dog questions

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

2 questions here.

Do dogs suffer headaches or migraines? I think the answer to this would be yes, but I can’t find any study that proves it one way or the other. I’m not sure how you would prove it, since you can’t ask the dog how it’s doing, but to me, i would think the answer to this question would be an unequivocal yes. Except for…

We all have heard a dog or two bark on end (if you haven’t, send me a pm and tell me where you live!) I don’t understand how a dog tied up in a yard, can bark at literally nothing for hours on end and not give itself a headache.

Apparently, though, they don’t. There are a couple of dogs in my neighborhood that can bark day and night with no problem. As to this issue,

Is there any way to stop a dog that is barking? For example, is there a dog whistle one could purchase that if blown, could get the dogs to shut it down?

I’d much rather try a peaceful solution instead of calling the police for disturbing the peace violations. And I’m not into killing the dog in any way, so please don’t suggest that as an option. No bullets, no poisons. i’m looking for a clean, silent method for getting a dog to cease barking. And if it doesn’t I guess that’s the way it goes. But the owners don’t care about the animals, and i’m tired of listening to them bark.

And yes, I’ve spoken to the neighbors, as have others. Apparently there is no desire to get along here.

I would like to get the animals to quiet down without anyone knowing that anything was done externally to do it. Maybe they just matured and/or got tired of listening to themselves bark…

Any help would be appreciated, including any stories you’d like to share on how you handled a similar situation?

#2

The solution here is to call the police or animal control.

You might not want to do it, but leaving a dog tied up outside all the time and ignoring it while it barks constantly is abuse. I would argue that as a compassionate person you have a moral obligation to look out for the animal’s interests.

#3

There is no magic whistle to get dogs to calm down.

Unless you were to slip them a piece of meat laced with tranquillizers every time you blow the whistle and wait for the Pavlovian response to the whistle to kick in.

This is probably illegal where you live, though.

#4

Also dangerous, since figuring dosage might not be easy under those conditions, and OP did state an aversion to harming the animals.

I’d agree with involving the authorities. Aside from apparent neglect of the dogs (they are SOCIAL animals, and do NOT fare well on a psychological level kept outside away from their people), there are noise ordinances for a reason, and as much as I love dogs, others in the neighborhood do have a right to reasonable peace and quiet, which constant barking would not permit.

#5

I’d suggest talking to animal control. But please, make sure (as in record with a videotape or have pictures or something) that those are the dogs barking and none others. As someone whose dog has been falsely accused of barking before, I’m very wary about that.

Suggest perhaps they use a scent collar (NOT a shock collar) and try it and see if the barking decreases. Also, depending on the neighborhood, keeping dogs in restrain all day outside may not be permitted. Inside the house, yes, outside in the fenced backyard, yes, in restrain, no.

#6

I am not a vet.

Cavalier King Charles Spaniels have an issue in their breed where their skull can be too small for their brain and they literally go insane from the pain. But this isn’t what you’re asking.

My dog barks outside sometimes when we’re both at work. His entire body gets hot but I don’t know if it’s hurting him. We have gotten notes from the neighbors telling us this. You could give that a try, or simply go talk to them.

We have no solution in our case. He has a doggie door and can go in and out as he wishes. I’d be happy to lock him inside and clean pee or poop as necessary but he destroys the house trying to go outside through any door or window he can find. The shock collar didn’t work. So we do indeed drug our dog (trazadone 50mg, prescribed by the vet) every morning. The vet also prescribed xanax 1 mg but that didn’t work. Dogs can also be prescribed prozac but I don’t know the dosage for that.

#7

There’s some stuff call Calm-eze which is an all natural mix of stuff supposed to calm dogs. It does seem to have some mild effect in my experience and from what others told me. It’s also advertised as holistic sometimes, meaning it does nothing, so you take your chances. But in your case it’s not your dogs, so there isn’t anything you can do on your own. Call the authorities. If there’s no regulation of the disturbance in your area, there isn’t anything you can do that way either, but you could try suing in small claims court. If all your neighbors filed suits the dogs’ owners might decide to do something.

#8

This is a good suggestion. I’m positive in my situation, but others may have the same problem as o do and might not have thought of this.

I am an animal lover, so I would never harm an animal unless I needed to. I worked at the local humane society during the summers in high school, so I saw a lot of abused dogs come in. Most of the rime, a dog will not bother you if it respects you and doesn’t smell fear on you. I know some people don’t buy into the smell theory, but I firmly believe dogs (as well as other animals) smell fear. Or thy sense it through ESP. Whatever they do, they can tell immediately whether or not you are afraid of them.)

Anyway, there are three more stories I forgot to share.

  1. there are kids in the house. No way would I take a child’s pet from them by killing it.

2). One of the dogs is a very aggressive herding mix, and barks all day every day until one family member in particular shows up.

3). The aggressive dog has outlasted two other dogs paired with it. I just noticed they switched out the one more passive dog again very recently. I don’t know what this is about, but I wonder if the aggressive dog is making the passive dog’s life a living hell. I don’t know why, but getting rid of the angry dog would solve many of the problems, If not all of them. I think they keep it to torture other people in the neighborhood.

One thing I forgot, this wasn’t documented but last winter the dog barked all through the night. It was cold and it snowed… The dog was not tied up so it was able to find shelter somewhere in their backyard. Turns out, neighbors weren’t home for a few days and forgot about the dog,.

Finally, I don’t know if I misspoke in the op, but these dogs are not chained. They are enclosed in a fenced yard.

#9

Excepting cases of neuroses and perhaps some sort of physical issue, dogs bark for one main reason: to get the human’s attention. If you seek a humane way to silence them, you have basically one option: a human needs to give the dog some attention.

If the family in question won’t do it, you’ll have to escalate the issue (typically through animal control) until someone gets them to pay attention to their dog or give him up to someone who will.

#10

These don’t sound like happy dogs. Are they chained outside all day long and that’s it? Who wouldn’t crack up? Complain daily to whoever it is you make complaints to, log it, and take the owner to court if you get no action.

And if you slipped them some Benadryl you would be doing them a favor methinks.

#11

I addressed thiis in the post two above your post, but the dogs are not chained. They are in an enclosed yard, so running around isn’t the issue. The barking is the issue.
However you bring up a good point. These are not happy dogs. They need some human interaction.

#12

They need more human interaction. A scent collar (usually citronella) can be used in place of a shock collar and it has been shown to help, actually depending on the type of nuisance bark it is. I guess you could also log the barking and for how long, when you contact animal control, which would be the most adequate in that case. Although it is usually fine for the dogs to be outside, they may need more water, food, and/or toys (besides the attention).

#13

Get a bark collar.

Put it on the owner.

#14

Yeah, the poor things are bored and lonely. They may have each other, but they want their humans. Different breeds of dog, and different individual dogs react differently. My two don’t seem to care much if they’re left alone from time to time, but they might if it was all day every day. I had a previous Basset Hound who would bark her head off the whole 5 minutes I was gone to take my son to school.

Collars (shock or scent) and high frequency, anti-bark devices can cure the symptom, but not the illness. The dogs may stop the actual barking, but bored, lonely dogs will find another way to occupy their time, probably digging or destroying things.

If the barking keeps up, and you have it documented, call animal care services. It may end up kinder for the dogs in the long run.

#15

Only options, if the owners can’t be convinced: kill the dogs, or call animal control and hope (haha) that they will resolve the situation.

I guess you could directly threaten the dog owners, but that only sets the stage for problems for you.