Hi all, looking for any thoughts on how to handle/fix this situation. Our neighborhood has a couple bears that often prowl around at night knocking over garbage cans and having buffet feasts. We keep our garbage inside but the bears still come around to our neighbors and it sets our poor dog Lily (part chihuahua/part rat terrier) on edge. She wakes us up in the middle of the night growling and barking hysterically (and she's normally not a big barker). Our blinds and windows are closed at night so she's not directly seeing or smelling it but somehow with her keen senses she knows it's out there - even before we hear the thud of a garbage can falling over. She's a rescue that lived in the woods for a bit so I'm sure this is probably just a scared/territorial reaction but we don't know how to settle her back down. We've tried putting her in her kennel, scolding her for barking, and just trying to soothe and comfort her but nothing stops her barking once she starts. And when the neighbors pick up their garbage cans in the morning and she hears the thud she starts barking all over again. Any suggestions? Anyone else dealt with this? Thanks so much.
Dog barking at bear outside at night
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Try white noise. Leave a fan or radio on all night long. Bucky was quiet all summer long because the fan was on. In the fall with the fan off he was alerting all night long and putting white noise on stopped the alerting. Now I turn it on if he's jittery and he calms down.
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These are nuisance bears and they have been created by poor neighbors who leave trash out. 
They have the potential to become dangerous simply because they have no fear and are used to being fed.
Where I live, such bears are removed by the State Wildlife people. They are tagged and relocated TWICE. Usually they return. If they return a third time, they are shot. Report the bears to your wild life people (if you live where they will intervene) and talk to your neighbors about the garbage outside issue. "A Fed Bear is a Dead Bear."
You can "try" white noise but keeping a dog from reacting to a true threat is somewhat unreasonable IMO.
They have the potential to become dangerous simply because they have no fear and are used to being fed.
Where I live, such bears are removed by the State Wildlife people. They are tagged and relocated TWICE. Usually they return. If they return a third time, they are shot. Report the bears to your wild life people (if you live where they will intervene) and talk to your neighbors about the garbage outside issue. "A Fed Bear is a Dead Bear."
You can "try" white noise but keeping a dog from reacting to a true threat is somewhat unreasonable IMO.
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