[JamieR]

My 1 year old dog is always barking at night, and it is starting to annoy the neighbours. They have made complaints to the housing estate and i really don't want to lose my dog.

Our dogs are not allowed in the main house, they are kept in a huge, separate room where they also have access to the yard. The other week, i felt sorry for her, so i brought her inside for the night. Ever since that night, every night, she has been constantly barking, non stop, all night.

Now i believe it's because she wants to come inside, wanting attention. I'm living with parents and they don't like having the dogs inside the main house.

What do i do? Ignore her until she learns that barking won't get her anywhere? (which isn't an ideal option because of the neighbours). My dad said that if we get any more complaints, she will have to go.

Do i resort to making her wear a muzzle when she barks? Will this help her learn that barking for attention will result her having to wear it?

Any help is greatly appreciated, the situation is getting a bit desperate now.

 

[Elana55]

Your dogs should be inside at night. Leaving a dog out in a yard at night is begging for EXACTLY this sort of trouble. Dogs are pets and should be with you.. and with you means inside at night.

I would get crates for the dogs and bring them in and crate them at night. Yes, it means you have to get up in the morning and let the dogs out, but that is what taking care of dogs is about. It also means you have to crate train your dogs. It means a lot more work.. but if you want pets that is how it is. No free rides.

You know the answer. Dog in at night. No further discussion necessary. If your parents don't like dogs in the house, why do they have dogs? Just a question to ponder.

I do not let my dog wander all over the house. I have her confined at night (she used to be crated but I have a slightly different arrangement now) and when I am not home she is crated and indoors. If I had several dogs it would be the same thing. My dog is not allowed on the furniture and is not allowed in bedrooms or bathrooms. She is trained (more work, but worth every bit of it). She does not sleep with me. She is treated for Fleas and ticks) once a month Vectra 3D) which kills and repels so there are no fleas or ticks in the house.

If your parents will not go along with this, then maybe dog/pets are not in the cards for you until you have your own place.

I know this is not what you want to hear, but there it is.

BTW when I was a kid the neighbors had a dog like yours. It barked all night long. We talked to the owners and they were against bringing the dog inside. Finally we made a deal among ourselves and we did a round robin phone calling to the offending neighbor. We called every 20 minutes all night long as long as the dog was barking. In 3 days there was blessed silence. That owner did not like a dog in the house either. Well.. that is where the dog belongs at night.. but because they were so resistant to the dog being in they took him to the pound (I am pretty sure.. never saw the dog again). This was about 45 years ago.

 

[tw1n]

Yeah I'm gonna have to agree sadly. If you parents wont allow the dogs in the main house at night, it's not fair on the dog to keep at this time.

If you're old enough, and strongly want to keep your dog. Maybe it's time to move out?

 

[Westhighlander]

You can go sleep in that seperate room with your dog. She just misses you.

 

[hulkamaniac]

Get a crate. I'm kind of the same way as your parents. I love my dogs, but they're only allowed inside when I'm inside with them and can supervise them and even then they're only allowed in certain room. I do keep them inside at night though. I keep them in crates. The dog is inside at night this way and is also confined as I obviously can't supervise them while I'm unconscious. Would your parents object to keeping the dog crated in the large room at night?

 

[rosemaryninja]

Get a crate and put it in your room, or any room in the house. Let your dog sleep in the crate at night. She won't be able to chew up your furniture and she won't shed or pee around the house, but she'll still get to sleep indoors, which is where she should be sleeping.

 

[Cheetah]

My dogs are shut in my bedroom with me at night. Will your parents not allow you to just keep your dog in your room at night, if they were confined to just there?

 

[JamieR]

My dog is not kept in the yard, they have their own room attached the house, if you reread my post, you will see that's what it says, they have "access" to the yard in the day.

None of these post have helped the situation, your just saying the get rid of the dog, when i need help preventing the barking.

Your making out that i leave the dogs in the yard all night, which is not the case, the room they are in is heated with lots of space.

So yes, they are "inside" at night. Now can anyone help the situation?

 

[Thracian]

OK, let's start here. Is your dog always kept in this room with access to the outside? If so, does she bark during the day? Or just at night? Does she bark all night long? Or just when hearing certain sounds?

 

[JamieR]

OK, let's start here. Is your dog always kept in this room with access to the outside? If so, does she bark during the day? Or just at night? Does she bark all night long? Or just when hearing certain sounds?

