It’s just so frustrating. Every single time you or someone in your family plays the piano, your dog starts going crazy and barking! Why do they have to react like this? Why does your dog bark at your piano? Why does your dog hate your piano? Is it the music itself or something else? Do dogs like piano music?

Today, we’re going to answer every question you have about this problem. And of course, we’ll cover what you’re really interested in: how to stop your dog from barking at your piano. Soon, you’ll be able to play without worry! Keep reading below for our article “How to Stop Dog Barking at Piano!”

How to Stop Your Dog Barking at Piano

To stop your dog barking at the piano, they need to learn to become quiet when told. To accomplish this, bring your dog somewhere you know they’ll want to bark such as the park, with lots of small dog treats. Leave them on their leash and stay a good distance away from the other people at the park.

When your dog begins barking, say “quiet” in a positive, calm voice. If they pay attention to you, then reward them with a small treat and praise immediately. But if they resume barking again or never quit, then you should put a treat in your fist.

Place your hand right by your dog’s nose. Your dog will still be able to smell the treat even within your fist and will stop their barking to investigate the scent. Once they’ve gotten silent and are also paying their complete attention to you, again give the “quiet” command and then open your hand to reward them with praise and a treat.

If your dog continues to stay quiet, keep rewarding them with a treat and praise. But if they start to bark again, regardless of whether it’s at you or at something at the park, repeat the steps of placing a treat in your fist, putting it right by their nose, and then pausing until they’ve gotten silent.

Make sure that you’re pausing until your dog has gotten silent before you give them any rewards. This forms a positive connection for your dog with giving you their attention and staying silent whenever you say “quiet.” Reward them right away with praise and treats when your dog is responding well.

With repetition, time, and consistency, your dog will become quiet simply by you giving the command, and you will no longer need to put your hand by their mouth. You should then begin lengthening the amount of time before you reward them. Start with just a couple of seconds, then move that up to 5 seconds, and so on.

Before long, the food rewards and praise won’t be necessary anymore and your dog will quit barking at your piano or at anything else and all you’ll have to do is give the “quiet” command.

But you’ll still need to do something about the root problem that was causing all of this disobedience to begin with, which is your dog’s feelings of anxiety and dominance (which is why they feel it’s okay to ignore your commands). Letting this continue will just lead to your dog’s issue growing and escalating into other behavioral problems.

And to do that, we must first talk about what makes dogs tick deep down. You’ve likely 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 the piano, they are definitively showing you that they don’t trust you as the head of the family pack.

If they did, they wouldn’t bark at your piano. They wouldn’t engage in any other types of dominance and anxiety-related disrespect or misbehavior. And they would immediately obey your commands at all times, and they would do so happily.

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

You’ll win for obvious reasons. But your dog will be the real winner here because they’ll no longer have to deal with all of the confusion and worry that their anxiety and dominance problems are currently burdening their little shoulders with every single second of every single day.

Sounds like a terrific thing, don’t you think?

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

You should watch an incredibly useful free video series which is on this very subject — how to be your dog’s pack leader — by a renowned trainer named Dan. In the series, he explains everything 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 crucial 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 be mean or yell at your dog. Dan uses only 100% humane and loving teaching techniques at all times. Not just because they’re the right thing to do, but also because they’re the fastest way to achieve permanent changes in your dog’s behavior.

Why Does My Dog Bark at My Piano?

Your dog barks at your piano because they find the entire process confusing, which worries them and many dogs will then respond by barking at this perceived threat. They don’t understand what’s going on, or why this large, somewhat loud object is taking your attention away from them and that stresses them out.

Your piano is not loud enough to produce sounds that will cause your dog pain or hearing damage, with outputs for an acoustic piano only at about 60-70 decibels. Dogs can handle up to 140 decibels before immediate damage occurs, but they can still find even quiet piano music unpleasant or stressful. They then respond by barking.

But the real problem occurs when your dog doesn’t listen when you tell them to quit barking at the piano. When this happens, your dog has moved past anxiety into dominance. Them feeling that it’s okay to continue doing what they want, even when you’re commanding them to do otherwise, is a clear display of this.

If you don’t address things now, they’ll soon also be doing it at many other times. Your dog will bark when you play guitar, bark when you sing, and just generally bark when you play music at any time. I’m sure you can see how this could quickly ruin your ability to enjoy producing music in your home.

To learn how to stop your dog barking at your piano while also training them to respect your commands, go back to the first section now where we’ll teach you exactly what to do.

Why Does My Dog Hate My Piano?

Your dog hates your piano because it’s large and confusing, and takes attention from them. This confuses them and causes them anxiety, and they might also not enjoy the sounds it produces either. Pianos aren’t loud enough to cause a dog pain, but it’s still very possible for a dog to not enjoy the sounds produced by even a very skilled player.

Do Dogs Like Piano Music?

Dogs like piano music in some cases. If your dog enjoys the piano, you’ll see them doing things like sitting or laying nearby, relaxing their ears, wagging their tail, and having a soft, partially open mouth. They may even be howling in an attempt to play along with the music. Dogs howl to communicate, and they are essentially saying “I like this, let me join in!”

I’m sure you’re looking forward to playing without your dog piping in alongside you, so I’ll let you begin now. Best of luck with all of this, and thank you for reading our article “How to Stop Dog Barking at Piano.”