Help with barking problem

[ee_chick]

I did a search and didn't see anything addressing this issue.

Our neighbor left a note on our door today letting us know that our dogs had barked quite a bit this morning and they woke his whole family up. :( Obviously I'd like to be a good neighbor and a good pet owner. What has worked for you to stop your dogs from barking when you're gone? Does anyone have experience with ultrasonic bark devices or citronella collars?

More information -- I have two Boxers, 2.5 years old. We've moved recently and I think this is contributing to the problem. I also think that they may have been responding to the housekeeper, but my impression from the note is that they barked for an extended period of time. The neigbor hasn't returned our call yet, so I don't know if this is the first time they've created a disturbance or not. They're not usually bad about barking when I'm home. They were in a dog run with food, water, shelter, shade, toys, and each other, so I know that their needs are being met.

[ManteoChik]

Is your back yard fenced in? Sometimes if dogs are able to see people walking buy they will bark because they can see people but can't get to them.

Thankfully our dog is not a barker so we haven't had that problem, however the neighbors that live on the other side of our fence have two dogs that bark a lot. Our dog will go up to the fence line and I think that the neighbors dog sees ours and it causes it to bark.

[MidwesternGal]

I would wait to worry until you find out if this is a one-time deal, a once-in-a-while deal, or an all-the-time deal.

It's in a dog's nature to bark when they are excited or scared. . . it sounds like something set them off this morning. (If they are outside. . .perhaps a squirrel, kid on a bike, etc. If inside, maybe someone knocked on the door?)

If this turns out to be a one-time only, or maybe a once or twice a month thing. . . then I'd just apologize to the neighbors for this time and leave it at that.

However, if it turns out to be "all the time" then maybe you should contact an obedience trainer in your area.

(I know my dog barks everytime someone knocks on the door, or if something really exites (good or bad) her. And those are only about 5-8 barks and she's done. . . which is completely "normal" in my experience with dogs)

[ejs]

We had this problem when we first got our first dog. Our neighbor sits in his backyard and feeds birds. When the birds fly in, our dog would bark. Our neighbor is a retiree, so he's home all day. (We didn't know this was happening.)

There's no way I was going to put a citronella collar on my dog. Our neighbor put up an "ultrasonic, high-frequency bark stopper," but it didn't work. He came and told us about the problem. We didn't want our dog to think that barking was bad because it's a natural instinct. Our dog wasn't randomly barking; he was barking at the birds landing on our shared fence.

We decided we would leave the dog inside during the day. It worked great. We have a housekeeper who comes every other Tuesday, so we told the neighbor that on those days, the dog would be outside. And now that I'm a SAHW, there isn't a problem.

[Sue]

Easy fix... keep them inside. Is there a particular reason they are kept outside?

[ee_chick]

Thanks, ladies. MidwesternGal you're probably right that I should chill a bit. I was just mortified that I was that neighbor, kwim? The dogs are not big barkers, but my male can be a nuisance barker.

We do sometimes keep them inside during the workday, but that is not always feasible. For example, we're remodeling and have contractors throughout the house on a regular basis.

[ejs]

Why don't you look into putting them into doggie daycare on the days they can't be left inside?

[amew]

Bumping this up because we have a barking (or rather, howling) problem.

We have a three year-old beagle. We adore him, and he's a relatively well-trained dog, but he's a total howler. We have always kept him inside all day so as not to disturb the neighbors, but he howls a lot when we are home with him, and it's disturbing us. :( We can't have friends over without the dog howling the whole time. Our 6 month old is continually being woken from his naps because the dog howls at a passing jogger, car, a ringing doorbell on TV, etc. We can't let him run around our fenced in yard for more than five minutes or he'll howl at any little thing and disturb the whole neighborhood, and I know the dog would benefit from a little more outside time than he is getting right now.

I know that his howling is part of his nature, and I have no desire to stop him from howling altogether, but I would like to be able to control it a little more. We have always been adverse to using any kind of bark color, but my DH is leaning toward wanting to try a citronella collar at this point. I really hate to go there. Any thoughts? Other suggestions?

[Asha]

just a thought - it might be happening more often than you think. we have a barker behind us, and we have never complained about it to the neighbor. we are kinda shy about complaining. why don't you ask your neighbors how often this happens?

[Hello Kitty]

I don't know Amew - our neighbors are the one with the dog that sounds like yours. Except they leave him to howl outside, on the hour, for about 20 mins. :mad:

Our dog, OTOH is a big whiner. She'll whine, whine, whine all the time. Since we're always home with her, our trainer had us squirt lime juice (from the bottle that looks like a little lime) in her mouth and tell her 'SSHHHH!' sharply - could you try it with your dog? I think the whining and howling behaviors are probably the same. It's really helped us quite a bit.

[amew]

Thanks, Hello Kitty. I'll try the lime juice. Sorry you have to deal with your neighbors' howling dog--we try really hard to make sure ours isn't disruptive to anyone other than us.

[Hello Kitty]

Good luck! It's gotten to the point where I simply have to flip the top of the lime and she quiets down. ;)