Yes always in the room with access to the yard. And she gets taken for a walk in the morning and early evening.

She does bark in the day, but only when people approach the house, which isn't a problem, we like that fact she barks when someone is on our property, to warn us.

The excessive barking is at night. I have watched when she doesn't know I'm there, she isn't stood up, she hasn't got any focus on anything, or barking towards a certain direction. She is lying on her bed, relaxed, but barking.

Thank you for trying to help out.

 

[spotted nikes]

How long are your walks and how energetic (ie brisk walk/ or wander along, stopping to sniff)? How much time do you spend playing with your dog and training your dog in addition to walks?

Would your parents let you keep her in your room just at night? What are their concerns? Housebreaking? Fleas? Shedding? If you can find that out, then you can structure a sound argument on why the dog should be with you.

 

[JamieR]

How long are your walks and how energetic (ie brisk walk/ or wander along, stopping to sniff)? How much time do you spend playing with your dog and training your dog in addition to walks?

Would your parents let you keep her in your room just at night? What are their concerns? Housebreaking? Fleas? Shedding? If you can find that out, then you can structure a sound argument on why the dog should be with you.

Where we live, we are surrounded by woods and fields, with no people or dogs around for miles, so she is kept off the leash, unless we are crossing roads etc. So i let her do her own thing, which is mostly running about in a hyper for the most part, exploring, as you would expect.

I think the main concern is the malting. We recently moved house, and the dogs were allowed in the house previous to the move, but there we dog hairs everywhere, all in the kitchen, which lead to dog hairs in the food, which is why my parents made the decision to keep them in their own room. I know it's as simple as running the vacuum over to keep the hairs down, but this is my parents decision, and i have no control over their decisions.

Another concern is how boisterous both our dogs are.

 

[Thracian]

Does she bark when you're out there with her? If not, then I'd do what some of the others have suggested and try to make a case for letting her be inside in your room. If she's barking because she wants to be with you, being with you will stop the barking.

 

[RockyThePain]

I do not let my dog wander all over the house. I have her confined at night (she used to be crated but I have a slightly different arrangement now) and when I am not home she is crated and indoors. If I had several dogs it would be the same thing. My dog is not allowed on the furniture and is not allowed in bedrooms or bathrooms. She is trained (more work, but worth every bit of it). She does not sleep with me. She is treated for Fleas and ticks) once a month Vectra 3D) which kills and repels so there are no fleas or ticks in the house.
.

pleaaaaaaaaaaase tell me in details how did you do that!!?!?
and at what age I can start teaching this!?

 

[Elana55]

I got this dog at 6 months of age. The breeder allowed her on furniture. I do not. I started immediately when I got her. I watched her and she would start to get on the furniture and I would say "OFF!" and then throw a treat on the floor. Of course she got off and went for the treat. I interrupted her b4 she went on the furniture.. I would watch her like a hawk and say off and redirect her with food.

As to the Rooms I did similar. I would be in a bedroom and her comes the dog. I would point to the door and say "OUT!" and crowd into her space. She would leave and the minute she was out of the room she got a reward (food) for being out.

I also taught her down and stay and would send her to her bed (or crate with the door open) and make her stay there after she was removed from the room or the furniture. Not as punishment at all, but as an alternative to being on the furniture or in the rooms I did not want her in.

It takes vigilence and prevention is what works best. When I am not with her, she is confined mechanically (crate etc.) so there is not opportunity for her to break the rules.

I have trained every dog I have ever owned the same way. No dogs in BR's Kitchen or bathroom and No dogs on Furniture or on the Bed. It is very easy if you are consistant.. or it has been for me.

The dog breeds include 2 GSD's, 2 Lab Mix, 2 Poodles, Beagle, Setter mix, GSD-Siberian mix etc. etc. so you don;t think it is only one breed. Some were harder to train than others, but ulitmately they all trained. All these dogs live in the house with me when I was home. Early on some were loose in the house when I was not home (when I was a kid b4 crates were widely used).

As with most training, being 100% consistant and insistant did the job. All training started right off the bat. Age did not matter.

 

[skelaki]

1. While it sounds as if the dog gets enough physical exercise, what about mental exercise? Mental exercise is achieved through things such as obedience training, NILIF, and trick training. It's even more tiring than physical exercise. So, I would definitely increase the amount of mental stimulation the dog's getting each day.

