crate in a heightened state of arousal. The dog must sit, stand or lie down patiently as I approach, and until I extract the dog on a leash and collar. This is important because we tend to ‘feed’ the wrong emotional state, creating more excitement, and therefore more resentment for being confined.

Every approach should be quiet and casual. We start initiating a ritual about crate confinement and exiting from the very first moment we bring the new puppy home to help inoculate against stress around confinement. We practice these things in advance of our need. We don’t wait until the puppy needs to go the bathroom before practicing ‘waiting’ in the crate; we practice ‘waiting’ first before the puppy ever has to relieve itself.

The Overnight Routine

The third factor is being comfortable with being uncomfortable, at least for the first few days your new puppy is home. Make sure your puppy is taken out to relieve itself the very last thing before turning out the lights, and set your alarm every few hours during the night to take your puppy out before he wakes you up. The reason this is important is because of the precedent we wish to establish regarding being quiet while confined.

If I allow my puppy to get emotionally overcome and it starts to make noise and I sympathize or get frustrated and release it, I have signalled that noisemaking is rewarded. If I make small sacrifices early and take the puppy out before it makes noise, I am essentially rewarding silence. Yes, it is inconvenient, but that inconvenience is temporary.

The location of the crate matters only for the first few days. If you can, I do advise that you crate your puppy near your sleeping quarters, so you’re not protracting the length of time between the alarm going off, scooping the puppy up and carrying it outside to potty. It’s also convenient to simply crawl back in bed to return to sleep and ‘hush’ the puppy (‘hush’ is the word I actually use) if it starts to cry.

You will be surprised how quickly your puppy adapts to this routine. After a few days, you can lengthen the time between alarms, or eliminate one altogether. We are still not changing the bedtime routine, and we may still have to get up earlier than usual until the puppy gains control over its bowels and bladder, between 10 and 12 weeks of age.

The following days are much the same. You wake up, your puppy is your first priority. You take the puppy out first, before you see to your own needs and then your day can begin.

The Logic Behind the Routine

1. Being in front of the puppy’s needs to relieve itself not only helps with establishing strong housebreaking habits, it minimizes stress that causes barking and whining when your puppy is confined.
2. Your presence becomes non-essential ‘background noise’ as your puppy learns to wait patiently for your attention as you prepare for your day.
3. Creating habits starts with sticking to routines. You are planning for your future, not just dealing with the present. Think about how you want your routine to look beyond your dog’s puppyhood and plan accordingly.
4. Being available during the day to help guide your puppy through the emotional stress of your eventual absence is far easier when they are young. Coddling them or becoming a feature of the landscape is guaranteed to cause trouble later on.
5. Crate training is tied with preventing separation anxiety and housebreaking. There is no real separation of the three. Creating strong crate habits will immunize your puppy from developing anxiety and will assist in the all-important task of reliable potty habits.

Setting Up the Crate for Success

I don’t expect a puppy to willingly enter a crate the very first time unless I know that whomever I acquired the puppy from did some crate training with the individual or with the litter it came from before I received it. My first assumption with new puppies is that they know nothing, so their first experience needs to be constructed in a way that is helpful, not harmful.

My crate is going to be somewhat inviting. It is going to be warm, it is going to have elements in it that are familiar to the puppy (an object that is scented with its previous home or possibly littermates is a wonderful tool) and a chew toy that is immediately attractive to the puppy. I prefer marrow bones. No puppy can resist that. Applying some ambient noise, like classical music or just ‘white noise’ to the room is also helpful.

After I have made sure my puppy has had adequate exercise, a potty break, opportunities to explore (which is actually more physically and mentally taxing than just running around, playing), I am going to place my puppy in the crate, shut the door and walk away.

I am going to stay gone, and I am only going to return when the puppy is quiet. The first few times you do this, it may be difficult to gauge exactly when to return, but let your conscience be your guide. If your puppy starts making noise, just persevere until the puppy stops barking. If you have to, step outside for a few minutes. If you can’t do that, step into the bathroom and turn on the fan while you read a book or scroll on your phone. The point is to find something to do to occupy yourself and listen for the silence.

