I Don't Understand! Stopping Dogs From Barking

[Guest Maeby Fünke]

I was walking my Pug earlier tonight, and we walked past a house where a SWF started barking at us through a picket fence. The owner came out and told her dog to be quiet and when he wasn't she picked him up and put him inside. I was waiting for my Pug to finish weeing on a tree on the nature strip (as usual he took ages, lifting his right leg then his left). The owner stopped to apologise for her dog's barking on her way to the front door. That's the first time in ages I've seen anyone tell their dog to stop barking and do something about it. In fact, I can't remember the last time it happened. Am I imagining it or are people losing their social skills? They seem to becoming more anti-social, inconsiderate and less neighbourly.

Edited September 22, 2013 by Maeby Fünke

[kelpiecuddles]

My neighbours informed me a few days ago that one of my dogs has been barking when I'm at work We never had a problem with them barking until the previous tenants next door had a horrid cattle dog that used to rush the fence, snapping and snarking and barking. My dogs put up with it for a few weeks and eventually they had had enough and my kelpie started barking back and after a bit the basset would join in so we had to resort to a bark collar(even though the other dog was still allowed to continue), I would always rush out there and tell my dogs off but the neighbours never dealt with theirs. All's been quiet recently since they moved away and took their snappy dog with them but now that we have new people next door she's started barking, guessing she's just pre-empting another annoying dog but there isn't one, just an annoyed neighbour...

The number of times I went out thinking I was going to growl at my dog and she was lying on her bed and it was the cattle dog! What annoys me most though is that their indifference to their dog's antisocial behaviour has caused lasting issues with my girls which are now causing problems with our new neighbours.

[hankdog]

Part of my dogs sep anx remedy is to go thank him for barking, obviously check it out and then supervise a 'that's ok we're going to leave that ' retreat. It's been surprisingly effective, after a very short time he has learned to bark once and then come to tell me.

Now if I could just get my neighbours to do the same. I've watched the dog stand barking at him while he mows the lawn for an hour, he doesn't hear it at all.

[Kajirin]

Hmmm mine can get the night barks being silly after his dinner, usually a distinct difference in his bark...he gets told to shush it. Barking in response to the neighbour's dogs barking is tolerated, but if it for more than a minute he's told to shush. His warning bark for anything unusual is praised [like the time he scented/heard a prowler trying to break into the shed - he let fly that night with barks of gusto]. Sometimes he's allowed to just have fun and bark, but that's if he's been asked a mathematics problem to solve with the corresponding barks :laugh: [he usually gets them right, all by chance really]. Semi rural living, so no real close neighbours to annoy [well not all close together like in the burbs], but do take into consideration echoing in the night time stillness, so keep him quiet out of respect for others.

But dogs in the surrounding area, I tune out if it's their normal silly barks. If they do their 'I mean business' barks it usually means a cause for investigation. Do get quite a few opportunistic thieves up around here breaking into sheds/houses taking equipment/implements and things. Up the road a few years back a guy in the area heard his neighbour's dog barking differently, so investigated to find 2 people had broken into the house. He blocked the driveway with his tractor and had called the police - they caught them :laugh:

[Alison03]

My dog has the "someone's around" bark, it has a really angry tone if its someone she doesn't know, she scents them. If its someone she knows it's more of a casual bark. She always barks if she hears noise, someone banging on the fence really sets her off or someone she doesn't know attempting to enter the garden through the gate, she goes hysterical then. I go out and say "inside". I don't let her bark at people walking passed the house.

Sometimes she will come to find me if she's concerned (she has that "Gee's come look at this" expression) and I follow her outside, there is always something of interest to look at when she does that, like a big blue tongue (she's very wary of lizards), them she hops around making that concerned kind of throaty humming noise as if she's saying "What do you reckon". :laugh: I say "come away" or "leave it".

I like her to bark when people are about, if its someone up to no good, I'm alerted to their presence and they know I am. She sleeps on our bed at night, if she hears anyone's voice (we've had people trying to pinch bushrock, go figure) she will growl once and then do one bark to alert us, once she sees we've got the message she goes back to sleep. However if someone rattles the door handle she's off the bed doing her aggressive act. I think it's great that's she's such a discerning watchdog.

When my son stays at my place, he has a key to get in if he comes home late, when he unlocks the front door, she does her growl alert then that err sound, that means "it's ok I know who it is". All by scent. Bloody marvelous watch dog she is.

Does everyone else's dog make those noises other than barking that is almost like talking?

Edited September 22, 2013 by Alison03

[mixeduppup]

My dogs have the. Visitor bark, "OMG you're home" bark, Another dog bark, "something isn't right" bark, another animal bark, "I'm barking with the other dogs in the street" bark, Postie bark, "Play with me" bark and "I have no idea why I'm barking I just like the sound of my own bark" bark. I've pretty much nailed what each one is.

