Multiple Dog Barking Problem

[dammit]

Our 3 little dogs seem to have developed a bit of a barking problem.. I really want to do something about it but from what I've read you really need to invest a lot of time into most of the training methods (like teaching your dog to speak and giving it treads for being silent etc), anyway..because I am not home often enough or have enough time for that I was looking at the shock bark collars.

2 out of the 3 dogs seem to congregate at the back fence and bark at the 1 dog that's on the other side of it, the fence is your standard pine pailing fence 1.8m so they can't get too close, but there would be a few cracks between the pailings they could see through and they can hear / sense the other dog and thats what makes them back, it doesn't really bark back at them ever. So it seems to be purely their territorial behaviour (which is ironic because the other dog was here first)!

the 3rd dog isn't too bad and only really chimes in when she hears the other 2 bark or she tends to only really bark at people (like when neighbours are out, strangers, etc) which isn't really too much of a problem, it's mainly the other 2 that are the problem.

Is this something I should look at bark collars for? What I'm not sure on is how they work in a multiple dog environment, do I buy just 1, or 2, or do I need to get all 3 on at the same time? Is there any particular sort I should look at? at the moment the dogs are staying inside for about 11 hours a day, but I would like to be able to leave them outside during business hours but their barking needs to be fixed first. The Innotek shock collars look good. The other thing I need to watch out for is that sometimes when our dogs play in the past they have ripped collars off each other and torn them up into shreds (my dogs aren't ferocious or anything..they are all toy breed just bored and badly behaved!), I need to make sure they don't rip a $100 or $200 collar off and chew it to bits, and I also need to be sure that if it's just 1 dog barking that all 3 don't get punished..

Does anyone have any ideas on what I should be looking at? I would hate for council or neighbours to start complaining and it really makes me sad that I have to keep the dogs inside because of their loud behaviour.

[jemappelle]

Is it possible to block off their access to that area? That's what worked for my dogs.

[**Super_Dogs**]

I agree with jemappelle.

I had a problem with one of my dogs doing this. As soon as the area was blocked off and the dog could not get to the fence - problem solved!

Edited July 4, 2011 by buddy1

[Aidan3]

Just a question, what happens if you keep one of the two barkers inside? Does the other barker go down to the fence alone?

[dammit]

Hi all

if we keep one of the two barkers inside, the one that is outside still barks, but not as much as when they are both out there, and the one left outside tends to bark from a distance rather than right up at the fence.

we could block off the area so they can't get to the fence, but trouble is that bit of the yard is the only bit with grass, and if we block off that part the dogs would only have hard rocks/pebbles to walk on and no grass, which wouldn't be very good for their feet and they wouldn't be able to lay down or anything.

i was thinking about getting brushwood fencing and staple it to the pail fence, to try and make it so they can't see or hear through as well,,but it would be a very expensive fix and might not even work :S

[Aidan3]

Hi all

if we keep one of the two barkers inside, the one that is outside still barks, but not as much as when they are both out there, and the one left outside tends to bark from a distance rather than right up at the fence.

If you have one dog inside, and the other dog is barking at the fence, is the dog outside responsive to you if you, say, call them to you?

[Christina]

Forget nasty shock collars. Buy a sports whistle. When they start yell quiet & blow the whistle. It shocks them into stopping, then praise.

Only problem I found with this was to remember to keep the whistle around my neck.

[Zug Zug]

Are you home when they are barking? Or is this mainly happening while you are out?

[dammit]

If you have one dog inside, and the other dog is barking at the fence, is the dog outside responsive to you if you, say, call them to you?

They pretty much come straight back to the door if I open it or call the one that's outside. The trouble is a lot of the training methods require me to basically camp out in the backyard and correct the behavior, and going to work for 12 hrs a day isn't very helpful.

At the moment the problems mainly persist while we are home and let the dogs out the back because when we go out we mostly leave them inside. But it would be good once we get this corrected a bit to be able to leave the dogs outside more.

[N.M.E.]

Try this

We had a similar problem. The dogs would go nuts whenever anyone walked up next doors driveway. A couple of days with this thing cured that.

[Burkes]

How much exercise are they getting? If they are bored and frustrated they may turn that frustration into another form of release like digging or chewing.

Otherwise i would cover the fence so they can't see through it if you can't block that section off. Maybe make other more exciting things for them outside too, hide food etc and take them for a walk as soon as you get home. After 11hrs inside they are probably just looking to release energy

[toy dog]

another technique that worked well for my brother he's got 2 Golden retrievers that liked to bark at the next doors labrador, they let the 3 dogs meet in person it stopped all the barking as now the dogs know each other. i thought that was pretty clever. my brothers neighbors are pretty good though, they made a doggy door between the 2 properties in the fence and every so often open it and the dogs can freely go into each property.

now its permanently closed as they don't see a need to do this anymore. all suggested by my brothers trainer and it was a pretty unique way of dealing with barking dogs i thought.

[Jumabaar]

Do they stop if you spray water at them? I used this initially because my dogs would not listen to me when they were barking at the fence, then they got treats for stopping. My dogs found it rewarding so regardless of anything interesting or rewarding they would do it because they were self rewarding.

Perhaps this is an option

http://contech-inc.com/products/scarecrow/ you can get them cheaper online, and you dont have to be there for it to work. I am looking at getting one.