GGGRRRrrrr...
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive June 2006:
GGGRRRrrrr...
Okay, we have dogs. Dogs bark. Especially mini-schnauzers (everyone we know that has them says their dogs are very vocal, just like ours). We try not to let them bother the neighbors, but hey, we can't stop them all the time. We usually let them in within just a few minutes of hearing them (we're not going to drop everything if it's daylight). Lucky was just out a few minutes ago and I heard him barking. We're on a corner lot so there's a house behind us, one next to us on our street and then one across the street to our side that is directly across from the back corner of our lot. Lucky was barking at someone at that house (the back corner, across the street). I went out and started whistling for him and called his name and the woman that lives at that house came out into her driveway to put something in her car and yelled "SHUT UP!!!" at the top of her lungs at him! OH, it took everything in me to not yell at her!!! Come on. He's a dog. I know the barking can be annoying, but do you really think yelling shut up at a dog helps??? So I got Lucky's treat container and shook it and of course he came running and I said really loudly "Good Boy, Lucky!" and then slammed the door. Okay, not the most mature thing, but how dare she yell at one of my furbabies?!? Yeah, maybe I'm a little protective. I do admit, the dogs can be annoying, but still. I've lived around much worse (dogs left outside all the time that bark at all hours). I tell you, if she EVER yells at one of my kids, oh boy. Just venting. If you have any suggestions about keeping pets from barking I'm open to them. Lucky's always been pretty vocal and unfortunatly he's taught Bean (who has the most annoying howl! lol).
How rude of her! I'd be peeved too.
Wow! Nice neighbors. We have always lived by lots of dogs. I don't mind the barking, especially during the day, unless it goes on and on and on. It only drives me crazy when it is late at night or very early in the morning. And, even then, if it is just a little barking, I am okay with it.
No advice, on how to stop him from barking. Like you said, dogs bark.
I don't know, LOL, I sometimes lose it and yell at my neighbor's dog. He comes running up to the fence every single time I come home and barks, growls, snarls... sometimes it just feels good to yell, "KNOCK IT OFF!!!" Does it help? No. Is it immature? Yes. Oh well, what can I say? I'm not a dog person, and I really, really hate getting barked at all the time when I'm out in my yard, minding my own business.
I am in the same boat. My dog is mostly inside if I am home. But if I am not I leave her outside (her preference). Well we have new neighbors behind us with a pool and they are out all the time (i would be too). But they are boys and rough house and really call to my dog and excite her. So she goes nuts. I try really hard to keep her inside because one of the boys slipped and told me the mom hated my dog.
However at the corner of my yard, different neighbors, is the loudest biggest dog. They don't mess with her, so she doesn't bark at them. However her barks are random. She starts going off at all hours. If my dog is outside she goes nuts, I have a section of fence that was really bowed in, my dog had chewed a little of it I think (when she was a pup). So I decided to replace the boards. They have built up all this stuff to fill discourage their dog, because apparently she had dug a huge hole and the boards on their side were all clawed up. Anyway, they don't do anything and I am not fond of this dog.
So my point is, even though I own a barky dog, I also hate having barky dogs near me. So I try really really hard to not let mine bark. I have thought about buying some sort of contraption that would work for the yard area, if she barked it had a noise (this would work for neighbor dog too).
Kaye, I'm looking at one of those, too. From what little research I've done this morning, there are several ways to deal with this. Either training, which, honestly I may not have time to do and still tend to everything else that needs my attention during the day (ie, KIDS! lol), or things like bark collars that either shock or spray citranella or the ultrasonic devices. I did find one online for about $44 and it says it not only stops the barking but teaches the dog because they learn that if they don't want to hear the annoying noise they learn not to bark. When we had our husky/wolf hybrid we did have a bark collar that shocked after a warning beep if she barked a second time. She learned very quickly not to bark. The only reason we did that was because we lived in townhouses with thin walls, she had and extremely loud bark and she only barked when we weren't home. We lived in unit D. Everyone always had their windows closed (Panama--90 degrees every day) and the people in unit A could hear her through the walls of units B and C! If we get one of the untrasonic devices I'll let you know how it works. 
Janet, I know sometimes I'll yell to get my dogs to stop barking, too. Something I read this morning said that humans yelling shut up or whatever back at the dog is the equivilant to barking back and that makes the dog bark more! Gee, I honestly never thought of that. I might get a tin can and put rocks in it from now on instead.  I think what ticked me off the most was that I was already calling him in when she yelled at him. Almost like she was trying to make a point. The point she made? She's a you know what. Great first impression. *rolling eyes*
I emailed dh and he thinks we should watch and every time she goes to get her mail (mailboxes are at the back corner of our lot) we should let the dogs out. He's so bad, but I love it! lol Seriously, I would like to train them not to bark so much because I really don't want to annoy the neighbors. BUT, people do need to realize dog bark. It's how they communicate. I like that my dog announces when someone's here. I always joke I don't need a doorbell, that I don't always hear anyway, but I always hear the dogs. I guess we just need to teach them when to bark and when not to.
