Barking!!!

[Sherri Mazursky]

 Barking, loud barking, all of the time.

When she is hungry, excited, someone walks by our house, wants attention.

I mean for everything!!!! While I'm sitting here typing. If the tv is on, when I'm on the phone, And good luck have a conversation when a friend comes over. Music on, you name it.

Please tell me she will stop this most annoying habit.

[Anita - Thunder, Noodle, Sparky]

Mine are driving me crazy too! Two of the three are terrible!

[Robin & Josie]

Hi Sherri-

I had a problem with my puppy whining, which, as far as I'm concerned, is equally annoying, although softer. It was especially bad in the car. 

Our trainer suggested a citronella collar. I got it from Amazon. Here is the link:http://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-Innotek-Spray-Commander-Training/dp/B...

The collar sprays a short burst of citronella. Josie HATES the smell but it is not dangerous or painful or cruel in any way. And it works.

The trick is that you can only use it for one behavior at a time. We have successfully trained Josie not to jump on people (the regular methods failed with her - you should try those first - ie: stepping on the leash when greeting people, getting people to turn their backs on the puppy). By the time we got to 9 months, it was a matter of, "If what we're trying to do isn't working, we need something different." In our case, I bring Josie to work with me and I'm in a senior housing building. Very difficult to train my residents to turn around and ignore her when they were flattered that she jumped up to greet them. (She's small).

Anyway, I digress. I put the collar on her and all it took was two to three sprays during the first day (which you do with a remote so they don't even know that it's you doing it). That was it. Behavior gone. You can use it for similar behaviors. Counter surfing or jumping up to reach something on a table could be considered the same behavior, so you can train those out at the same time.

Then, a couple of weeks later, we used it to get rid of the whining. Again, it only took two or three sprays as soon as she started whining to end it.

It's a little expensive, but worth every penny, in my opinion. I really wish we had it with our former dog who tortured us for years while she was "protecting" us from the mailman, UPS guy and every other individual that dared breach the perimeter of our yard....

P.S. Sometimes when she starts to regress a little, we just put the collar on. That's usually enough to send the message...

[Sherri Mazursky]

Thank you so much for advice. :-)

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

I have 2 words for you... 'Pet Corrector'. Its a spray can that emits a loud hissing sound and all it takes is using it a couple times when your dood barks at inappropriate times. It will stop them in their tracks. Guaranteed! (Honestly, I doubt its truly, 'guaranteed', but its as good as guaranteed by the results you get!) I found mine on Petflow.com, but I'm sure you can find it at many places.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

The Pet Corrector spray...is the equivalent to the computer board dust remover air sprays....and cheaper too!  Just as a FYI

[Jay, Lola and Colonel Esau]

Or you can use a can with pennies in it and shake.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

If my 2 small cans ever run out (which is looking highly unlikely, given I've only had to use 1 can very sparingly - this stuff works!), I'll replace with canned air and see how it compares. Thanks for the FYI.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Posts are going crazy!

my post was suppose to read:

LOL...Or you could use the Pet Corrector spray to clean the dust from your keyboard! ;)

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

LOL.. now that makes a little more sense! (good suggestion :)

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

My other post, completely disappeared! 

Anyway....you got my point!  ;)

[Jay, Lola and Colonel Esau]

I was going to say that if you are going to use a bark collar I'd recommend going with a reputable brand as opposed to PetSafe.  But then noticed that it said PetSafe Innotek, and I'm not sure what that means.  I believe Innotek has made okay collars over the years but I don't know if they are doing so currently and/or what the relationship to PetSafe is.  In any case PetSafe has always been an inferior brand that is sold in retails stores like PetsSmart and PetCo.  It can't be that much more money to get an Einstein or Dogtra and have the peace of mind that it will do what it is supposed to (and more importantly, not do what it is not supposed to - like go off when it shouldn't).  Also keep in mind that with any kind of bark collar most dog will become "collarwise" (meaning they know that they only have to not bark when the collar is on).   You might be able to counteract that somewhat by having them wear the collar at times without it being turned on - but then you risk confusing the dog with mixed signals as to whether it is okay to bark or not.  

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Hi Sherri, Are you a member of the Las Vegas group?  If so, talk to Gina about what she has done to curb Kona's barking.  We use an e-collar on our doodles and it has been magic.