New Neighbourhood

[oakway]

i groomed a Belgian Shepherd just a few weeks ago that had horrific wounds on its neck that i thought were grass seed abcess. When the owner collected the dog i started telling/showing the wounds....he quickly put 2 & 2 together and solved the mystery. The dog had been wearing a shock collar loaned from the council after they had a complaint about the dog barking. He was mortified by the damage to the dog, as it had been hiding away in the thick hair.

ok please correct me if i am wrong but i was under the impression that shock collars where illegal in SA for some time now (along with prong collars) there was def a campaign by the RSPCA to make them so. If this is the case the council should not be loaning them to anybody

Please don't missunderstand me to mean i don't agree with these methods of training where other options have been tried and failed. Its just that as an owner and a vet nurse that i would be VERY careful about using them without doing my research on this as i know the collars are still widely available and would not want to be charged for " animal cruelty" either

Well don't say anything. :rolleyes:

[Robbi]

Wow. Sorry but if I were in your position, I would keep my dogs inside despite not being allowed to.

No way would I leave them out there if that kind of stuff is going in in the street.

I agree, regardless of no dogs inside mine would be

Can you not just allow them in one room, if they are older dogs they should be no problem and a quick vacuum each evening and an open window would keep everything fresh :rolleyes:

[Jaxx'sBuddy]

i groomed a Belgian Shepherd just a few weeks ago that had horrific wounds on its neck that i thought were grass seed abcess. When the owner collected the dog i started telling/showing the wounds....he quickly put 2 & 2 together and solved the mystery. The dog had been wearing a shock collar loaned from the council after they had a complaint about the dog barking. He was mortified by the damage to the dog, as it had been hiding away in the thick hair.

ok please correct me if i am wrong but i was under the impression that shock collars where illegal in SA for some time now (along with prong collars) there was def a campaign by the RSPCA to make them so. If this is the case the council should not be loaning them to anybody

Please don't missunderstand me to mean i don't agree with these methods of training where other options have been tried and failed. Its just that as an owner and a vet nurse that i would be VERY careful about using them without doing my research on this as i know the collars are still widely available and would not want to be charged for " animal cruelty" either

Well don't say anything. :rolleyes:

x2 and maybe also check what you are saying re prong collars in SA.

[Sheridan]

The trouble is, it's not just the risk of the physical damage done to the dog, but also the pyschological damage. There is no guarantee that the dog will associate the shock with the behaviour it is meant to be modifying ie barking.

I read on an email list recently about someone's dog fitted with an anti-bark zap collar. It was set off by another dog barking not just by the dog it was fitted to.

I would take that with a grain of salt.

The collars are constructe so that only the dog wearing it can activate it.

This was the owner of the dog who reported it.

[poodlefan]

Why not be proactive rather than paranoid?

Do a flyer for your immediate neighbours. Drop it in their mail boxes.

Introduce yourself, tell them you have a dog, are concerned that it doesn't create any issues for them and provide your work and mobile phone numbers for them to contact if they have any concerns about its behaviour.

You cannot pretend to know what sort of noise your dog makes when you aren't home -never say never.

Provide a method of communication that won't need to involve council or neighbours silencing a problem they believe wont' be acted on otherwise.

The best defence your dog has is you stepping up and letting neighbours know you will act on their concerns.

Edited July 20, 2010 by poodlefan

[kmaci]

I agree with poodlefan.

At our last house we got new neighbours that had a small dog that would bark alot during the day when they first moved in. Within a week or two it stopped (not completely but to the amount I would expect a dog to bark).

Allow your dogs time to settle and if your neighbours do have issues let them know what you are doing to fix any problems

[blacklabrador]

What about a behaviourist?

Whatever you do, do something and put your neighbours out of their misery. It's no fun living near barking dogs and even a dog who might only bark for a few minutes each hour is disturbing if it's loud enough. Your neighbour has said they are barking a lot.

I've had issues with three close by neighbours having little dogs barking. Between the three of them there was a dog barking somewhere almost constantly and I was in the middle of it. Conversations with two neighbours actually has solved the issue - one has anxiety issues now sorted by a behaviourist, the other was a new dog who was barking down its backyard and barely being heard by its owners (plenty loud enough at my place though!). Not sure what's happened to the other one but I rarely hear it now. Peace has been restored but a few weeks ago I was beside myself with this constant barking. It's not bloody fair that other people should suffer every day for your decision to keep dogs.

Edited July 20, 2010 by blacklabrador