Barking At Neighbours

[kimness]

I'm having quite a bit of trouble stopping my two pups from barking everytime our neighbours go outside. Unfortunately I live in a unit and for some reason live next to neighbours on both sides who are in and out of their homes 20 times a day.

My dogs like playing in the yard but the second a neighbour goes outside they bark like crazy. Inside I use a bottle of water and give them a spray when they bark, works really well and usually only have to do it once or twice to stop the barking for the rest of the day. But when they are outside they usually stop barking when they see me coming.

About a month ago I bought an ultrasonic bark stop (http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/lentek_bark_free.html). I know it is going off when they bark because it makes a clicky sound, but they don't seem to even care.

I'm really out of ideas here. Can anyone help?

[poodlefan]

You could try some kind of aversive collar. Using a water bottle you can't stop them barking if you aren't there.

Do your dog have access to any part of the unit when you're not home?

[kimness]

You could try some kind of aversive collar. Using a water bottle you can't stop them barking if you aren't there.

Do your dog have access to any part of the unit when you're not home?

When I am out I keep the dogs in the kitchen/hall area. They don't stay outside because our fences are not secure and I don't trust my neighbours.

[Jaxx'sBuddy]

i have a neighbours dog who barks all the time. my pup started to join in so i went to the back door and called her (oi!!), told her to come to me and then put her into a time out room or on a tie out EVERY time she barked at the dog. she was in time out for 10 mins then allowed to go into the back yard. it took 3 days to train her to ignore the dog.

now the other dog can bark all day and my pup doesn't react.

[kimness]

i have a neighbours dog who barks all the time. my pup started to join in so i went to the back door and called her (oi!!), told her to come to me and then put her into a time out room or on a tie out EVERY time she barked at the dog. she was in time out for 10 mins then allowed to go into the back yard. it took 3 days to train her to ignore the dog.

now the other dog can bark all day and my pup doesn't react.

Ooh, sounds like a great idea. I'll try doing that straight away.

[skip]

Thats a really good idea Jaxx'sBuddy.

I have heard other methods but not this one. I could even try it on one of mine who barks at the neighbours on the very rare occasion they go near the fence outside. I must have missed this option before.

But I think I will go and get her physically rather than call her and then reward her with a tie out. She'll get clued in quicksmart and not come to me once she works out what is going on.

Good Luck kimness.

It would be harder in a unit setting.Lots of contact with neighbours. And I find if one of mine barks the other joins in.

[Erny]

i have a neighbours dog who barks all the time. my pup started to join in so i went to the back door and called her (oi!!), told her to come to me and then put her into a time out room or on a tie out EVERY time she barked at the dog. she was in time out for 10 mins then allowed to go into the back yard. it took 3 days to train her to ignore the dog.

now the other dog can bark all day and my pup doesn't react.

(My emphasise added.)

"Time-out" to me is something that is not a punishment for the dog, but just simply a "settle down" type action.

"Sin-bin" is something to me that is perceived by the dog as a punishment for unwanted behaviour. Any punishment delivered to a dog is likely to be paired with the behaviour it exhibited immediately preceding the punishment.

From what you've written it sounds to me, Jaxx'sBuddy, that (going by my interpretation explained above) that what you've done is "sin-binned" your dog. Provided the purpose behind the barking is not "attention seeking", sin-binning might work for some dogs .... but not for all or many.

The biggest problem I see here, from what you have written, is that your dog is receiving punishment (sin-bin) after you have "told her to come to [you]". Which means that it's more than possible and even quite likely that many dogs will perceive the punishment for "coming" when called and perhaps not for the barking at all.

I'm glad this worked for you JB and perhaps there was some luck involved, but I think it deserves to have the potential 'fall-out' explained to those who might read here and follow by example.

Oh - and sorry to raise an oldish thread, but stumbled on it in my wanderings - obviously missed it beforehand.

Edited July 23, 2008 by Erny

[Veanna]

Erny, I am glad you brought up this thread as this is exactly my problem. I have just had a complaint from one of my neighbours that my 15 week old shepherd is barking at her whenever she goes outside. She is retired and spends a lot of time in her garden, so this is happening frequently.

She isn't very approachable (learnt this when we were replacing the boundary fence!) so working with her on this is not going to happen.

I have tried squirting him, using a growly no (which works for other behaviours), and taking him away from the situation. Unfortunately I can't drop what I am doing (I will soon be working from home and have a 3yo daughter) and go outside to reprimand him.

He is inside when I am not home, but once I start working (home based child care) he will have to be outside during the day in his run.

He is not barking for attention, he is happy to stay outside by himself and plays with a variety of toys that are rotated, has his own area to dig, and bones etc.

Any ideas on what I can do? The neighbour making the complaint has already said that if we don't stop him she will go to the council. I assured her that I understand where she is coming from and I will get on top of it straight away.

I am stumped as I haven't had this issue before. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated

[Erny]

Alert barking isn't always easy to change and I find that it is often a matter of trial and error. Of course the problematic side of this is that it takes times, and due to neighbourhood complaints people often don't have the luxury of that.

It is all the more difficult when neighbours won't help out.

Your pup is only very young and this does help as it is not as though he's had a great deal of time for this behaviour to become ingrained. What might help, if you can manage it, is to work with your pup in the backyard (ie training) when your neighbour is out gardening. For your pup to recognise that you are neither concerned nor interested in any movement from the neighbour's yard, can assist with him learning that there is nothing to be concerned about by it.

