Whether they’re part of your farm or wild, your dog barking at turkeys is not something you can let continue. And why does this happen anyway? Why do dogs bark at turkeys? Do dogs get along with turkeys normally and yours is just an outlier? How careful do you need to be? Can turkeys hurt dogs?

Worry and wonder no longer, because today we’re going to answer all of these questions for you. And obviously, we’ll cover what you’re really here for: how to stop your dog from barking at turkeys. Before long, you won’t have to stress about this ever again. Keep reading below for our article “Dog Barking at Turkeys? Here’s How to Stop It!”

How to Stop Dog Barking at Turkeys

To stop dog barking at turkeys:

1. Teach your dog the “quiet” command to use whenever they bark at turkeys or at any other time you need them to pay attention and be silent.
2. To do this, take your dog somewhere you know they’ll likely bark like the park with plenty of treats.
3. As soon as your dog begins barking, say “quiet” in a calm, positive voice. If they listen to you and become silent while also giving you their complete attention reward them with praise and a treat right away.
4. But if your dog keeps barking or quickly resumes, then hide a treat within your fist.
5. Put your hand right by your dog’s nose. They’ll still be able to pick up the scent even inside of your fist and will stop barking to sniff it.
6. Once they’ve quit barking and are paying you their complete attention, again say “quiet,” and then open your hand to give them praise and a treat.
7. If they continue to be silent and are giving you their full focus, keep rewarding them with praise and treats.
8. But if they again start barking or are not giving you their attention, repeat the steps of hiding a treat within your fist, placing it close to their nose, and waiting until they stop their barking and give you their attention.
9. Make sure to always wait until they’ve quit barking and are paying you all their attention, and then say “quiet” before you reward them with any treats or praise.
10. This creates a positive connection with your dog with the “quiet” command, and with staying silent and fully focusing on you.
11. With repetition, consistency, and patience, you will be able to get them to behave solely with the “quiet” command, and it won’t be necessary anymore to put your hand next to their mouth.
12. When your dog is doing well with only the command, then you should start lengthening the duration of time you pause before you reward them.
13. Start by pausing for about 2 seconds, then as they do well increase that to 5 seconds, and so on.
14. you’ll no longer need to reward your dog with food and praise, and they will become quiet and pay attention to you just by you giving the command.

But you’ll still need to address the underlying issue which led to all of this disobedience to begin with, which is your dog’s feelings of dominance and anxiety. A failure to do so will just lead to your dog’s problem showing itself in other ways that could be even worse.

To properly address that, we must first discuss what makes dogs function deep down. I’m sure you’ve heard before that dogs are pack animals, and that in every pack there is a pack leader.

But every time that your dog barks at turkeys, they are without a doubt telling you that they don’t respect you in this leadership role.

If they did, they wouldn’t bark at a turkey and then ignore you when you command them to quit. They wouldn’t display any other types of dominance or anxiety-related misbehavior. And they would obey your commands at all times — happily — and they would do so right away.

Make it clear to your dog that you are not just their pack leader, but a capable one worthy of respect, and you’ll make all of these terrific transformations a reality.

You’ll be better off for obvious reasons. But your dog will be too because they’ll no longer have to deal with all of the worry and confusion that their dominance and anxiety problems are currently placing on them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Sounds like a terrific thing, doesn’t it?

“Yeah, definitely, but how do I do any of this?”

You should watch a wonderful free video series by a renowned trainer named Dan which is on this very subject: how to be your dog’s pack leader. In Dan’s series, he explains all you’ll need to know in ways that are very easy to understand and teach to your own dog, and he gets immediately to the point so that you can start seeing these critical changes in your dog in no time.

Start watching Dan’s free training series now by clicking here. And no, you’re not going to have to yell or be mean to your dog. Dan never uses those types of methods. Not just because loving teaching techniques are the right thing to do, but also because they’re the fastest way to achieve permanent changes in your dog’s behavior.

Why Do Dogs Bark at Turkeys?

Dogs bark at turkeys because they instinctually see them as prey. This causes them to get agitated, even a little anxious, about this target being in their midst and they lash out at it by barking. This can be true whether the turkeys are wild or if they live on your farmland.

It’s not unusual for dogs to react in this way, but if your dog barks at turkeys and then completely ignores you when you tell them to stop, that is when you have a problem on your hands. This is a clear sign of disrespect, and if allowed to continue their problem will only grow and escalate until it’s completely uncontrollable.

You’ll find your dog barking constantly at all sorts of people and animals, no matter how little threat they pose. Your dog will bark at your cows or bark at your chickens. In the wild, they’ll bark at deer or even bark at bears. I’m sure you can see how this could pose a problem either on your land, or with potentially dangerous predators in the wild.

That’s why it’s important to begin addressing this problem immediately so that you never reach that point where something terrible could happen. To learn how to stop your dog barking at turkeys while also teaching them to respect your leadership, go back to the first section now where we’ll give you the exact steps to follow.

Do Dogs Get Along With Turkeys?

Dogs do not get along with turkeys for the most part. They will see them as prey, and will typically treat them as such by engaging in behaviors like barking, stalking, and creeping up on them. It is possible, however, to train a dog to get along with your pet turkey, and some dogs will have gentle temperaments and won’t need to be trained at all.

Can Turkeys Hurt Dogs?

Turkeys can hurt dogs. They have been known to attack dogs, particularly small breeds. If your turkey is particularly aggressive towards your dog, or you know that there are aggressive turkeys in your area, you should keep your dog leashed when they might be around. Even if your dog doesn’t get aggressive and provoke an attack, they may want to sniff the turkey which could cause one.

Turkeys have a strict pecking order, and may see a dog as a challenge to their territory. This would cause them to go after and even attack your dog. In some cases, wild turkeys have even been known to stalk dogs they felt were intruding on their territory. They will be particularly aggressive from March through May, which is wild turkeys’ breeding time.

I’m sure you’re looking forward to your dog behaving around turkeys, so I’ll let you get going on things now. Best of luck with everything, and we hope you found our article “Dog Barking at Turkeys? Here’s How to Stop It” helpful!