2. Get a properly sized crate and start crate training your dog. I forget right now if there are any crate training stickies, but check and see or Google "crate training" (without the quotes). It takes time but once you have a crate trained dog you'll never want to be without a crate again. Crating and obedience training as well as boundary training and the use of babygates is how dogs are kept out of trouble and out of certain rooms.

3. For the shedding daily grooming is a must. There are tools you can use to minimize the hair such as shedding blades. A good quality diet also helps.

 

[sheltiemom]

It's unclear to me whether or not the dog has access to the outside at night...if it does, that's the first thing I would stop. If there is a dog door I would lock it at night. Neighbors won't be able to hear the dog as loudly from inside and there will be less to bark at. The next thing I would do is talk to your neighbors...tell them you are working on the problem. This should hopefully buy you some time before the next complaint.

You have gotten good advise from everyone and I really feel the best course of action is to have the dog in your room at night. Talk to your parents about this...the dog doesn't have to roam the house at night, but I guarantee this will solve the problem.

There is really no training solution in this situation that I can see...teaching a dog not to bark is extremely difficult. Teaching a quiet on command is hard enough, but you have to be there when the dog is barking...if you aren't home or are asleep you can't correct the behavior when it happens. It's even more confusing if the dog is allowed to bark during the day but you don't want it to at night. The best solution I can see is management, which means right there where you are at night.

Eta...a muzzle is a very bad idea. Muzzles aren't designed to prevent barking...a muzzle tight enough to prevent barking is dangerous, especially unsupervised.

 

[Willowy]

It's unclear to me whether or not the dog has access to the outside at night...if it does, that's the first thing I would stop. If there is a dog door I would lock it at night.

I second that. Some dogs get hyper-vigilant about protecting the house at nigh and will bark at anything if allowed to roam the yard. If she's closed in the room at night, that should really help. Maybe a crate in that room, if you can do that. Otherwise, just locking the dog door should help.

 

[tirluc]

Where we live, we are surrounded by woods and fields, with no people or dogs around for miles, so she is kept off the leash, unless we are crossing roads etc. So i let her do her own thing, which is mostly running about in a hyper for the most part, exploring, as you would expect.

I think the main concern is the malting. We recently moved house, and the dogs were allowed in the house previous to the move, but there we dog hairs everywhere, all in the kitchen, which lead to dog hairs in the food, which is why my parents made the decision to keep them in their own room. I know it's as simple as running the vacuum over to keep the hairs down, but this is my parents decision, and i have no control over their decisions.

Another concern is how boisterous both our dogs are.

my ? to you is, what kind of dogs do you have? ...if mixed, what w/ (if you know)? ....it sounds to me like they (or she) may not be getting enuff exercise....when out w/ her, don't let her "do her own thing"...interact w/ her, play ball, get/make a flirt pole to use w/ her, play hide and seek, anything that will work her mind as well as her body.....

also, it's not just simply vacuuming, how about a daily brushing to remove the dead hair to begin w/....cuts down a lot on the vacuuming....and who vacuums? ....you, your mom/dad? ...maybe taking over that part might make a difference in them being isolated and being a part of the family (which, i assume, they were b/4).....

i have 4 HIGHLY shedding dogs and they all are in the house w/ the family....dog hair is just something that goes w/ the joys of having them....

outside of this, or the suggestion of you sleeping in the room w/ the dogs, i can't really see any other alternative other than to rehome....and i hope you don't consider that an option....there are "bark collar" (shock or scent) but why punish the dog for trying to tell you she wants to be w/ you...

 

[Elana55]

My 1 year old dog is always barking at night, and it is starting to annoy the neighbours. They have made complaints to the housing estate and i really don't want to lose my dog.

So it sounds like your parents bought a house in a Subdivision?

Where we live, we are surrounded by woods and fields, with no people or dogs around for miles, so she is kept off the leash, unless we are crossing roads etc. So i let her do her own thing, which is mostly running about in a hyper for the most part, exploring, as you would expect.

Wait a minute... in the original post you were worried about the dog barking and annoyng neighbors...

.. but now there are no people of dogs for miles?

Something is not adding up.

Daily vacuum is necessary if you have dogs. I have 5 cats and a dog and NO hair in my food.

I know you are have to do what your parents tell you but they might cut you some slack if, on your own, you broke out the vacuum and started to vacuum up DAILY. Just do it. Without being asked. And expect to keep doing it. See what happens.