How to stop your dog barking when the phone rings?

My dogs goes crazy when the telephone rings, barking, howling and running around. How can I stop this?

First of all, you have to figure out why your dog acts this way when the telephone rings. It may be that the sound simply hurts his ears and the barking and howling is a response to the pain they are experiencing.
Try turning the ringing volume of the telephone down and see if the reaction continues.

The phone volume is low and I'm sure the phone ringing isn't hurting his ears, what else could be causing my dog to act like this when the telephone rings?

The most likely cause of the dogs reaction to the telephone ringing is a learned reaction to the human response to the sound of the phone ringing. What does this mean?

Think about it for a second. What do you do when the phone rings? If the phone is in another room you probably jump up from your chair and dash to the telephone before the person on the other end hangs up. To a dog this could be very exciting. You have been sat in your chair for a while and you suddenly jump up and dash around. The dog may think that it's playtime!

If you have a "clever" dog such as a Collie, they will be very quick to respond to movement and very quick to associate sounds with actions. The dog may have caused a triggered response to the phone ringing.

And you probably make things worse by pushing your dog to one side whilst running to answer the phone. The dog could see this as contact with you, not an attempt on your part to make a clear pathway to the telephone. So they associate the telephone ring with receiving contact and interaction from you.

But how can I alter the dogs triggered response to the telephone ringing?

Try having a cordless phone by your side so that when the phone rings you simply pick it up without moving. If you don't have a cordless telephone try moving calmly to the phone to answer it rather than dashing quickly.

Try triggering another reaction to the phone ringing instead. Have a food-stuffed interactive toy on stand-by for the next time the phone rings. When the phone rings move to the toy and take it to the dogs bed. When the dog lies on their bed reward them with the toy. Then go and answer the telephone. Do this everytime the phone rings. It probably won't take the dog long to associate the telephone ringing to getting a lovely food-stuffed toy on his bed. If you are lucky, eventually the dog will automativally go and lie on their bed whenever the telephone rings, in readiness for receiving their treat.

So could this "altering a triggered reaction" work in other situations?

In a word, yes. Your dog may exhibit a similar reaction to the doorbell ringing or someone knocking on the door. In the same way that they associate the telephone ringing with you rushing to the phone, they may associate the doorbell with you answering the door to a potential playmate for them.

My own dogs had this exact reaction to the doorbell and ran around the house barking and getting generally excited at the prospect of receiving a visitor to the house that they could sniff and jump up at (see our separate article entitled "How to stop your dog jumping up at you, your friends and strangers").

It didn't take me long (using the food-stuffed toy method described above) to teach them that the doorbell ringing meant that they would shortly receive a treat. Everytime the doorbell rings now, they both run to their beds in expectation rather than running around barking.

View our other "editorial" articles on other pet related subjects