Over the course of days, you will protract the length of time between when you crate your puppy and when you extract it from the crate. You will do this overnight as well. For every day, add a few minutes. For every week, you’ll be adding up to 15 minutes for every interlude of crating, whether it’s during the day, or overnight.

Crate Rules That Matter

Something to look out for is the puppy soiling its crate, which requires either a touch test or a ‘sniff’ test to ensure the puppy is staying clean. If the pup is soiling the crate, remove the bedding. Wash the comfort toys and return them. Sterilize or replace the chew toys. The bedding is the reason the puppy is soiling the crate, not the toys. Puppies learn quickly that soft, absorbent substrates can keep them between where they eliminate and their comfort. Once a pup learns that being ‘dirty’ is ok, it becomes a very difficult habit to break.

Remember, if the dog is in the crate, the crate door is closed. If the dog is out of the crate, the crate door is closed. Pacifier toys are for crating only. When the dog is with a human, the human provides the pathways to enrichment.

Playpen vs. Crate

If you opt for a playpen, do NOT put the crate in the playpen. There are different uses for each tool, and the psychology behind each of them is contradictory. You can use one or the other, but you can only use them separately. You will create resistance to confinement if you think the dog will choose the crate over freedom.

A Note on Punishment

A crate is not a tool of punishment, nor should one assume that it can be used that way. Technically, by the time the dog is caught, forced into the crate, the moment of ‘correction’ or ‘punishment’ is long past and the only thing your puppy has learned is you are untrustworthy and to avoid you and your stupid crate.

When we invite a new puppy into our home, we also invite the chaos that comes with it. Introducing a new puppy requires sensible strategies that minimize stress for the new addition as well as the established members of the home. How to stop puppy barking usually starts with never allowing it to develop in the first place.

Work With Us

Of course, there are folks who love the idea of having a new puppy, that are well-intended, but simply don’t have the temerity to stick out the rough patches that accompany new puppy ownership. We’re here for you. Carroll County residents can work through puppy challenges in person with our puppy training program. For owners anywhere in the world, virtual training is available and well suited to this type of work. Schedule a free consultation at your convenience: calendly.com/lionheartk9/30min.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my puppy bark in the crate at night?

Your puppy barks at night because it is in an unfamiliar space, separated from everything it knows, and it has not yet learned that quiet behavior is what gets rewarded. With a consistent overnight routine, including scheduled potty trips before the puppy has a chance to make noise, this resolves relatively quickly. Silence has to be established as the precedent from the very first night.

Should I let my puppy cry it out in the crate?

Not exactly. The goal is not to let the puppy spiral into a full emotional meltdown and simply wait it out. The goal is to never reward noise with your presence or attention, and to be proactive enough with potty breaks that the puppy is not crying out of genuine physical need. Ignore the noise. Return only when the puppy is quiet. That distinction matters.

How long does it take for a puppy to stop barking in the crate?

If you are consistent from the start, most puppies settle into a workable routine within a few days. You are not waiting for the puppy to love the crate; you are waiting for the puppy to accept it. How long it takes depends almost entirely on how consistent the humans in the household are, not on the puppy.

What should I put in the crate to help my puppy settle?

Keep it simple. Something warm, something that smells familiar (an item from the puppy’s previous home or littermates works well), and a chew toy the puppy finds genuinely attractive. Marrow bones work well. Ambient noise like classical music or white noise in the room also helps. Do not put potty pads in the crate.

Is crate training related to separation anxiety?

Yes, directly. Crate training, housebreaking, and separation anxiety prevention are all connected. You cannot fully address one without the others. A dog that has strong crate habits from puppyhood is far less likely to develop anxiety around being alone. The crate teaches the puppy that confinement is normal, that your absence is temporary, and that calm behavior is what produces good outcomes. Start early and stay consistent.