You’ve gotten so sick of having to carefully watch your animals because your dog barks at your pigs so much you’re worried about what could happen. Why can’t your dog just get along with the other animals you keep? Why do dogs bark at pigs? Are dogs scared of pigs, or is something else going on? Can pigs and dogs live together?

Today, we’re going to answer all of the questions you have about this frustrating problem between your animals. Most importantly, we’ll tell you how to stop your dog barking at the pigs once and for all! Soon, this annoying issue will be a thing of the past. Keep reading below for our article “How to Stop Dog Barking at Pigs.”

Why Do Dogs Bark at Pigs?

Dogs bark at pigs because it’s their natural instinct to view them as prey. This is particularly true if they’re a hunting breed. It’s also normal for pigs to perceive dogs like they would a wolf or coyote — as a predator — and to run from them. This, however, only makes them resemble prey to your dog even more.

It’s also possible, though less likely, that your dog is just curious about the pigs. They look a bit different and make different sounds than most animals they’re used to, but at the same time they’re similar in many ways. This is both confusing and interesting to your dog, and they might get overexcited. This leads to many dogs barking because they can’t contain themselves.

But if your dog is barking at pigs and ignoring your commands to quit, then you have a serious issue on your hand, which is feeling dominant over you. If allowed to continue, their barking and aggression problems and misbehavior will only grow worse. Your dog may even attack your pigs.

You’ll likely also find your dog barking at other animals too. You’ll see that your dog is barking at your chickens, barking at your horses, barking at your goats, and barking at your sheep. In the wild, you’ll find them being an unruly dog who barks at ducks, barks at geese, and barks at deer.

You can obviously see how this could be very obnoxious, and possibly very dangerous. To stop your dog from barking at your pigs and other animals on command, skip to the last section now where we’ll teach you exactly what to do.

Are Dogs Scared of Pigs?

Dogs are not scared of pigs typically. Dogs are natural predators, while pigs are natural prey. In most cases, your dog will be the aggressor and your pigs will be the ones who are scared. But all animals can have different temperaments, so in some occasional cases, you may find a dog that is very timid and is frightened by a particularly aggressive and boisterous pig.

But even in the case where you have a dog that is scared of pigs, you should never leave them alone with a pig. Even a dog who shows that they are afraid of a pig could feel cornered and lash out at them. The result would likely be a mauled or dead pig.

Can Pigs and Dogs Live Together?

Pigs and dogs can live together, but they should always be supervised no matter how well they get along. Dogs are natural predators of animals like pigs. And even if your dog doesn’t intentionally attack your pig, they could severely injure them unintentionally during play.

If you have a house pig, they can certainly learn to get along and even play with your dog. But at no time, no matter how long they’ve known each other, should they ever be left alone for even short periods of time. Be very careful during your entire time with the two pets.

How to Stop Your Dog Barking at Your Pigs

To stop your dog barking at your pigs, get them to learn the “quiet” command. Bring your dog out to your pig pen with lots of small dog treats in your pocket. When your dog barks at the pigs, give them the “quiet” command immediately. If they quit, then you should reward your dog with a treat and positive praise right away.

But if your dog doesn’t listen, or quickly starts barking at your pigs again, then put a treat in your fist and hold it close to your dog’s nose. They will be able to smell it even within your closed fist and should stop barking so they can get a whiff of it.

Now that you should have your dog being quiet and paying you their full attention, quickly give the “quiet” command again and immediately reward them with praise and a treat.

Continue putting treats in your fist and repeating this process along with the command if they again start barking at the pigs. This is likely since they’re still learning. Be sure, however, that you don’t give your dog any praise or treats until they’ve stopped their barking and are giving you their complete attention.

With consistency, patience, and time, your dog will learn to stop barking at your pigs and other animals simply by you giving the “quiet” command and it won’t be necessary to place your fist near their mouth. Once your dog has reached the point that they’re responding well solely to the verbal command, start slowly lengthening the time before you reward them with a treat and praise.

Start by waiting 2 seconds, then 5, and so on. Your dog will fast get to the point that praise and treats aren’t required for you to get them to “quiet” on command. You’ll still, however, need to do something about their dominance problem which was causing all of this disobedience and disrespect to begin with.

And before we can properly go over that, we need to first quickly talk about what makes dogs function. You’ve likely heard before that dogs are pack animals, and that in every pack there is a pack leader. But when your dog barks at pigs and ignores your commands to stop, they are clearly showing that they don’t respect you in this role.

If they did, they wouldn’t bark at your pigs or other animals. They wouldn’t show any other types of disrespect or disregard for you. And they would obey all of your commands at all times, and they would do so immediately — and happily.

Prove to your dog that you are not just their pack leader, but a capable and worthy one which they must respect, and you’ll make all of this a reality.

You and your pigs will obviously win. But your dogs wins too because they’ll no longer be saddled with all of the stress and confusion that these pack leader and dominance issues are burderning them with 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Sounds terrific then, doesn’t it?

“Yes, of course, but how am I supposed to do this?”

You should watch an excellent free video series on this exact subject — how to be your dog’s pack leader — by a renowned trainer named Dan. In the series, he explains absolutely everything in ways that are very easy to follow and to teach to your own dog, and he gets immediately to the point so that you can start seeing these important changes in your dog before things get any worse.

Start watching Dan’s free training series now by clicking here. And no, you’re not going to have to be mean or yell at 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.

I’m sure you and your pigs are looking forward to a dog that behaves and gets quiet on command, so I’ll let you get started on things now. Good luck with everything, and thank you for reading our article “How to Stop Dog Barking at Pigs.”