I have two dogs and I can say that dogs barking non stop drives me nuts too. Now a couple of barks here and there and then they settle back down, not a problem. But much more than that and I get grumpy about it too. LOL We have camper at a lake and one of our neighbors has 2 dogs. They will leave the dogs in the camper and be gone for hours either boating or what ever else they do and the dogs bark the ENTIRE time they are gone. Although they are inside, you can still hear them plain as day. I go insane with that!!
Cat, I wouldn't yell at the dog when the neighbors are out, LOL! And yes, it makes the dog bark more, I know that, but sometimes I just can't help myself. *embarassed shrug*
I think when I have to REALLY keep myself under control is when I'm out watering the garden, and the dog is about 2 feet from me, barking and growling at me. Gee...a water hose...a barking dog... hmmm...
For the record, I have never turned the hose directly on the dog. But if his nose gets a little damp when I'm watering the plants up next to the fence, is it my fault? (I also want everyone to know that while I'm not a dog person per se, I do love animals and would NEVER EVER do anything to harm one unless it had cleared the fence and was going after me or my kids).
Janet, I wouldn't think a damp nose would be your fault at all. If your watering and the dogs gets in the way....what are you to do?? LOL
I hose my dog if I am watering and she starts barking at people..LOL. So uh, yeah I have watered the neighbors dog too..LOL.
Cat keep me posted.
The real dilema for me is if i were able to train my dog. i would want her to bark 3 or 4 times if someone she didn't know was near my house. While I don't want her barking at the neighbors I do want her barking when the mormons come to the door or when the meter guy comes, the trash people. I like knowing when there are people at my house. I have a dog for my kids (not really a lover here), but to me her function is to at least alert us when someone is nearby. She is a golden, so protection is probably asking too much
Cat, I hope this doesn't turn into a feud between you and your neighbor!
I own a dog as well, but she is not a barky dog. My neighbor across the street once had a barky dog, but he was also VERY agressive and defensive. They always left him outside when they went away, and he barked at everything that moved and he got out of the fence several times. They were reported to both animal control and the police at least once. I don't talk to them as much as I used to, but when I did, and they told me about the complaints against their dog, they used the same excuse as you did- "He's a DOG and dogs BARK! What's so hard to understand about that?"
The truth is that they just didn't want to take responsibility for their dog and for the fact that the dog was annoying and dangerous. I even told her so, and that is when our friendship began to deteriorate. They had to surrender the dog to animal control 2 years ago when he bit a little girl severely in the face.
The problem is that it is a city ordinance that says that barking dogs are not allowed. Period. It is not just a matter of respect for neighbors. It is probably a law in your area as well. So, I would suck it up and train the furbabies. Once you take the time to get the dogs trained, they will be better behaved and the barking won't be a problem.
One thing my vet once told me when I was training my dog is that you never react positively to negative behavior. A stern firm voice is more productive than yelling, but handing out treats to get the dog to calm down actually reinforces and encourages the negative behavior.
Good luck!
Well it doesn't look like the remote ultrasonic devices will work unless we get about 5 to cover our whole back yard. They only have a 50' range and our back yard is about 100' deep and at least that wide in the back and even wider in the front. So we're looking at ultrasonic collars. Neither of us (dh or me) wants shock collars and I don't like the idea of the citranella spray. We'll see what we can find this weekend.
Lisa, like I said earlier, we don't just leave them out there barking all the time. The longest they'd get away with it is about 5 minutes, max. Our dogs aren't menacing or violent, either. If they let a stranger get close enough to touch them (they usually run and stay at least a few feet away), that stranger would get dog kisses everywhere! We have no city ordinaces. We're not in the city. The only thing our covenant says is if you live on the golf course you can't leave your dog out barking. We don't live on the golf course (with a $10K premium--for what???).
I was talking to my neighbor behind me during outdoor play this morning and asked her if she had any suggestions (they have two dogs that hardley EVER bark!) and she said no, but she did hear me yell shut up at them this morning. I told her that wasn't me! When I told her what happened she said, "well that wasn't very nice!"
