she drinks about a quart of water daily. I have never seen a dog drink as much as she does.
Are her kidneys normal?
I am sorry that you are even considering changing your animal management style. People who choose to live and work alternative schedules from the norm are responsible for making their own arrangements. Again THEY have chosen to work a schedule that involves them sleeping hours earlier than what is considered the norm. You have no responsibility to your neighbor unless you are in violation of a noise ordinance. It is quite rude and presuming of the wife to think she can demand that your dog now live in a way that suits them. 10pm to 6am for not letting them have an extended bark fest would be the only concession I would make. If my dogs go out and find something they think needs to have a bark at to drive it away between those hours I am fine with that. As long as it is a reasonable couple barks doing their job of keeping my property guarded and not incessent for no reason they are doing what they are supposed to do.
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Just another ‘thanks’ for being aware and responsible.
We have the largest farm in our ‘community’, but we have neighbors that share our property line in a place that is close to the barn. Their (&)(&#$ dog barks nonstop every single minute it is outside and had made me near crazy for the past 2 years. I wait 10 minutes, and when it doesn’t shut up, I call the neighbors. They are nice people with 2 little kids, and I know they are out of bandwidth. I wish they had your awareness and interest in finding a solution.
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as far as I know. The vet has her on a steroid once a week, and it seems to be a random thing. But the pooping… At first it was just laziness… There is ONE step from the deck to the yard. But now she is pooping in the house. She has always hated going outside for that. Very jealous of the cat’s litterbox.
that was kind, but as a confirmed hermit, it is nice to have a neighbor that I might actually be friends with. She hasnt demanded but she has asked. He has Never gone out and barked for longer than 5-10 minutes at a time but if you are trying to sleep it would be a pita. I don’t really want to close the door till around 8 or 830. We will see how that goes.
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OP it seems to me that you are very close to an agreement with your neighbor. I’d let her know you’re working on the time window and narrowing it down. I have barky dogs and have close neighbors and I’m hyper aware of it. My neighbors are all good and have barky dogs of their own but I am still a 0 tolerance barky dog owner. I let ours out late for the last go-round but we’re right here; nobody barks and we keep them close to the back door. For other reasons we have a big back yard with a fence/gate that limits them close to the back door and by evening they are contained closely; it might be something that works for you. I think you just stick close to him for that last go-out and let the neighbors know you’re doing your best; it’s kind of you and yeah maybe you don’t HAVE to but TBH I would try to accommodate them. If he barks make sure you’re yelling at least as loud as he’s barking!
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Not sure what happened to the quote thing. But at least it is clear which message I am addressing here:
That’s pretty freaking entitled, ignorant, and rude. I mean this, but not in way in which is most obvious. By which I mean, I don’t mean that alternate work schedule folks are entitled to whatever they want or need from the rest of society.
Dude, I work an alternate schedule. I work rotating 2nd, 3rd, and the occasional 1st shift to cover 24/7/365 at an emergency care institution. You want/expect emergency medical care for your horse at 9pm? 3am? On the weekend? On Christmas day? How about overnight on a holiday? Yep. I sure thought so.
Yet I am still a reasonable person. Good grief. I don’t complain that big bleeping beepy road trucks start roaring by on weekday mornings and for the entire day. I mean I sure curse them occasionally, but I have adapted as much as anyone who isn’t a rare and naturally totally off-or-zero-schedule circadian rhythm-less freak. Cuz I am not one of those special creatures. I am a pretty normal one that has adapted to do what I need to do to make a living … one that also benefits everyone else in the world.
Because if you expect hospitals, human or otherwise, to remain staffed 24/7/365 like you take for granted… then you freaking need people like me who do it. I guess what? I need my sleep too. Please BE KIND
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I used a bark collar pretty extensively when we lived in a neighborhood with a small yard, close neighbors and people walking by all the time (there was a road behind our backyard that was a heavily used walking route). My dog is a Malinois, she’s really good at barking. The bark collar was a super useful tool for us. Very effective. Easy to use. It’s a beep, vibrate then zap progression triggered by continued barking.
I bet if you can eliminate the 5-10 mins bark fests during the overnight hours that your neighbor will be happy. I mean a single woof here or there is way less annoying than 10 minutes of solid barking. I think the bark collar would let you keep your door open and that might help the older dog too. Jingles for older pup.
