I’m hoping there’s a factual, commonly accepted method, which is why I’m going with GQ first, rather than dive into the waters of IMHO.
The skinny: The neighbour is an annoying woman with two dogs. She lets the dogs out in the back yard for hours at a time, often in terrible weather, and the larger dog stands on the back deck and barks more or less constantly. The SPCA knows she’s not good with dogs and won’t let her adopt another, but she still has the constantly barking dog now.
I don’t think going over and talking to her nicely is going to work. I’m afraid of a feud if she takes it wrong. She’s very manipulative and not a nice person. Rather, I’d like to find some way to just shut down the dog.
I’ve ordered an anti-bark device that ‘emits high pitched sounds’ when the dog barks. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. I don’t want to injure the dog, and I probably shouldn’t injure the person either.
The device might work, but for a dedicated barker (who’s probably bored silly and has taken to barking out of frustration and because it brings him attention) only a total rearrangement of his life is going to really help. He needs consistent daily training & re-training, alternate stimuli for his brain, LOTS of exercise etc.
So unless you can adopt him and take him into your house, I’m afraid your only recourse is to keep calling animal control, or (if it’s in the wee hours and there are noise ordinances where you are) the police.
I’m skeptical a device like this would work, unless it was very near the dog, or on its collar. Even then, probably hit-or-miss.
Have you tried calling the police, to report a barking dog? Our city has laws against constantly barking dogs during the day, and more stringent rules for at night.
Oops, meant to say that the device might work at first.
If there’s no reward or redirection for him when he stops barking, he has no real incentive to stop, and dogs can get used to a LOT of unpleasant things
I’ve found 2 ultrasonic units:
“Guardian” by PetSafe
and
“Dog Silencer Pro” by Good Life
Both operate on 9v batteries, but the Silencer has an optional AC adapter. It also has a remote “clicker” to activate should the mutt find a frequency / volume combo which evade the auto activation.
So far, boxer, scottie, chihuahua, beagle and irish setter have shut up (the setter keeps trying).
The lab and pit across the street are actually provoked by them. Don’t know if they would be if hey weren’t a pack.
I once had a neighbor (on a different street, not-quite back to back yards) with a dog that barked for hours like a metronome until (I assume) people got home and let him in. I finally lost my temper and went around and glued a note to the front door, “Please shut your effing dog up!”
I never heard the dog again. I am to this day haunted by the possibilities. It wasn’t really his fault to start with…
Went through this a few years back. After a few weeks of it after moving in the house, I finally called the police. The officer talked talked to the dog owner then came and talked to me. Told me to call the police every time the dog barked for more than 20 minutes. Only had to call a few more times after that.
Go with the barking device, though we had a dog that barked constantly, that worked for about a week and then she started ignoring it and barking anyway. Guess you could try slipping a pill that will put him to sleep (temporarily) into his food or water bowls. Or get him one if he doesn’t have food/water bowls. There is always poisoning him to death but I don’t want to suggest that.
Drugging the dog would not be a legal action in most jurisdictions.
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Yes, but 1)feeding someone else’s dog not a good idea, 2)that stuff gets expensive, 3)that’s likely to train the dog to bark even longer, until he gets his treat.
