Separation Anxiety - barking

Fire_Fox

Zoetoes wrote: »

I am having the same problem!

Although if it was just between 9am-10am I personally would be pleased with that! It's only 1 hour our of 24 and at a reasonable time, and a dog's got to bark sometimes!

Ok, the bloke works nights and dog barking is annoying and he's asked nicely, fair enough. But what if you were mowing the lawn at that time? Using a strimmer? Doing DIY? He can't expect your life to revolve around him doing nights.

Now advice - I have none, somebody please give me some too!

I've got a bark collar that does a high pitched sound, doesn't really bother my dog, don't know if it would be better for a Collie? I've got a Bulldog.

I've just been looking at the citronella ones but I think he'd just use the spray up straight away.

I've even just looked at a shock collar, is it cruel? Is it actually a 'shock' or more like a TENS machine sort of thing?

I know this an older post but it hasn't been responded to. Why does a dog have to bark sometimes? Do they become ill if they do not bark? Isn't biting an equally natural behaviour that we train out of our dogs?

Environmental Health generally see unavoidable daily tasks or one offs as a non issue, a dog barking doesn't fit that criteria. Why should someone on nights be treated differently from someone on days? Is your 9-5 admin job really more important than that of a ITU nurse, fire fighter, ambulance technician, pilot, police officer? I suspect you'd be at screaming pitch if you could hear next doors lawn mower or vacuum cleaner intermittently every night between two and four AM for a couple of weeks.

I can assure you from personal experience insomnia is a lot more than annoying. Not getting enough sleep contributes to a whole raft of health problems - mental and physical - increases the risk of car accidents, errors at work and so on.

This is not a pop at Gettingready who I know has done her best to resolve Zara's issues.

gettingready

Fire_Fox wrote: »

This is not a pop at Gettingready who I know has done her best to resolve Zara's issues.

...and is completely skint (dspite a very reasonable discount from the dog walker) all the time despite working full time - but like peace and quiet with the neighbours and wants to keep the dog and roof over her head


Thanks....

I pack 5 portions of food for Zara every Monday and the dog walker takes them with Zara... she eats there once a day and here once per day.... It is like sending a kid to a nursery every morning LOL

Raksha

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I know this an older post but it hasn't been responded to. Why does a dog have to bark sometimes? Do they become ill if they do not bark? Isn't biting an equally natural behaviour that we train out of our dogs?

Environmental Health generally see unavoidable daily tasks or one offs as a non issue, a dog barking doesn't fit that criteria. Why should someone on nights be treated differently from someone on days? Is your 9-5 admin job really more important than that of a ITU nurse, fire fighter, ambulance technician, pilot, police officer? I suspect you'd be at screaming pitch if you could hear next doors lawn mower or vacuum cleaner intermittently every night between two and four AM for a couple of weeks.

I can assure you from personal experience insomnia is a lot more than annoying. Not getting enough sleep contributes to a whole raft of health problems - mental and physical - increases the risk of car accidents, errors at work and so on.

This is not a pop at Gettingready who I know has done her best to resolve Zara's issues.

Barking is about communication, biting is not. Preventing a dog from barking by using punishment can make a dog ill - stress and other behaviours (like chewing) can lead to illness. Barking is also considered to be a positive behaviour - they call it 'being a good house dog' if a dog reacts to external noises etc.

Environment Health do take the 'a dog has to bark sometimes' approach, so long as it's during hours when the majority of people are awake it's not normally a problem.

I appreciate what you are saying about insomnia - I experienced it as the mother of newborns 3 times, and with a husband who snores fit to bust - I now use earplugs to great effect. He, however, does work rotating shifts, we also have two dogs - he doesn't get woken by them at all, even when they are barking at the postman in the room below the bedroom - he switches off and just doesn't hear them. We found out a long time ago that stressing over outside noises was not productive. BTW - your comparison of hoovering or whatever between 2 - 4 is irrelevant in this case, because the dog is barking much earlier in the shift workers sleep cycle - equal to a dog barking between 10 and 11 at night.

In answer to the questions about different collars - Bulldogs aren't known for their reaction to 'subtle' stimuli, which can make them hard to train. This means you have to use 'less subtle' punishments or rewards - ranking up the punishments would be considered cruel (there are campaigns to make 'static shock collars' illegal in England, they are already illegal in Wales), it is far more effective (in the true sense of the word) to increase the value of a reward for doing the 'right thing' - i.e just throw the dog a food reward when they are chilled out....