Constant Barking - Neighbours Complain - Help!

[Trisven13]

Everyone has such great solutions here and I will now add my own two cents . I currently have 3 of my own dogs in my yard, 3 foster greyhounds, 1 foster maltese and 1 foster kelpie X . The dogs who bark the most are, I'm afraid to say, my own dogs, specifically my Min Pin X. It is a breed trait so there is not a lot I can do though I do try to manage it and we have solved the worst problems. My other guy is a JRT who is nearly blind and he just barks at what he can hear - with a park behind us that can be a lot.

This is what we have done. Separated our yard so that Tigger (Min Pin) wasn't feeling the need to alarm bark at EVERY LITTLE THING that came ANYWHERE near our house - what he can't see doesn't frighten him, therefore he doesn't bark. If he continues and we are home then we crate him. Mac (JRT) is a more difficult prospect because he doesn't really know what he is barking at, again when we are home we crate him. If I think that something is going to be going on that day that will set them off and I'm going to be out, I crate them before I leave.

It really comes down to your neighbours unfortunately - I live in a less than salubrious area and my neighbours appreciate that my dogs alert them to strangers so I get away with a bit more than most people can. I visited someone's house however the other day and I was amazed at their tolerance. They had two dogs living next door who literally barked non-stop for the hour I was there. This is apparently normal - the two young woman who live their adore their dogs, take them for huge walks when they get home, have them inside at night etc but the minute they go to work the dogs start up their chorus. The people I was visiting said that they just tune it out and I have to say I'm not sure if I could do that. Imagine living next door to dogs who bark non-stop for 8 hours a day????? Made me very paranoid about what my dogs do during the day when I'm not home but I have snuck back at times and they're quiet so I think that all is okay - fingers crossed.

[KatLek]

how long can you crate a dog for?

my dog that barks is a whippet. she is pretty active. (that is in comparison with my greyhound )

i don't know if she will be able to be crated for at least 8 hours a day as I work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. and by the time i get home, it would have been at least 10 hours of crating.

[Meriment]

how long can you crate a dog for?

my dog that barks is a whippet. she is pretty active. (that is in comparison with my greyhound )

i don't know if she will be able to be crated for at least 8 hours a day as I work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. and by the time i get home, it would have been at least 10 hours of crating.

Yeh that's a long time, especially every day of every week. Occasionally mine are crated for 8 hours a day when OH is away, but it's rare. If it's a 10 hour day for her, I'd be more inclined to leave her in the laundry or bathroom, where she can at least get up and move around a bit... play with her toys etc.... it could just be human emotion, but that would "feel" better to me, for that length of time, than crating. Presuming she's properly house/toilet trained, she would hold her bladder for that length of time inside.

I've worked myself up into huge guilt trips before when they've been crated all day, only to walk in the door and find them emerging from under the blankets with a big stretch and a yawn... then it's off for a nice walk and they are fine!

They sleep a massive amount of the time... unless there are cats to chase outside of course

[LilBailey]

Just came back to have alook at this thread and I'm relising that barking dogs are a big problem even though we try to stop it.

Maybe we should form our own little estate, [like the ones that dont alow pets or dogs] But make it huge so we all fit and tell people if you want to live there you have to have dogs.

[Russkie30]

HI Katlek i know what you are going through. I received a letter from council the other week, and have been putting topics on here for advice as well.

My neighbours beside me are excellent, and told me my 4 year goldie had started to bark again we had a similar problem when she was about 12 moonths old. About 6 weeks ago she started again.

I have another 12mth old goldie which i thought would keep her company.

I felt so bad i was going to put the letter in the neighbours to apologize and bare me with me we are tring to sort the problem out, just to let them know that i'm not ignorant to the problem, i think it's someone at the back of us. I've tried the citronella collar, but mine is not working.

At the moment she is inside, i am lucky to go home at lunch most days. She was starting as soon as i left as well, as well as the hot air balloons set her off.

I take her for walks, odd dog show and dog parks so its not like she is kept in a yard all day. Just being a spoilt i think.

I'm just getting prices from k9 collars, not sure if i want to go down the track, but i'm like you don't know what to do.

Keep you chin up, I tell you sometimes they get us into so much trouble, don't they. The problem is that we just love them so much.

