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 this sound at one time or another.

A few years back we had to work with a neighbor on a barking dog issue. Her dog was barking non-stop all day. Not only were our dogs learning the behavior, but because I work at home 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 barking dog. That makes it particularly frustrating for dog owners who rarely let barking get out of hand.

Because of our situation, we had to be diligent with keeping our own dogs from barking. Click here for ways to keep your own dog from barking non-stop.

You can call the authorities (animal control or police department). Many cities have an ordinance against continuous barking. Often those ordinances say a dog cannot bark continuously for more than 5 minutes (or whatever the number is) at a time. It's important to record and take notes everytime the dog starts and stops barking. Documentation gives the authorities a record of the problem at hand.

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!

Our barking problem. Our neighbor's dog was really bored. He was generally a sweet dog, but his owner left him outside in a fenced in yard with one other dog for fourteen hours everyday. This scenario almost always creates barking problems - dogs left alone in a yard all day.

The dog-in-the-back-yard scenario creates bored and lonely dogs who find relief by barking at anyone or anything they hear. While you may feel like strangling the dog to get him to be quiet, be mad at the human because they have created a rather sad existence for the dog. He is socially isolated from life (even if their is more than one dog). Dogs are extremely active and social creatures, and constant isolation from life activities create all sorts of behavior to make up for the social deficit. Behaviors such as fence running, squirrel obsession, barking, tail chasing, and digging to name a few.

Unfortunately, in order to change the barking behavior your neighbors dog(s) need a change of environment and that is most likely out of your control. You can try talking to your neighbor (I get that some neighbors are not approachable) and suggest to them that the barking is intolerable. Suggest that the dog seems bored and ask if they can be supplied with more life enriching toys, bones, and attention. Kongs filled with peanut butter and then frozen, real beef bones, and puzzles that keep the dog thinking all offer ways to alleviate boredom. Dog walkers, dog daycare, and pet sitters also offer ways to change the dogs environment.

What about electric collars and sonic alarms? These appear to be the quick fix and appear to work at first, but because the behavior lies in boredom then if the boredom isn't addressed the problem will return.

It's possible that if you are reading this page you may not like dogs and wonder why you should have to address the barking issue at all. The truth is none of us agree with all aspects of our neighbors lives and you might be surprised to find that some of your habits may annoy your neighbor. This is why we must approach a barking dog problem in a way that allows us to continue to live respectfully among our neighbors.

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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