Sam is a 4 year old Terrier mix. He lives in a nice suburban development with tidy houses and wide lawns. His back yard is fenced and he spends a good deal of time lying there in the shade of an oak tree.
The house next door is owned by a quiet older retired couple. They installed a deck in their back yard and enjoy using it when the weather is fine.
The problem is that Sam barks at these neighbors whenever they are on their deck. He barks even if they are sitting still. He barks louder if they move, walk or go into or out of their house.
Sam’s owners called me out of frustration and concern. The situation had deteriorated to the point where the neighbors had Sam’s owners cited for excessive noise. Sam’s owners were not happy. In addition to the fine, they were informed that their dog must stop barking or they would risk losing him.
Here is what they tried before they called me:
a citronella collar
a bark (i.e. shock) collar
turning the hose on him
bringing him inside
a sonic noise device
a “silent” dog whistle
Nothing worked.
The special collars only curbed the barking temporarily. Sam always managed to outrun the hose. And Sam barked inside the house because he could see the neighbors from the sliding glass doors.
At this point, Sam’s barking had become a habit. He would run out the door, yapping all the while. Sam seemed to take his barking mission very seriously, so intent was he to get out in the yard to raise a ruckus.
To everyone’s relief, particularly the neighbors’, we were able to get Sam’s barking nearly extinguished.
I put Sam and his owners on a plan.
First, they had to work on getting Sam not to bark in the house, where there were relatively few distractions. We started with Sam’s ultimate nemesis: the doorbell.
Because Sam has a tendency to run around while barking, working himself up into a frenzy, we put him on a leash, brought him to the door, and asked him to sit. Then we told him what a good quiet dog he is, all the while ringing the bell over and over. Oh, and did I mention we were armed with Sam’s favorite treat: string cheese.
Sam also believed that the vacuum cleaner deserved a verbal dressing down, so we did the same thing with it as we did with the doorbell.
Then we parked ourselves in front of the sliding glass door, Sam on leash, and surprise! Sam discovered that being quiet gave him way more lovely attention (and cheese!) than being noisy did.
Finally, we went out to the last frontier – the backyard. Since he was familiar with the drill in the house, it wasn’t too difficult to convince him that a glance at the neighbors would result in praise and cheese if he curbed the urge to bark. And the neighbors were more than willing to help Sam advance in his new silent skills by standing on the deck, moving around it, even waving and saying hello to Sam and his family.
Yes, this method takes time, effort, patience, consistency, and a supply of string cheese. But as we already know, quick fixes and the latest gadgets are costly and ineffective. The results from our efforts were happy neighbors, a very happy Sam, and human companions who were happy to have invested in training their dog.
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