Update on the “barking dogs”

So I didn’t try the meat/sleeping pill combo suggested in the last comment thread, but we did decide to try something different … maybe a lil kinder and gentler .

We created the “Stop Barking Solution” made with tobasco, water and some other hot sauce and put it in a spray bottle. We decided to only squirt them a little bit when they stand up and look OVER our wall (their heads and shoulders visible) and bark at the same time. That way they will learn that we aren’t happy to see them and that their behavior is not rewarded. Ron did this years ago with a neighbor dog that he had a problem with and it worked wonderful. He said that the dog would get a lil of that hot sauce in his mouth/nose and it would sting just enough to make him retreat and eventually, he could go into his own backyard and the dog didn’t even care. Perfect! A solution that will help train them without hurting them.

So today was the first time I tried it. Oreo (the black dog) was hopping up and down like he was on a pogo stick when I let our dogs out. I said no to Bella (our black dog) and got her to steer clear from the wall and I told the neighbor dogs who were pogo-ing at our fence a very stern “no”. THEY did not listen and continued to bark. So I got the spray bottle and squirted them in the mouth a couple times. Brown lab didn’t stick his head up again … might be a quick learner after all? (Probably not … he is after all a brown lab.) Oreo just kept jumping and barking – a proverbial puppy pogo – imagine me … at the fair playing that squirt gun clown game and you’ve got a pretty good picture of how it went.  I squirted him a couple more times and he flinched a little bit but kept on. Our dogs were done, so I brought them inside and then the barking was quiet for a bit. Ron said it’ll take a bit to work, so I will keep on with it to try to train them.

They still barked throughout the day (as usual) but we have to take it one step at a time and teaching them to not bark when we are out there with our dogs is priority one.

I’ve filed a couple complaints against them already and we’ve tried to ask them to not allow them to bark non-stop, we’ve turned the hose on them and still … the owners don’t care to shout at the very least, “no bark”? I think my next thing is to type up directions on how to file a complaint online and to deliver them to every house that’s in our area. I’m SURE I’m not the only one who would love for it to stop.

If I ran the zoo, I’d request a new neighbor who knew how to work with their dog(s).