They won't stop barking! Advice please?

[jennh]

Contact Victoria Stillwell, Animal Planet . She has a great show about training dogs.

 

[carolinagirl58]

Quote:
Really? Dog should not be left outside?? Come on....you can't seriously expect everyone to keep their dogs inside. These are not little fru fru dogs...they are large active dogs that enjoy being ouside. There is nothing wrong in the world with leaving a dog outside if it has proper care and attention and it sounds like these dogs do.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Haha, barking is a common, common complaint, so you are by no means alone. You are just actually doing something about it, unlike many. ;-). My PC is on the fritz, so I was not able to get you the promised forum link. I'll try again later.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

You are a wonderful neighbor.



Your dogs are bored! I would be also in that kennel.


We live on 11 acres, fully fenced. I walk the dogs twice a day............and my dogs have the full run of the property during the day. We never leave the property on our walks, just walk the fence and cut thru the middle once, but we do this because the dogs will not walk themselves and it helps to tire them out. This is a great time to work on training - leash training and recall training, even stays - and wonderful with both dogs or if you are like us - a pack

Also get them some toys - yes they destroy them, but honestly that is what they are made for. Get a food cube and pack it full of their food (if there is no food agression problems), a giant kong - fill it with peanut butter and freeze it - huge smoked bones - rope toys - the stupid rope/tire toy even.


Our dogs have toys and they all play - well the anatolian does not play with toys but she plays with the dogs who are playing with the toys.

Make your dogs tired before they go to bed and there should be a lot less barking.

 

[Chick Norris]

I have some suggestions for a couple of things you mentioned.

All you need is a small piece of PVC pipe in order to let them play together without destroying their very expensive electric fence collars. Cut the PVC as wide as your collar, cut a slot running the length of the pipe (to allow the electrodes to still make contact with the skin), then simply slip the pipe over the collar. I can take pics of mine and post them when I get home if this description isn't any help. This has prevented our meathead pitty from destroying any more collars. Also, if you have plastic buckles on your collars, swap them out for ones with metal.

In terms of a more destruction-proof toy, freeze a bucket of water. Dump it out of the bucket and you have hours of fun for your dogs. The added bonus is that it's a calorie-free treat/toy. Our dogs LOVE ice.

db

 

[cackydoodledoo]

They make a bark collar that is all natural. It uses citronella and when they bark it sprays a small mist out. Dogs do not like it and it's a good way to deter them from barking. It was the only thing my sister found that would work on her one dog. She tried all the other methods first. Now he doesn't even wear the collar. I think he is still afraid he will get sprayed!

 

[hikerchick]

Quote:
Really? Dog should not be left outside?? Come on....you can't seriously expect everyone to keep their dogs inside. These are not little fru fru dogs...they are large active dogs that enjoy being ouside. There is nothing wrong in the world with leaving a dog outside if it has proper care and attention and it sounds like these dogs do.

I slept with a 90 pound boxer in my bed. He was hardly a frou frou dog. I just think dogs should be part of the family and not treated like livestock. Just my personal opinon. Too bad we can't ask the dogs what they would prefer.

 

[carolinagirl58]

Quote:
Really? Dog should not be left outside?? Come on....you can't seriously expect everyone to keep their dogs inside. These are not little fru fru dogs...they are large active dogs that enjoy being ouside. There is nothing wrong in the world with leaving a dog outside if it has proper care and attention and it sounds like these dogs do.

I slept with a 90 pound boxer in my bed. He was hardly a frou frou dog. I just think dogs should be part of the family and not treated like livestock. Just my personal opinon. Too bad we can't ask the dogs what they would prefer.

My pit bull would be heartbroken if I locked her up in the house all the time. She LOVES being outside! I do ask her if she would like to go outside and she goes nuts. She is still part of the family, but is not a house dog 100% of the time. It's kind of judgemental to imply that the OPs dogs are being neglected because they are kept outside.

 

[hikerchick]

I never said anything about the dogs being neglected. I did not use that word,nor imply it. The OP wants the dogs to stop barking.I offered my opinion about why they are barking, and what I do differently. I thought that was what the OP was looking for. Clearly, the dogs are not thrilled to be left outside all night or they would not be barking.

 

[chickbea]

I'd say you need to up their exercise (labs and lab crosses have almost as much energy as Border Collies, so even if you think they are getting tons of exercise, they could probably use more). You may also want to start exposing them to a wide variety of experiences so that they learn that not all unusual occurences need to be barked at incessantly! The more you can expose them to different animals, people, places, sights and sounds the better off they will be.
Good luck!
Labs are also very intelligent - you may want to start training them to do agility or tracking. That will use up some of their excess mental energy.