[poocow]

I too have had similar trouble to you. My cocker barks when he hears noises (we live at the end of a street with only one neighbour). I know a lot of his barking problem resulted from the kids next door throwing rocks at him. Hes very wary of kids screaming and foreign noises etc. My BC barks when he gets over-excited "herding" birds that fly overhead. I have a citronella collar that I use on my BC as my Cocker will stop barking after a few mins. Last year I received complaints about my BC barking when I was out of the house so I ended up getting the collar. I moved this year for uni and took the dogs with me, no complaints from anyone here, its a far more relaxed suburb! However I had to take the dogs home this past weekend as I had to go to work and my housemates were away so I was left with no other option. I arrive home from work to an angry phone call from a mystery neighbour that phoned no joke 5 mins after I left for work saying my dog was barking constantly! I found the problem was a dead battery in the collar and have since got a new one. I got bark busters out for my cocker and they worked fairly well, but I'm guessing he will always have issues with children near "his" property. He is fairly responsive to the BAH command and I did a lot of pretending to leave while training him out of his constant barking. Good luck with your dog, don't let the neighbours get you down, theres just people out there who just arent dog people!!!

[KatLek]

I too have had similar trouble to you. My cocker barks when he hears noises (we live at the end of a street with only one neighbour). I know a lot of his barking problem resulted from the kids next door throwing rocks at him. Hes very wary of kids screaming and foreign noises etc. My BC barks when he gets over-excited "herding" birds that fly overhead. I have a citronella collar that I use on my BC as my Cocker will stop barking after a few mins. Last year I received complaints about my BC barking when I was out of the house so I ended up getting the collar. I moved this year for uni and took the dogs with me, no complaints from anyone here, its a far more relaxed suburb! However I had to take the dogs home this past weekend as I had to go to work and my housemates were away so I was left with no other option. I arrive home from work to an angry phone call from a mystery neighbour that phoned no joke 5 mins after I left for work saying my dog was barking constantly! I found the problem was a dead battery in the collar and have since got a new one. I got bark busters out for my cocker and they worked fairly well, but I'm guessing he will always have issues with children near "his" property. He is fairly responsive to the BAH command and I did a lot of pretending to leave while training him out of his constant barking. Good luck with your dog, don't let the neighbours get you down, theres just people out there who just arent dog people!!!

funnily, according to the council, the person who complained about the barking, gave the reason that the barking caused his/her dog to be stressed!!!

by the way, what does bark busters do?

[KatLek]

are we able to try out those anti bark collars before committing to purchase them?

i have been reading about them in this forum and people have different views on whether they are effective in discouraging the dog to bark.

[Nellie]

I agree Trisven - a constantly barking dog would drive you up the wall. Your friends must be very patient people if they haven't gone mad with the ones next to them.

Something else we are going to try is openign up a room during the day that they don't normally have access to - and change rooms each day so it is like somewhere new for them to explore (especially if hidden treats in there).

Fingers crossed.

Would love to hear some more ideas from people!

[sas]

I too have had similar trouble to you. My cocker barks when he hears noises (we live at the end of a street with only one neighbour). I know a lot of his barking problem resulted from the kids next door throwing rocks at him. Hes very wary of kids screaming and foreign noises etc. My BC barks when he gets over-excited "herding" birds that fly overhead. I have a citronella collar that I use on my BC as my Cocker will stop barking after a few mins. Last year I received complaints about my BC barking when I was out of the house so I ended up getting the collar. I moved this year for uni and took the dogs with me, no complaints from anyone here, its a far more relaxed suburb! However I had to take the dogs home this past weekend as I had to go to work and my housemates were away so I was left with no other option. I arrive home from work to an angry phone call from a mystery neighbour that phoned no joke 5 mins after I left for work saying my dog was barking constantly! I found the problem was a dead battery in the collar and have since got a new one. I got bark busters out for my cocker and they worked fairly well, but I'm guessing he will always have issues with children near "his" property. He is fairly responsive to the BAH command and I did a lot of pretending to leave while training him out of his constant barking. Good luck with your dog, don't let the neighbours get you down, theres just people out there who just arent dog people!!!

funnily, according to the council, the person who complained about the barking, gave the reason that the barking caused his/her dog to be stressed!!!

by the way, what does bark busters do?

DON'T GO TO BARK BUSTERS....waste your money.....try a bark collar instead.....visit www.k9force.net to learn more. You can also rent them from here: http://www.innotek.com.au/prod_bark.htm

My dog gets stressed by the neighbours dogs barking so I wouldn't dismiss their reason for complaining.

Edited July 20, 2006 by sas

[poocow]

are we able to try out those anti bark collars before committing to purchase them?

i have been reading about them in this forum and people have different views on whether they are effective in discouraging the dog to bark.

Depends what council you are in. I know my council offered the collars available for hire for a week by week basis. I ended up trialling it on my dog first as its a lot of money to fork over if its not going to work!!!

Re: The council complaint just don't let it get to you, I ended up ringing council and it turns out the person who complained had also complained about every other dog that opened its mouth in the street, they take those people with a grain of salt!