They won't stop barking! Advice please?

[floyd242]

Easy, bring your dogs inside at night....

 

[punk-a-doodle]

I forgot to tell you about a game we play with our dog. She is a cattle dog, so high physical and mental energy. You do need at least two people for this. One person stands on one end of a field (your property in this case), the other stands as far away as your voice can carry (well, eventually, start very close together, gradually move further apart). My husband whistles for or calls our dog, then after she reaches him, I call her. You can start adding in "Go get Bob", or whatever name, as you send the dog to the other person. They eventually learn to associate each person with a name this way. This helps burn unbelievable calories, at no physical expense for the people. Encourage them to respond to the call faster and faster by verbal praise or treats. We are at the point where we will hide in bushes, tell our little girl "go get so and so", and she actively searches til she finds the hiding person. She goes nuts when she does, really loves this game. Great mental stimulation when you get to the point where you can do hide and seek. Its fun for us too. We use it as a supplement along with walks and hiking, but it gets them moving enough to be great exercise alone. We also teach her to do other physical activities, simple things that can be done anywhere, like jumping over logs, or weaving through poles. For us, we can turn any urban lot into a course for her. For you, you can set up a great little area in your yard. Use your one dog's food motivation to your advantage. A dog who will do anything for food is a dog who is just begging to learn whatever you teach.

 

[Matthew3590]

Quote:
How did you think of that? Sounds like an amazing game for my dog. She loves to chase you around when your outside so now she can still "chase" us without getting tired.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

If you crate them inside the house at night, they can still be outside during the day like they are now. You can start working on their daytime barking with training. Once you get that under control, they may be able to sleep back outside again, without being so noisy.

Dogs need to learn what to alert you to, what to ignore and how to be quiet after you've acknowledged their alert. If they learn not to bark excessively during the day, they should stop barking so excessively at night, too.

 

[hikerchick]

Quote:
Why would you crate them in the house? I work with a rescue that won't adopt a dog out to someone who intends to crate it at night or leave it outside.

 

[littledirtlanefarms]

Quote:
Why would you crate them in the house? I work with a rescue that won't adopt a dog out to someone who intends to crate it at night or leave it outside.

Different strokes for different folks. My dogs are ALL crated at night. They love their crates with their lambswool beds inside. They each have their own very large marrow bone inside. After playing all day they enjoy "their den". I also enjoy keeping my den poop free as I am NOT a light sleeper and it takes a punch in the face to get me up.

People have different opinions, but it doesn't mean that one way or the other is the only correct way. We also have to remember that different dogs have different purposes as well. You should never allow a trained livestock guardian dog to hang our in the house for example...

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Quote:
Why would you crate them in the house? I work with a rescue that won't adopt a dog out to someone who intends to crate it at night or leave it outside.

The OPs dogs have been living outside. If a dog has always lived outdoors and isn't used to living in a house, crating will keep it from going to the bathroom and chewing things in the house while you're sleeping, just like with puppies. Dogs from a rescue that have been living in a foster home usually already know these things, so they don't need a crate.

Untrained dogs can benefit from crating when they aren't being watched. I crate puppies or older untrained dogs that are new, whenever I can't watch them. This might be when I'm asleep, in the shower or distracted by cooking dinner.

If the OPs dogs used to live in the house and are already house trained, including knowing that they shouldn't chew on anything in the house that isn't theirs, then they wouldn't need to be crated.

 

[hikerchick]

Quote:
Why would you crate them in the house? I work with a rescue that won't adopt a dog out to someone who intends to crate it at night or leave it outside.

The OPs dogs have been living outside. If a dog has always lived outdoors and isn't used to living in a house, crating will keep it from going to the bathroom and chewing things in the house while you're sleeping, just like with puppies. Dogs from a rescue that have been living in a foster home usually already know these things, so they don't need a crate.

Untrained dogs can benefit from crating when they aren't being watched. I crate puppies or older untrained dogs that are new, whenever I can't watch them. This might be when I'm asleep, in the shower or distracted by cooking dinner.

If the OPs dogs used to live in the house and are already house trained, including knowing that they shouldn't chew on anything in the house that isn't theirs, then they wouldn't need to be crated.

Oh I see.

 

[LyonFuzz]

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.

Obviously there IS something wrong if they are barking and carrying on the way the OP describes. It doesn't matter if the dog is big or small, they all have a need to be part of the pack. Nuisance barking indicates frustration and boredom...plain and simple. I am not saying they are being neglected by any means, just that they need more.....more stimulation, a job to do. They are hunting dogs and no matter how big your yard is, without interaction and mental and physical stimulation, they are gonna let you know their needs are not being met. Bring your dogs in and make them part of the social pack called "family" and I think you'll see a difference. Good luck with whatever decision you make OP

 

[Horsefly]

Quote:
Wow! This seems like the solution we have been looking for for over a year. I will definately try this because they love being able to play with each other during the day when I'm not out there. I don't quite get how the collar can still bend with the pipe so if you could post a picture that would be great.
To everyone else thank you for the suggestions, I am going to try them out and see what works best. Last night they started up so I took one and put her in a crate away from the kennel. She was good for 30 minutes till she started yapping and then the other dog would bark back.

so I put them back together and gave them a couple milk jugs and toys to keep them busy. Then I remembered what someone said about them suposed to be sleeping not playing at night and I noticed the barking was them playing more than at anything. We have a street light thing (but not by the street) that shines almost strait into the kennel and to top it off there is a full moon so it is pretty bright in there. I think they were just playing because it is so bright so I rigged up some towels and stuff along one side where the light was coming from and it made it alot darker for them. Hardly any barking after that! So today I am going to get a tarp or shade cloth or something to rig permanently there.
So hopefully with that and giving them more play time and some of yalls other suggestions barking at night will be a thing of the past.