Of course, your leadership to your pup needs to be evident - again, this should be fairly easy given his young age.

Naturally, all of this goes to when you are there ..... there is the hope though that there could be a 'carry over' effect to when you are not. It all depends on exactly what your pup's goal is at the time. It could be attention seeking and his goal would possibly being met, even if it is merely by your neighbour telling him to pipe down.

Taking pup around the neighbourhood can also assist. It helps the pup learn by observation and hearing 'normal' noises within the neighbourhood and where they come from and why. If pup hasn't ventured out yet, he could well be somewhat disconcerted about a 'world' out there that he's not yet learnt about.

Building his confidence and understanding about what his territory is and what constitutes an encroachment could also be helpful.

Where possible, I don't like to punish for 'alert' barking, because it is what I want (ie I want to be alerted to any 'real' territory trespass). But pup needs to learn what 'real' territory trespass is.

When I adopted my adult RR (who, years on, has since passed .... bless her cotton socks) she didn't understand "territory". She would bark at people passing (note : I was confident that it was ONLY 'alert' barking and definitely not ANY form of attention seeking). The point of alert barking by an insubordinate (I was absolute in my certainty of her perception of me as "leader") is to say to the leader and pack ... "hey ... you better come and check this out!". When she barked I would go out to "check". I would say "thank you Kal, it's ok, that's enough" (just my own natural wording .... no rules about what words you use).

If Kal ceased barking, she would receive a pat and a "good girl" from me.

If Kal barked beyond the word "enough", I would repeat the word "enough" but with a stronger/sharper/more assertive tone.

If she barked beyond that, I commanded her to drop (in early days of training, this involved some hands on procedure .... but later became reliable verbal command compliance). The drop position makes it more awkward (note : not impossible) for a dog to bark. It also served the purpose of taking away her freedom and thus a form of punishment, if you will.

Provided she settled and ceased the urge to bark, I'd release her. But I didn't go big on the rewards at that point.

The other thing I insisted on was that I was the one who first greeted visitors - not my dog (regardless of whether those visitors were at my verandah gate or to my house). This was part of my leadership - after all .... as leader it is up to me to protect her (and for her to perceive that as my dutiable role).

IF beyond all of the above an aversive is required to cease the barking (which can remain as a 'symptom' even once everything else has been addressed), then given your pup's age I'd be inclined to try the JetAir collar for those days when you can't be home to supervise or prevent the barking behaviour.

Don't know if any of what I've written helps.

Edited July 28, 2008 by Erny

[Veanna]

Thank you for your post Erny, it is very helpful.

Odin alert barks when people arrive (this is what I think he is doing in the yard), I acknowledge people are here, tell him enough and he stops. Proud that he has done his job.

I think working with him in the yard, while neighbour is in hers will be a big help. Will get started on that this afternoon.

Thanks again

[Erny]

Thank you for your post Erny, it is very helpful.

Great - you're welcome.

Odin alert barks when people arrive (this is what I think he is doing in the yard), I acknowledge people are here, tell him enough and he stops. Proud that he has done his job.

Good. When you're both inside together though, show him that YOU go to the door ..... not him. At the very least, work so that he is behind you. (If he's not already, that is.)

I think working with him in the yard, while neighbour is in hers will be a big help. Will get started on that this afternoon.

Let me know how you get on

Thanks again

Cheers!

Erny

[Veanna]

Odin alert barks when people arrive (this is what I think he is doing in the yard), I acknowledge people are here, tell him enough and he stops. Proud that he has done his job.

Good. When you're both inside together though, show him that YOU go to the door ..... not him. At the very least, work so that he is behind you. (If he's not already, that is.)

Yep, we already do this. He gets praised for barking when someone is coming down our drive. Then is put into a sit while I answer the door and greet whoever it is. He is then given the chance to say hi if the guest wants to interact with him.

Now, just to transfer that to the back yard

[Erny]

... He gets praised for barking when someone is coming down our drive.

That's fine. Keep the praise 'low key'.

Also .... if I'm already outside/outfront when dog barks (and where it's pretty obvious that I can see what's going on), I don't praise for the alert barking.

[Veanna]

Oh no, he only gets a quick pat on my way past him, then put into a sit until the guest is in the house and the door is shut.

If he is barking for the sake of it or if he is barking at something I have already noticed he doesn't get praised for it. Only ever when we are in the house

[Leema]

My neighbours have recently complained about my dogs barking. I am taking steps now that have seemed to have worked, but the neighbours did comment that the dogs bark when they go outside. My strategy was going to be to work with my neighbours (get them to come out of their house) and click&treat behaviour that was not barking. my dogs have 'been good' apparently, but if it happens that they still bark at neighbour noises, I would try this strategy as my neighbours are quite cooperative.

[kateykateykatey]

This sounds like a dumb question, but what is barking at cats? If they're not actually invading a dog's territory (say they're fighting on the other side of the fence) is it still alert barking? Or... something else? Basically, I'm wondering if the same technique would work in that situation...?

[Erny]

KKK - possibly prey drive and the frustration at not being able to reach the cat? I can't really tell from this side of the internet. As to what to do depends on your dog's relationship with cats.

Edited July 28, 2008 by Erny

[kateykateykatey]

He's quite fond of our cats, interestingly- the dog that doesn't like cats doesn't bark at them at all. I tend to think frustration as well, but I'll give it a go and see.