Woman Films Her 'Magic' Method To Stop Her Dog Constantly Barking at Window

A nervous dog would regularly bark at anything from a reflection on the window, a parked truck or a cat outside, but it was by chance that an old Halloween costume came to be the perfect antidote to the dog's anxiousness.

The mixed-breed rescue dog named Myko has been incredibly anxious and easily triggered by anything from loud noises like thunder, to seeing a fox outside his house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Myko's owners would try to quash his barking and reassure him that there was no need to be nervous, but it made little difference.

After looking online for solutions, Myko's owners read that covering a dog's ears can be a comfort to them, so they dug out an old Eeyore Halloween costume bought for Myko, which included adorable blue ears.

Incredibly, once the ears were placed on Myko's head, he instantly became quiet and calm. The ears have become a staple of the dog's social media as his owner regularly shows how well the method works on TikTok (@mykomushroom).

Covering the dog's ears is an unusual method and might not work for every dog. The Dog's Trust charity, based in the U.K. offers numerous tips for how owners can stop their dogs from barking.

The ideas include never telling the dog off for barking as it can confuse them, avoiding exposure to things that might scare them, keeping the dog active and engaged, and certainly not rewarding them when they do start barking.

Myko's owners told Newsweek about how transformative the ears have been: "Myko barks at animals in our backyard, mainly deer or foxes, as well as reflections he sees in the patio doors.

"One night, after nearly half an hour of him barking at our cat's reflection in the window, we had tried everything to redirect him but nothing worked. We had read about how clothing that is form fitting, or pressure around their ears can be calming for dogs.

"We'd purchased a Halloween costume for him a few months back so we pulled out the droopy ears from it and we put them on him. He instantly became very quiet and calm, so we left them on and he stayed quiet."

Now that Myko has grown used to his "quiet ears" he calms down as soon as they're placed on him. Although his owners are aware that not all his barks require the ears, so they try not to discourage all of his behavior.

His owner explained: "With all dogs there's different types of barking, for example there's alarm barking which we wouldn't want to discourage. If there's someone at the door he barks until we tell him it's all good, and we don't use the ears for that.

"However, when he becomes fixated on something that's causing him to be upset we will put the ears on. They're the only thing that works when he's in a super high state of anxious arousal. I'd say in any given week we probably use them about one or two times."

On February 9, Myko's owner shared another video of the ears in action on TikTok, showing the dog barking at the window before having the ears put on and the barks turning into low grumbles instead. The video, captioned "MAGIC! Watch borks go to mumbles", racked up over 2.7 million views and more than 230,000 likes.

Hundreds of people commented on the video to share their appreciation for the barking hack, as one TikTok user wrote: "unconventional but effective—I give the ears a 10/10".

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to [email protected] with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.