The main thing to remember is never do the dog’s bidding. Don’t pay attention to dog’s barking as much as possible. It will exclude the risk of unintentional strengthening of such behaviour. If the barking doesn’t exceed certain limits, ignore it and it may be enough for the dog to stop barking.

Slow but steady wins the race. For example, every time when your Malinois starts barking in order to attract your attention, leave the room immediately without any word or turn your back to the dog. Eventually he will understand, that barking leads to the reverse result.

Don’t prevent the dog’s barking if you don’t know the reason of it. If Malinois barks in appropriate situation he should be praised. Ignore the dog only if he barks to attract attention or without any serious reason. The carrot and stick approach always demonstrates it’s value in practice.

The best way to prevent your Malinois from barking is to teach him to bark upon your command. To begin with, find a good bait for barking. May be your Malinois will bark when he notices his bowl in your hands or his favourite toys. If you will put the dog on short lead, it may cause offended barking. Tease your dog a little and when he starts barking praise him saying “Bark!”. If you will often repeat this exercise, the word “Bark!” for your Malinois will be associated with the barking and you will be able to cause  barking after your command. However, the main part of this exercise is introducing the word “Silence!” during the barking and giving the toy or other praise to the dog. If you will often repeat this exercise, Malinois will associate this command with stop of barking and receiving the praise.

If you want the dog not to bark at all, use the “Stop that!” command. Praising is the best motivation, that’s why it’s so important to give the treat to the dog immediately when he does something right and not after it. It means you should praise the dog when he stops barking or doesn’t bark at all in situations, when she used to bark earlier. If your Malinois lies quietly and doesn’t prevent you talking to the guests, or when your neighbours come and he doesn’t greet them with the ordinary barking, praise the dog and it will encourage him to behave like this next time.

If your Malinois barks because he hears some noise in the yard, it means he has excitable type of higher nervous activity. By barking he shows his inherent guard instincts and all you need is to direct dog’s energy into right direction.

If your Malinois barks when stranger comes into the house - it’s his work and direct duty. Some people prefer the dog waits till the stranger comes to the guarded territory and then attacks him. But then we should consider the goal to be achieved. Is murder or broken furniture the goal? That’s why we recommend to cultivate warning barking in your Malinois. Your dog won’t save your house from professional burglars, but it will be more difficult for hooligans to break the door when they will hear dog’s barking behind it.