"There is no data to support covering a dog's head or ears to make them calmer," she says. She believes her dog associates the ears with being calm.Ĭould this strategy work for other dogs? Bergeland is skeptical. This absolutely created an association between the ears, being quiet, and getting rewarded."Įach time he wears the ears, he gets a treat when he calms down, which usually only takes 1 or 2 minutes, Elena says. "We instantly marked that behavior with a high-value reward and he stayed quiet. "We put them on him and he became very quiet and calm," Elena says. So they decided to turn to an old Halloween costume and placed the Eeyore ears on Myko's head. ![]() Then, one night when Myko was particularly upset-he had barked for 30 minutes nonstop at a reflection in a window-his family remembered reading how compression clothes like thundershirts can help a dog's anxiety. Myko would respond well to training, but when his fear response took over, the barking would start, she says. Hundreds of people commented on the video to share their appreciation for the barking hack, as one TikTok user wrote: "unconventional but effective-I give the ears a 10/10".ĭo you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.Dog barking at windows, needing a set of quiet earsĮlena says she consulted with her veterinarian and trainers, she tried CBD products, distraction, and other strategies. ![]() The video, captioned "MAGIC! Watch borks go to mumbles", racked up over 2.7 million views and more than 230,000 likes. On February 9, Myko's owner shared another video of the ears in action on TikTok, showing the dog barking at the window before having the ears put on and the barks turning into low grumbles instead. I'd say in any given week we probably use them about one or two times." They're the only thing that works when he's in a super high state of anxious arousal. "However, when he becomes fixated on something that's causing him to be upset we will put the ears on. If there's someone at the door he barks until we tell him it's all good, and we don't use the ears for that. His owner explained: "With all dogs there's different types of barking, for example there's alarm barking which we wouldn't want to discourage. Although his owners are aware that not all his barks require the ears, so they try not to discourage all of his behavior. Now that Myko has grown used to his "quiet ears" he calms down as soon as they're placed on him. ![]() Woman soon regrets picking the quietest husky puppy: "Found his voice".Dog's reaction to owner barking with him at window delights viewers.He instantly became very quiet and calm, so we left them on and he stayed quiet." "We'd purchased a Halloween costume for him a few months back so we pulled out the droopy ears from it and we put them on him. We had read about how clothing that is form fitting, or pressure around their ears can be calming for dogs. "One night, after nearly half an hour of him barking at our cat's reflection in the window, we had tried everything to redirect him but nothing worked. Myko's owners told Newsweek about how transformative the ears have been: "Myko barks at animals in our backyard, mainly deer or foxes, as well as reflections he sees in the patio doors. The ideas include never telling the dog off for barking as it can confuse them, avoiding exposure to things that might scare them, keeping the dog active and engaged, and certainly not rewarding them when they do start barking. offers numerous tips for how owners can stop their dogs from barking. The Dog's Trust charity, based in the U.K. ![]() the dog's ears is an unusual method and might not work for every dog. Myko wears his "quiet ears" to prevent him from barking at things he sees outside the house.
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