There is neither a noise ordinance nor a leash law in my current neighborhood. Very rural. My Mal is the quietest dog around here, because I don’t let her bark incessantly. My neighbors are of the “dogs just bark all the time bc they’re dogs” persuasion. We have one neighbor family that is constantly hollering for their dog Milo to come home. They’re worse than the barking dogs.
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Exactly. It sounds like this is a situation in which the use of a bark collar is the easiest, most effective solution, and if one was used, there would be no need to negotiate anything with the neighbor or otherwise change anything else.
I would start with the simplest solution - the collar - and if it didn’t work for some reason, then consider other options. I can’t imagine being in a situation where I would consider only letting my dog out on a leash with supervision instead of out into the yard with a bark collar on. They were literally designed to eliminate nuisance barking.
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which bark collar is the best to use?
I’ve never used one, so I don’t know for sure. This article talks about the different types of collars.
The first one is not a bark collar, so I’m not sure why it is in there. (It’s just an all-purpose e-collar).
I would suggest looking at the SportDog collar because that brand is well known for hunting collars and you will get a quality product. With regard to electric collars, I think you get what you pay for - the more expensive models have more features and larger ranges of stim levels, which means you can find the right level that works for your dog without hurting them. Cheaper collars may not have enough range, which would mean, for example, you can choose settings 1-5, where setting “2” might barely be felt by your dog but setting “3” is painful. Better collars would give options of settings 1-10, for example, or more, so that you find the exact level that is a deterrent without being a punishment.
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Personally, I have a cheapie one from Amazon. It was like 40 bucks. Waterproof and rechargeable. Still works fine two years later. The one I have isn’t currently available so I won’t link it.
I agree that the having a range of stim levels is helpful. Mine is a 1-10. I leave it on 3. That’s plenty of juice to convince my dog that a bunch of barking isn’t necessary.
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I also believe that the cheaper collars are likely to work just fine. But it seems that people worry about over correction a lot with regard to e-collars of all types, so if that is a concern, you probably can’t go wrong with a bigger name collar like SportDog or Garmin (if they have one).
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Probably so. The actual collars are likely to better on the reputable brands too. I know with my cheapie one that I replaced the collar itself pretty quick as the one it came with wouldn’t hold very well. Kept loosening as dog wore it.
I vastly prefer rechargeable models. My e collar uses batteries and that can be annoying.
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thanks guys. I think for right now, I will just bring Trooper in and close the door at 8 and see if that works. It seems to have done so so far. Before I had the doggie door I managed, although there were occasionally I NEED TO GO OUT NOW. You guys have been very helpful and I appriciate it. (and so will Trooper!)
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Owner of a barker here - Dachsie mix. Everyone who walks by his gate. Every squirrel that goes onto the pool screen, or taunts him from 10 feet up a tree. I have a fenced/gated acre but after dark I dont let my two out on their own. Partly due to the barker, but also because we have enough critters that somehow wander thru that I dont want an altercation in the dark. 
They get their last run around after dinner and the 10 pm outing includes me attached to two leashes. If we have a mid-night potty or tummy crisis, which is rare, same thing. This manages to keep the neighbors under control, lol.
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Thank you OP for working to help your neighborhood be more peaceful. Said by someone who also has a dog that likes to sing to the neighborhood every minute he is outside, if given the chance. I swear some of them think barking is a fun game.
We had a dog that learned that the barking collar required two consecutive barks to activate. He would bark, pause just long enough (which is not very long), bark, pause, bark, pause…
In my experience a muzzle does nothing to prevent barking. They are great things and I think all dogs should get used to wearing one just in case they ever need to wear one, but not an anti-barking tool.
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I worry about my dog after dark outside and even early morning romps before the sun is fully up.
She would love to chase or bark after all the nocturnal critters. I don’t want her to confront a
defensive raccoon or possum and have her face get torn up so that alone makes me keep her inside during those times.
OP, you’re a good neighbor and I’m glad you have a solution.
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I don’t know much about barking with the muzzle on, but what if there was another animal out there and the dog needed to bite to defend itself?
Two female dogs that may fight would definitely be an ideal situation for muzzles though!
