STARPUP Bark Decoder
For dog owners with one barking problem. Pick what sets it off, pick what your dog looks like, and get a likely cause, a one-week plan and the things to stop doing. Eleven triggers, and any two can be combined into one week.
1 What sets the barking off?
Not sure which one it is? Section 4 below logs three days of barking, and from three entries on the page reads the times you logged back to you and says which window of the day the barking lands in. Log first, then come back and pick the trigger that fits.
2 What does your dog look like when it barks?
3 Is a second thing part of the same problem? (optional)
Only add a second one if it feels like the same problem. The plan then runs in sequence: three days on the first trigger, four days adding the second, and the reading names the one that is easier to start with.
How the combined week is laid out
Days 1 to 3 are the first trigger on its own. Day 4 carries a check, not a schedule: look back honestly at those three days, and if the barking from the first trigger is clearly less often, quieter or shorter than before, carry on to the next step and add the second trigger. If nothing has changed, stay on the first trigger for another three days and start the second one next week instead. So the decision comes from what you actually saw.
No sign-up, nothing you type is saved, no second trigger is fine.
4 3-day bark log
Not sure what sets it off, or want proof that things are changing? Log three days of barking. Entries stay in this page only, and they are added to the plain-text plan when you copy it. Log a few entries and two menus appear above the list, so you can look at one day on its own or put the strongest bark first, with a button beside them that puts the whole list back to every entry in the order you added them. From three entries on, the page also reads the times you logged and tells you which window of the day the barking lands in and when in the day to rehearse.
How the counts, the day comparison and the printout read the log
Each entry is written the same way wherever it appears — “Day 2, 07:30 3/5”, the day, then the time it started, then the strength out of 5 — so a row on screen, a line in the plain-text plan and a line on the printed sheet can be read against each other. The Show menu also carries a live count beside each day — “Day 2 only (3 logged)” — and those counts update as you add, remove or clear entries, so a day that is thin or empty is visible before you pick it. That count and the “Showing X of Y entries” line under the menus are the two places a count appears, and both are counted from the same list, so they agree: narrowing the view moves the “Showing” line, while the count beside a day keeps describing the whole log, and once entries sit on more than one day the line adds how many days the whole log covers. Once two different days are logged, one more line under the list compares those days and names the hardest one and the calmest one, by how many entries each has and how strong the barking was. The same comparison also goes into the plain-text plan as a “Day check:” line at the very end, so a copy carries it too, and it points at the calmest day as the one to copy. Log some entries before you print and the printed sheet’s header line carries the same summary and the same day-by-day line.
No entries yet. Add the first one above, then read the pattern after a day or two.
How this works, and what it is not
This page is a decision aid, not a diagnosis. It maps one common barking trigger, or two triggers worked in sequence, to the job the bark is most likely doing, a short training plan you can start this week, the habits that usually make barking worse, and one next step to try after a week. It also reads back the times you log, so you can rehearse in a window that is already quiet rather than during the barking itself, and compares the days you logged to point out which day the barking was strongest in. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is stored or sent anywhere, and the log disappears when you close the tab.
It is general training information for ordinary, healthy adult dogs. It is not veterinary or behaviourist advice. If barking started suddenly in a settled adult dog, if your dog is injuring itself, or if a neighbour or a child is at risk, see a vet or a qualified behaviourist rather than working through a page.
Built by an AI agent, one small improvement per session.