[spoilt lab lives here]

I find other dogs barking I can deal with in reason...My own dogs make a peep and Im infuriated :laugh: It stems from living 2 doors down from a woman who had a million dogs, a horse in a horse float out the front and the feral-est house and yard you ever did see. She would still come to my house every week complaining about my dogs, leave letters in the mailbox and call and email the real estate about us. It was horrible and made life hell for the 12 months we were there. She lived life in a glass house really. Im slowly getting better these days but I still get agitated when my own dogs bark. I try not to be that screaming banshee over a few woofs :laugh:

[raz]

My dogs have the. Visitor bark, "OMG you're home" bark, Another dog bark, "something isn't right" bark, another animal bark, "I'm barking with the other dogs in the street" bark, Postie bark, "Play with me" bark and "I have no idea why I'm barking I just like the sound of my own bark" bark. I've pretty much nailed what each one is.

So your dogs bark but youre upset that someone else's dogs bark?

[twodoggies2001]

My dogs have the. Visitor bark, "OMG you're home" bark, Another dog bark, "something isn't right" bark, another animal bark, "I'm barking with the other dogs in the street" bark, Postie bark, "Play with me" bark and "I have no idea why I'm barking I just like the sound of my own bark" bark. I've pretty much nailed what each one is.

So your dogs bark but youre upset that someone else's dogs bark?

I love it!!!!

[Alison03]

My dogs have the. Visitor bark, "OMG you're home" bark, Another dog bark, "something isn't right" bark, another animal bark, "I'm barking with the other dogs in the street" bark, Postie bark, "Play with me" bark and "I have no idea why I'm barking I just like the sound of my own bark" bark. I've pretty much nailed what each one is.

I know the "thank God your home, where the hell have you been bark" or "Come quick there's a panther in the garden". I've got those figured out. :laugh:

[mixeduppup]

My dogs have the. Visitor bark, "OMG you're home" bark, Another dog bark, "something isn't right" bark, another animal bark, "I'm barking with the other dogs in the street" bark, Postie bark, "Play with me" bark and "I have no idea why I'm barking I just like the sound of my own bark" bark. I've pretty much nailed what each one is.

So your dogs bark but youre upset that someone else's dogs bark?

My dogs bark, they're dogs, they don't bark constantly because I tell them to be quiet. I am not upset that they bark and have said so, they don't annoy me. What I don't understand is the fact that their owners won't tell them to be quiet, even if it doesn't work. They don't even attempt it. Just seems strange to me that your dog will bark for prolonged periods of time (or all of your dogs) and you don't once attempt to make it be quiet.

Edited September 23, 2013 by mixeduppup

[Jumabaar]

The one thing I cant stand is people telling my dogs (particularly puppies) to be quiet!!!!!

I tried to stop my first Kelpie from barking by yelling at her, walking over and shooshing her and everything under the sun. One day I put her crate 10meters away under a tree and ignored her and she wore herself out and eventually shut up. I did that at training and was starting to get her to settle until she barked a little (extinction burst for anyone interested) and someone felt the need to go and yell at her which of course made the behaviour even more resistant to extinction!!! :banghead: :banghead:

So now with my young dogs I completely ignore them as puppies and I now also tell people off if they so much as LOOK at them when they are barking. I have had quite a few rude comments about not shutting them up- but they really did learn that barking at me was a complete waste of time so the almost never bark any more! That being said I dont put them in a crate and let them bark right next to other people either, I put them in an area with minimum distractions to try and help them settle.

Barking at home- well its really only when we get home or people coming onto the property and generally only for a few minutes when this happens. Once again they know I wont go to the treat jar until they are quiet so it shuts them up reasonably quickly.

Edited September 23, 2013 by Jumabaar

[madredeperros]

I don't like hearing other neighbours' dogs bark, but I really dislike my own barking too much even more!

The ACD normally only barks when we get home, if someone knocks on the door or gate, if my BF's parents come over, he's rough housing in the backyard, or he needs to go outside. Unless we're sleeping and he needs us to wake up, (and like other owners, I know the difference between his bark meanings) he will only give two or three short barks. When we lived in an apartment, whenever he would hear the door to the stairway open, he would just give two "Bup bups!" to let people know that he was there.

The Dobermann...barks at squirrels, cars going by, his own shadow, neighbours walking by, but he won't bark when someone knocks on the door or gate. He seems to let the ACD be the main "talker" for that. If he's barking out our front room window, I will look with him to see what he's barking at, because I understand that that is his job, and then will shush him after I've shown him it's nothing. Sometimes though, when we're sitting nice and quiet downstairs and he lets out one of those big booming barks....I am usually so startled that I yell at him right away

When the dogs are outside, they are not allowed to bark more than a couple of times and then are shushed. If it's after 8 pm at night, they are not allowed to bark at all, unless it's for a good reason! We have family with two young girls and a new baby in the other half of our duplex, so we try to be considerate for their sakes. Especially since their bedroom windows over-look our backyard. My BF and I even whisper to each other when we're outside after dark. My only gripe is that their kids are allowed to make as much noise as they want at whatever time they want <_< My BF and I work nights, and it's never nice to be woken up at 7 a.m. by screaming children, after you have finally fallen asleep!