So here's our plan for now. We're looking into ultrasonic collars. We're going to have rock delivered to put between our fence (3 rail dowel fence) and the sidewalk/street (there's 11' between the fence and sidewalk). Then we're going to get really bushy bushes to put in the rock to block most of the dogs view (they're short little dogs). They'll still be able to hear people/dogs, but they won't be able to see them as well. Eventually we're going to line the back of the fence with trees and in front of the fence in the front of the back yard with trees as well (did that make sense? lol). Our neighbor next to us is lining his side with trees in the next couple of months so our whole back yard should be pretty blocked. Hopefully that will not only give us more privacy but the dogs won't see as much. I'm also going to work on training them better. Thanx for all your suggestions and input.
Oh- I am sorry if you thought I was criticizing you for letting your dog bark all the time. I was only relating my exprience with my neighbor who had no sense of guilt or embarassment at the annoyance that her dog created.
I am sure you want to do the right thing by your neighbors, even if they are just annoying and rude!
We also have the problem with our Ddog barking.We bring him in the house as soon as he starts.Sometimes he just starts right away due to neighbours dog/squirrels or anything that amuses him.It does get annoyig to us.I have to yell" come here timbit"(Tim Hortons Treat)when he won't listen.Sometimes telling him Dads home works too.I find it annoying in the backyard but he's there to protect.He does a great job in the house when somebody is at that door or on our property.It would be nice if he could just enjoy himself sometimes without being yelled at and sent into the house.I guess sometimes you have to take the good with the annoying LOL
Lisa, no worries. I didn't take it that way.
This woman was standing in her driveway with her dh and another guy when dh and I got home from grocery shopping tonight. We of course let the dogs out since we'd been gone for a couple hours. They ran out to the back fence and started barking at the dogs at the neighbors behind us. Dh went out with them. This girl immediately threw her hands up in the air, like oh-jeeze! She didn't say anything though and the dogs stopped on their own after about a minute. Makes me wonder if she didn't see me this morning after all since she didn't say anything tonight. I know she did after she yelled it. I know this is spiteful, but if she didn't see me, I hope she's embarrassed as all get out over yelling at Lucky! lol Dh and I are plotting ways we could bug her. Not that we'd ever do any of them, but planning is fun.
How frustrating! In my neighborhood, we hear the occasional bark, but no one barks non-stop. The worst time, was when the guy behind us decided it was time for Buddy the yellow lab to get used to the kennel in the yard, after being in the house, all winter. He barked and barked and barked, but eventually grew used to being outside and he quieted down. We could hear him in the house, with the windows shut and he is down at the end of our yard!
Jasmine can get noisy outside, sometimes, but it is usually short-lived, as well. I hate it when she barks a lot, inside the house, when we have the windows open! Then I wonder about her bothering someone! She is never outside by herself, since she likes company, when she is going potty. She never lied being tied up by herself, when we got her and we never pushed the issue. I just go out with her.
I say, they are dogs! Let them bark.....
Let me add that I do have a dog that barks also, as do many of the neighbors. But one women behind me had three huge birds, not sure what kind, but they talked and sang and whistled all the time, especially at 6 in the AM. I treat it like kids. It bugged me for a while and I d a m n e d the birds and then I got used to it as I knew I would. Then after Ivan they were moved to a farm so I had to get used to the no noise. We all have our baggage. I would never shock my dog to please someone else. I don't think anyone should have to.
We got new neighbors. My dog and Roy across the street play out side all the time when I am home and can watch them. Its actually funny. As soona s I pull in the drive Roy runs over and basically gives me the "Can Sadie play???? look. Well Sadie ran down to the new people's house and tried to eat her little dog. She came down and yelled at me and told me not to let Saide out front anymore. She basically expects to let her dog out front anytime she pleases, and I said uh huh, ok, yes, sorry, uh huh. I sitll let Sadie out front, I just watch her better and do not let her go down that way. I think it was wrong of her to tell me I could no longer do something that I have been doing for 5 years so she could do it with her dog! So, as I said, I just watch her better where before I didn't even need to watch them as they would stay in a four house area.
They are dogs! Let them bark...
Sorry, but I fully applaud those who are trying to get their dogs to stop barking. 'They are dogs! Let them bark...' is not very thoughtful in my opinion. If that's how you feel I think you should live on a large piece of property with far away neighbors. Those who don't own dogs probably don't own them for a reason....they're not interested in the second-hand cons of owning one (not interested in experiencing the neighbor's dog barking).
Cat, I've told my neighbor's dog to stop barking...along the lines of 'Murphy!!! HUSH!!!!' This dog saw me EVERY DAY of his life....WHY did he have to bark at me when I was outside in my OWN yard making NO move to get near HIM??? Someday, if I ever have a lot of money, I would pay dearly to live in a gated community that didn't allow pets. In the meantime I truly appreciate those who attempt to not disturb others with their loud animals.
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