Unending barking is driving me crazy!!

[Tait & Finn]

Finn will bark at ANYTHING that passes the house or is in his line of vision. Birds, bunnies, lizards, a dog (that is understandable), just someone walking by. He'll spot a bird up in the tree and lose his mind. I end up having to go out in the front yard and chase whatever critter he happens to see.

Do the bark collars work? Any experienced comments would be appreciated. And will they work thru his thick doodle fur? Thanks. My headache is building.

[Lee Ann Houston]

I can't speak on the collars but I used a spray bottle with Tater Tot.  I would spray him anytime he barked and now when he sees the bottle he stops doing whatever it was he was doing.  He doesn't get sprayed now, just the sight of the bottle works. 

I'm also fairly certain he was behind Finn barking this morning.  I made him walk faster once I heard Finn :)

[Tait & Finn]

I'll try that. Thanks.

[Gwyndolyn Morasko]

The spray bottle didn't work at ALL for Kona....he LOVED being sprayed and runs toward it to chase the droplets and get even closer to the spray.  It did help with Maggie.  So it is going to be different for each dog.  Maggie is my rescue and I think she is just more grateful for a happy loving home, so she is very quick to want to please me and to quit displeasing me.  So now the only thing she barks at are mail carriers. Kona still barks at the neighbor cat who taunts him daily and at many more things than Maggie.  When it was really bad, the jar of coins and nuts and screws jingled loudly would startle him enough to stop his barking to see what that noise was all about.  I'm not as consistent with it any more, so I mostly just go thank him for telling me there was something there, and then I touch him to distract him each time he continues to bark.  It does calm him down.

As for the bark collars.....I'm from a huge family of Montana hunters with bird dogs (mostly labs and springer spaniels) and ALL of them have been trained with e-collars and are amazingly well trained, yet all still have their fun loving spirit and playfulness (the biggest complaint I hear from anti-e-collar and anti bark collar people is that the puppy becomes a frightened shell of him or herself.)  The gun dogs nearly have to be trained with e-collars to come back from 500 yards away with the bird so the e-collars are very important for vibrations or tones when they can't hear their owner.  I bought really nice ones for recall at huge beaches or out in the country hiking, but I still haven't taken them out of the box and trained them yet.  You have to be very careful to make it a fun time for them to have the collar on for training and I just haven't taken that time yet.  I want to do it right.  You'll hear a LOT of negative feedback on this topic, so be ready to make your own decision after your own research.  And don't feel bad about considering it!  It is an option if trained properly. 

[Tait & Finn]

Thanks. I've been wondering about the spray bottle myself. Finn would bark wanting his turn of being sprayed when I've used it on myself or son (managing bed head!). But completely forgot about a can of pennies. My brain was ready to explode when I wrote the post. A nearly invisible bunny across the street was taunting him.

I'll get both ideas prepared and see what works.

[Gwyndolyn Morasko]

My puppies have had their very worst day of barking in about a year!  I think it's because I wrote that they were doing better with it.  So I've had to hop up and down many many times today to go thank them for letting me know something or someone was outside that needed my attention.  Sigh!  Each time, Maggie quit barking the second that I said thank you and happily laid down and relaxed and wagged her tail.  Her job was done.   But Kona continued, and I needed to use my hand like a claw (like mother's mouth) to touch him on the back of his neck along with a growl to remind him that I'm his alpha mom and that it's not OK to keep barking.  (I couldn't find my can of coins!)  Today is worse than usual because I'm home and busy on the computer working from home.  When I drive in to the office away from home, they don't bark because they are in the dining room and kitchen without access to the window.  So removing access to a window really does help. 

[Deborah Brown]

Not only is it a nuisance but it is not healthy for Finn to constantly being in an anxious state.  He should have a place to relax and not be stressed about what is going on outside.

I cover my windows.  Some have blinds.  We have window film on our kitchen windows and the glass front door. It has helped immensely.  You can buy this at home depot and it is easy to put on the windows.  This is a picture of my kitchen windows with the cafe curtains pulled back.

[Laura]

I tried the bark collar that emits a loud noise, and that didn't even phase my pup. We have now tried the Pet Corrector, followed by a command ("quiet"), and praise. That has worked wonders.
http://petcorrector.org/

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I don't have any experience with the bark collar, but can tell you from subscribing to the Doggie Dan website for a few months that the problem is that Finn thinks he is the pack leader and that he thinks that he must alert you to all of these things that are going on.  Doggie Dan's site will give you the 5 rules to becoming the pack leader and then he has some great video's on barking and how to get this to stop.  It is very effective.  Once you become the pack leader in Finn's eyes all it will take to stop the barking is a simple "thank you".

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I completely agree.  I love "Doggie Dan's" approach to incessant barking.  I've found the real key is to be totally consistent with how you respond.  If I'm really busy I don't allow Murphy (my "barker") near the doors or windows....he's in a down/stay in the room where I'm working.

[Jennifer & Truffle]

For those of you who have used Doggie Dan, I have a question re: his approach for barking.  If the 1st and 2nd steps (thank you & thank you plus have a look) don't work, where do you put your dog for his time out for the 3rd step?  I don't have a good enclosed space on our 1st floor - no bathroom or room where he has nothing to see or do.  Have any of you encountered the same issue and if so, what was your solution?  Our lack of a good space for the time out has impeded our progress with the barking.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

We are in a ranch style house so every thing is on the first floor.  Do you still crate?  If so, I would use the crate.  It really doesn't even have to be for very long so even if you had to take him upstairs you could just stand outside the door for a min or two until he calms down and then let him out.  We just use the girls room which is one of our bedrooms turned into the doggy room.  Doesn't even have a door, just a gate at the door.  It is rare that we have to put step 3 into place.  Maybe only like once.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I use the bathroom because it's really convenient to the front door where he is most tempted, but a crate away from the source of the barking should work the same way.