Are You Frustrated With A Barking Dog?

A barking dog is trying to tell you something. At least at first, but after awhile the barking can become a pattern or a habit.

Most of us have experienced the annoyance of a barking dog at one time or another. Click here if the barking problem is your own dog.

Read on, for a barking dog that lives near you.

A while back we had to work with a neighbor on a barking dogissue. Her dog was barking non-stop all day. Not only were our dogs learning the behavior, but I was getting frustrated with not having a quiet place to concentrate. When one dog in the neighborhood barks, your neighbors become less tolerant of ANY dog barking. That makes it particularly frustrating for dog owners who do not normally let dog barking get out of hand.

We had to be really diligent with our dogs if they barked because of the less careful owner. We did this by sternly saying NO when our dogs started to chime in with the neighbor dog. (At our house, NO means stop doing what you are doing.) Then we redirected their attention to something really cool like chewing on a fresh raw beef bone.

It is a difficult position to be in when someone else's dog is barking. I'm a dog person, and barking annoys me as much as the non-dog person. While I suggest calling the authorities and making the problem known, don't let the barking dog problem own you.

By that, I mean you can spend hours of your life dwelling on this one particular problem. I suggest that you stay aware of how much of your life you allow this problem to have because that is one thing you can control in this situation!

The Problem The neighbor dog is really bored. He is a cute little guy, but his owner ignores him most of day. He is outside with his beagle buddy fourteen hours a day in a fenced in yard, but he is missing human interaction. When his owner gets home he is so happy. Then she lets the dogs inside the house for an hour or so and then right back outside. There they stay until its time for bed.

His buddy is older and likes to sleep, so hanging out all day is just great with her. On the other hand, the little beagle, is so lonely and bored. He has taken to obsessing about squirrels. He obsesses so much that he does not pay attention to anyone who calls his name (several neighbors ask him to be quiet when he goes on a barkin dog tangent).

The Solution I can't train my neighbors barking dog (I've offered), but I can talk to my neighbor. Consider that your neighbor may NOT know their dog is barking. They may be gone while the dog barks. The first thing you should try is to alert the offending dog's owner it at all possible.

If you have tried that, and you talked to authorities, and you are at your barking dog check out the products at the bottom of this page.

I know how frustrating it is to try to study or (ahem...) build a website with constant barking in the backgound.

Get This Book by Turid Rugaas, and give it to your neighbor. It's a gentle way of telling your neighbor their dog is barking and offers an interesting knowledge packed book about why. Turid is a quick and interesting read, they will probably thoroughly enjoy the book. You can put a few local dog trainer's business cards in the book to help make your point.

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