You know it’s coming every time you have some clothes to get ready: your dog barks at the ironing board like it’s the worst thing on Earth! Why do they do this? Why do dogs bark at ironing boards? Does the steam from ironing scare dogs or is it something else? How do you get your dog used to the iron so they won’t do this anymore?

Well, worry and wonder no longer, because today we’re going to answer all of these questions for you. And of course, we’ll cover what you came here for: how to stop your dog barking at the ironing board. Very soon, this won’t be an issue for you ever again. Keep reading below for our article “Dog Barks at Ironing Board? Here’s How to Stop It!”

How to Stop Dog Barking at Ironing Board

To stop dog barking at ironing board:

1. Teach your dog the “quiet” command to use anytime they bark at the ironing board or whenever you need them to give you their attention and be silent.
2. Practice by taking your dog to a place you know they’ll want to bark like the park with lots of small treats.
3. As soon as your dog starts to bark, say “quiet” in a positive and calm voice. If they respond and become silent while also giving you their attention give them a treat and praise immediately.
4. But if your dog keeps barking or quickly begins again, then hide a treat in the palm of your hand.
5. Put your fist right next to your dog’s nose. They’ll still be able to smell it even within your fist and should quit barking to investigate it.
6. As soon as they’ve quit barking and are paying attention to you, again say “quiet,” and then open your hand to reward them with praise and a small treat.
7. If they keep being silent and are paying you their full focus, continue rewarding them with treats and praise.
8. But if they again start barking or are not giving you their attention, repeat the steps of hiding a treat inside of your hand, placing it near their nose, and waiting until they quit their barking and pay attention.
9. Always make sure to wait until they’ve quit barking and are giving you all their focus, and then say “quiet” before you give them any praise or treats.
10. This forms a positive connection for your dog with the “quiet” command, and with staying silent and focusing on you.
11. With time, repetition, and patience, you will be able to get them to behave with solely the “quiet” command, and you’ll no longer have to put your hand near their mouth.
12. When your dog is responding well with only the command, then you should begin lengthening the duration of time you wait until you reward them.
13. Begin by waiting for 1-2 seconds, then as they do well increase that to about 5 seconds, and so on.
14. It won’t be long until it will no longer be necessary to give your dog any food and praise, and they will be silent and pay attention to you solely by you giving the command.

But while these steps will get your dog to stop barking at the ironing board, you need to remember that the underlying behavioral issue (anxiety) that was causing all of this to begin with will still be present. And until you address that, any positive changes you see are only going to be temporary.

“Well, how do I make these changes last then?”

By getting your dog to truly choose to follow your direction, that’s how. I tried many times to write out how you can do that before deciding it made more sense to just link you to the free video series that explains it better than I’d ever be able to.

The series is by a man named Dan who is one of the world’s leading dog obedience trainers. In it, he teaches you how to put an end to things like when your dog barks at the ironing board and all other misbehavior using his fast and easy-to-follow methods.

In the first video, Dan will reveal to you why the two most common methods of dog training only doom you to failure. You can watch the video now by clicking here. Follow the proven system he’ll show you in his series and you’ll never have to spend another second worrying about your dog barking at the ironing board ever again!

Why Do Dogs Bark at Ironing Boards?

Dogs bark at ironing boards because they find the entire process of ironing frightening and they know it’s connected. Dogs are conditioned to be afraid of fire, and will confuse the steam caused during ironing for smoke. When you pull out your ironing board, they get conditioned to think that a potential fire is coming and it’s up to them to scare this threat off.

Your dog barking at the ironing board is not as unusual as it may seem, but if they’re doing so and then ignoring you when you try to get them to stop, you have a very serious potential problem on your hands. When your dog refuses your commands like this, it is a direct sign of disrespect to your leadership.

While it may be easy to brush off a strange behavior such as this as something quirky or even funny, not doing anything will give your dog tacit approval to continue acting like this to whatever they perceive as scary, even when you tell them everything’s okay. Their problem will soon grow and escalate to the point that they’re doing it at all sorts of times.

You’ll find that your dog is barking at your hair dryer, barking at your microwave, barking at your blender, and possibly even barking at your toaster. You can probably see now why this is something you need to get a handle on now, lest you be dealing with all this noise and frustration practically every second of every day.

To learn how to stop your dog from barking at the ironing board while also taking care of their disobedience problem, go back to the first section now where we’ll give you the exact steps you need to be following.

Does the Steam From Ironing Scare Dogs?

The steam from ironing does scare dogs. They can’t distinguish it from the smoke from fire, which they are instinctually scared of for good reason. They then will likely get frightened and will attempt to either run away, bark at, or even attack the legs of your ironing board.

If your dog shows signs of anxiety when you’re ironing or even just when you’re pulling out the ironing board, be sure to put them in another room while you’re working. The last thing you need is them toppling over your board while you’ve got a hot iron active, as it could injure them, you, or cause damage to your clothing or home (an iron in use approaches 430 degrees).

How Do I Get My Dog Used to the Iron?

To get your dog used to the iron, get your board set up and then have someone take them to the far side of the room. While you iron (or pretend to iron if your dog is very frightened), have this other person give your dog pets, positive praise, and treats. As they do well, move closer. This will help your dog to form positive connections and to see that it’s not dangerous.

If you don’t have anyone who can assist you, get the board set up with the iron on top (but not turned on), and then do these steps yourself. The mere presence of the items should still be enough to help your dog to learn to not be afraid of them.

Be patient, and plan on this taking multiple training sessions over a period of days or weeks. Multiple, short training sessions on a regular basis will be much more effective than long, individual ones, so plan on keeping things brief. With consistency and a little bit of time, your dog will soon be able to ignore the ironing board and iron completely, even when in use.

I’m sure you’re looking forward to getting your ironing done without your dog barking, so I’ll let you get going on things now. Good luck with everything, and thank you for reading our article “Dog Barks at Ironing Board? Here’s How to Stop It!.”