In most cases, people deal with the barking by yelling at the dog, hitting him with a newspaper, or jerking him on the leash to get him to stop. Regardless of the reason the dog was initially barking, he now associates the mail carrier walking toward him as a danger because of the bad things that happened to him when he barked at that person. So now the dog has a growing aggression problem towards people in uniforms walking towards the house. You will have ended the barking and the dog will have associated the mail carrier with something positive. So, by using this nonviolent, positive approach, you ve stopped the barking and, in the process, you ve made the dog more social.
Every dog deserves respect.
And that respect includes being considerate. You should do your best to find out why a dog is doing what he is doing before responding. Otherwise, it is easy to inadvertently fly off the handle and react in a way that might harm the dog and actually compound the behavioral problem. Consideration also includes the recognition that every dog learns at his or her own rate. People often ask me how long it takes to train a dog.