Silent treatment for barking turned my chill pup into a baseboard destroyer
Tbh, the whole 'just ignore them' trend for attention barking backfired hard with my dog, Milo. I followed all the online tips to the letter, but after a week of zero response, he started stress-chewing my door frames like they were treats. One evening, he barked nonstop for 45 minutes, and when I finally caved, I found a huge chunk of trim missing. Imo, this one-size-fits-all advice ignores how some dogs, especially rescues, read silence as rejection. I switched to redirecting with a toy or quick walk, and his anxiety dropped almost instantly. Yeah, it's unpopular to say ignoring can fail, but seeing Milo relax proved that flexible methods work better. Lol, now I trust my gut over generic training mantras.