What is your dog’s deal with bothering your alpacas? What is going on here? Why do dogs bark at alpacas? Do you need to keep them completely separated, or can you keep alpacas with dogs? And how will they respond to your pup? Are alpacas aggressive to dogs?

Today, we’re going to answer all of the questions you have about this frustrating problem. And, obviously, we’ll cover the information you’re most interested in: how to stop your dog barking at your alpacas. This will all be a thing of the past soon, so keep reading below for our article “How to Stop Dog Barking at Alpacas!”

Why Do Dogs Bark at Alpacas?

Dogs bark at alpacas because they get curious about these large animals they’re seeing around your property, and want to play chase with them. The overexcitement causes them to bark to try to entice the alpacas into play. You’ll probably also see them doing things like wagging their tails and performing play bows.

It’s possible that your dogs will look at alpacas as prey, but that’s not as likely an explanation as they should be used to seeing them. Your alpacas, however, will certainly feel threatened and will have no desire to play with what they view as a predator. But if they run from the dogs, this will entice them even more, regardless of whether they’ve been barking to play or as a predator.

Of course, your dog doesn’t understand these things so you can’t allow this behavior to continue, regardless of why they’re doing it. But if your dog is barking at your alpacas and then refusing your commands to stop, you have a serious problem on your hands because your dog is displaying feelings of dominance over you.

This leads them to believe that it’s up to them to decide how they’ll behave, not only during play but also when they view something as a potential threat, even in the cases where it’s clearly not — like with your alpacas. If allowed to continue, your dog will also be barking uncontrollably at other animals around your farm, and may even attack.

You’ll probably see that your dog is barking at the llamas, barking at the pigs, barking at the chickens, barking at the cows, barking at the goats, and barking at the sheep too. Obviously, you can see why if this problem is allowed to continue it could create havoc both for you and all the other animals on your property.

To learn how to stop your dog barking at your alpacas and other animals on command, skip to the last section now where we’ll teach you exactly what to do.

Can You Keep Alpacas With Dogs?

You can keep alpacas with dogs, but only after they’ve both been trained to act in an appropriate way with each other. Dogs will either see the alpacas as potential playmates or prey, and the alpacas will view the dogs as natural predators like a coyote or wolf. Keep them separated by a fence and supervised until they’ve learned to interact.

Even once they’ve calmed around each other and learned to give distance, you should always supervise them together. And no matter how long they’ve been getting along, if your alpaca has young then you must keep your dog separated from them entirely. Your alpacas will view the dog as a serious threat and will get between the two, and then attempt to stomp your dog.

Are Alpacas Aggressive to Dogs?

Alpacas are aggressive to dogs in many cases. Though it is possible to train them to be around each other,  you should do so slowly and keep them separated by a fence at first. Do not allow them to be around each other at all if the alpaca has young, or is with other animals that they feel it is necessary to guard.

If your alpaca is around their young or animals which they’re guarding, they will be stressed by your dog’s presence and will attempt to get between the other animals and the potential predator (your dog). They may then attempt to stomp your dog which could seriously injure or even kill them.

How to Stop Your Dog Barking at Alpacas

To stop your dog barking at alpacas:

1. Teach your dog the “quiet” command to use when you need them to be calm when near your alpacas or at any other time.
2. Practice this by taking your dog to where you keep your alpacas with lots of small treats and plan on staying at a distance.
3. If your alpacas are wary of your dog (which is very likely), then instead go somewhere that you know your dog also barks while you practice, such as the park.
4. When your dog starts barking, say “quiet” in a positive voice. If they listen and give you their attention, give them a treat and praise immediately.
5. But if your dog never stops barking or quickly resumes it, then put a treat in your hand and close your fist.
6. Place your fist near your dog’s nose. They’ll be able to pick up the scent even within your hand and should stop their barking so they can investigate.
7. When they’ve paused their barking and are giving you their full attention, again say “quiet,” and then open your fist to reward them praise and a treat.
8. If they continue to be quiet while paying attention to you, keep rewarding your dog with praise and a treat.
9. But if they start barking again or not paying attention, repeat this process of putting a treat in your fist, placing it by their nose, and waiting until they quit barking and pay attention.
10. Always be sure that you pause until your dog has silenced and is paying attention, and then say “quiet” before giving them any treats or praise.
11. This forms a positive connection in your dog’s mind with the “quiet” command, and with staying quiet and giving you their attention.
12. With patience, time, and repetition, your dog will respond to only the “quiet” command, and it won’t be necessary to put your hand by their mouth.
13. When your dog is responding well with only the verbal command, then you should start increasing the amount of time you wait before you reward them.
14. Start by waiting for two seconds, then as they do well move that up to five seconds, and so on.
15. Soon, it won’t be necessary to reward your dog with any praise or food, and they will quiet and give you their full attention just by you giving the command.

The root issue which was causing all of this to begin with — your dog’s feelings of dominance — will still remain and need to be addressed, however. If you don’t do so, while you may now be able to quiet them on command, their disobedience will still continue to show itself in other ways.

To properly handle that then, we should first quickly talk about what makes dogs function. I’m sure you’ve heard before that dogs are pack animals, and that in every pack there is a pack leader. But when your dog barks at your alpacas and doesn’t listen when you tell them to stop, they are definitively showing that they don’t respect you in this role.

If they did, they would listen when you’ve directed them to stop barking at your alpacas or at any other animals. They wouldn’t engage in any other types of dominance-related misbehavior. And they would happily obey all of your commands at all times, and they would do so immediately.

Show your dog that you are not just their pack leader, but a worthy and capable one whom they must respect, and you’ll make all of these great things a reality.

You and your alpacas will be better off for obvious reasons, but your dog will be too because you’ll have freed them from all of the stress and confusion that they’re currently burdened with 24/7 thanks to their problems with dominance and pack leadership.

Sounds great then, right?

“Yes, sure, but how do I do this?”

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

Start watching Dan’s free training series now by clicking here. And don’t stress, because no, you’re not going to have to yell or be mean to your four-legged farmhand. Dan uses only 100% humane and loving methods at all times. Not just because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it’s the fastest way to achieve permanent changes in your dog’s behavior.

I’m sure you (and your alpacas) are looking forward to your dog controlling themselves around the farm, so I’ll let you get started now. Best of luck with everything, and thank you for reading “How to Stop Dog Barking at Alpacas.”