Does your pet dog drive you and your friends and neighbors crazy with his barking? Have you pursued all kinds of things to get him to stop but absolutely nothing is helping?

Trust me, I've been there too and I totally understand your aggravation with this behavior. Mainly because of my own puppy's constant barking, I decided to research exactly why canines bark and look for fast and effective ways to put a stop to this bothersome behavior before I was charged with disturbing the peace!!

As chance would have it, my trusted associate, Daniel Stevens, shipped to me a copy of his top selling dog training guidebook, Secrets to Dog Training. The

timing could not have been any better! I'm not a dog trainer however I thought I knew a lot about pet dogs before however his in-depth guide made me understand just how much more I still had to learn.

I am thrilled to report that my own pet is now an extremely well-behaved pooch because of the strategies I have picked up from Daniel's e-book...which by the way has been downloaded by over 217,000 dog owners world-wide. Not too shabby, I would say!

And so now we'll be going through the reasons why most dogs start barking and just what can be done to end this behavior in your own canine.

A number of owners seem to want their pet dogs to quit barking, period: a good dog is a silent dog, and the only occasion that barking's allowed is if there's a man sporting a black balaclava and stripy prison ensemble, clutching a backpack marked 'Swag', clambering in via your bedroom window.

Puppies don't see barking in quite the same light. Your pet dog possesses a voice, just like you do, and she uses it exactly the way in which you do too: to communicate something to the people she loves. I don't consider that barking is necessarily a negative thing - in truth, I think it is reassuring that my puppy likes to "talk" to me, enough so that I can disregard the loudness of her voice (which, in enclosed rooms, is absolutely overpowering) in favor of her desire to connect with me.

It is the thought that counts (though I'm far more prepared to feel this way once my ears are sheltered safely behind industrial-quality ear-plugs). Sadly, the language barrier between canines and people is virtually impermeable, which means it really is up to us to work with the context, the body language of our pet dogs, along with the circumstances to figure out exactly why our dog is driving us crazy barking.

So why is it that dogs bark? It is difficult to say (it is like trying to answer the question, "So why do human beings talk?" in so many words). We should begin by saying that pet dogs will bark for many different reasons. A lot of it depends on the breed: some dogs were bred to start barking only if a hazard is perceived (this is true of guarding breeds in particular, such as Rottweilers, Dobermans, and German Shepherds).

Several were bred to make use of their voices as an effective tool of sorts, for helping their masters in pursuit of a common objective (sporting dog breeds including Beagles and Bloodhounds, trained to 'bay' once they smell the quarry), and many dogs simply like to hear themselves talk (take pretty much any of the toy breeds as an example of a very chatty doggie!). Even so, all dog breed details cast aside, there are some occasions where virtually any dog will probably bark:

• She's bored

• She is lonely

• She is hungry, or is aware it's time for a meal

• Something is not right / a person is near the house

• She is asking you to play

• She spots another four-legged friend

• She needs the bathroom .

If your canine is barking for any of these reasons, it's not really practical for you to try to stop her: of course, she's a dog, and it is the nature of all pet dogs to bark at certain times and in certain circumstances.

Presumably you understood this when you adopted your pal (plus, if complete silence had been on top of your set of priorities, you'd have obtained a pet rock, right?). Certainly, there are occasions when barking is not just unnecessary, it truly is positively unwanted. Many dogs will use their voices as a means of manipulation.