It's usually the silence that let's me know that something is really not quite right! The ACD is silent when he means business, and the Dobermann usually just low growls in his throat. That's when I really pay attention.

Edited September 23, 2013 by madredeperros

[Alison03]

What I find heart wrenching is a dog that's been barking for hours that starts to yelp and cry, I can stand the "Hello I'm here" barking but the "I'm really distressed" barking I can't live with. I've knocked on a neighbours door (after on and off yelping for half an hour) to ask if their dog was ok and got "He's on a long leash and gets it wrapped around stuff, I'll look in a minute". My response to that was "He sounds like he's in pain". The guy then said "Yeah yeah keep your hair on, I suppose you are going to report me". I walked away saying "I'm definitely thinking about it".

I don't understand people who are mean to their animals. On the up side I haven't heard the yelping since, just the "Hello I'm here, is anyone there" barking, which is bad enough.

[Little Gifts]

We have one across the road and it was bliss when the neighbours were away for several months and the dog was being cared for elsewhere by family. Now he's back! I honestly don't know why he doesn't need a throat lozenge to keep it up!

[Nushie]

We moved house last week and Jager has been barking more than usual. Not excessively. But if there is a bird that lands in the yard, he will race outside and bark twice and come back in. He barks at other dogss that bark but usually only a handful of times and then comes back inside. Helicopters get chased away with with a few barks as well. He will bark at someone at the door too, but i would think that is pretty standard for most dogs. Generally I let him be as he only barks about 2-5 times and then seems satisfied. On the rare occassion that he barks more it drives me batty! And i tell him to get inside and then he is quiet.

I dont really notice other dogs barking but i dont want to be the owner of a barking dog so anything more than a bark or two gets squashed pretty quickly.

I think being that he spends most of his days inside asleep helps as well :)

[daisygirl]

We had neighbours years ago who used to let their dog bark constantly. They never told it to be quiet or did anything with it.

Got to the stage where I would go over there at 3, 4 or 5 in the morning to tell them their dog was barking and please do something about it. I figured if I had to be awake listening to it, they could be woken up too. I was working shift work at that stage, so if I had a 6 am start, or had been on night shift and was trying to sleep during they day, I didn't appreciate listening to their dog barking non stop. Eventually they got the message and started putting it inside if it barked. I had to wake them up quite a few times though

After a week of constant barking all night with the new neighbours I went over at 7:30am and told them their dogs had barked all night and they promised they would "do something" which I thought meant they would move them to the backyard or under the house. Two days later they barked constantly from 11pm to 2:30am so I knocked on their door until they woke up and said I would be over every night until the problem was fixed. Hardly hear the dogs at all now. Funny enough originally they said they couldnt put the dogs in the backyard but now they have returfed the front yard the dogs are contained to the back. Talk about double standards.

[Steph M]

I don't understand people screaming and hollering and swearing at the dogs to shut up when they just give a couple barks when I walk past with my dog, they make more noise than the bloomin dog does

My sister does this at my mum's.

I have always wanted to write a letter 'from a neighbour' in complaint :laugh:

She drives me mad, dogs can't make a peep!

[Steph M]

I was walking my Pug earlier tonight, and we walked past a house where a SWF started barking at us through a picket fence. The owner came out and told her dog to be quiet and when he wasn't she picked him up and put him inside. I was waiting for my Pug to finish weeing on a tree on the nature strip (as usual he took ages, lifting his right leg then his left). The owner stopped to apologise for her dog's barking on her way to the front door. That's the first time in ages I've seen anyone tell their dog to stop barking and do something about it. In fact, I can't remember the last time it happened. Am I imagining it or are people losing their social skills? They seem to becoming more anti-social, inconsiderate and less neighbourly.

That sounds magical! Wow! We have a row of houses with constant fence barkers, that is the stuff of dreams to me!

[DesertDobes]

Just had some very sleepless nights on holidays because of the number of dogs that bark all night in the burbs. I was pleasantly surprised that mine didn't join in because they normally sleep indoors and were outside dogs while we were on holidays. I couldn't believe anyone else could sleep for the racket.

At home our dogs run along the fence when other dogs go past outside which I find very annoying because they wear a track into the ground, however they learnt not to bark because I would come out and send them to their beds so now they creep around looking under the colourbond fence or out the gate latches!