I have just about had enough with the dog barking next door to me!

[Joanne]

Back story: I have an 86-year-old woman (Kathy) who lives next door to me. A few years ago, her shih tzu passed away. She has been rather lonely and missing her dog quite badly. Her daughter in California does dog rescue. A 3-year-old shih tzu was rescued by her and back in November the daughter and dog flew across country to see if the mom would like the dog. Of course, she has fallen in love with it.

It has come with baggage in the form of a bad case of separation anxiety. Not sure if the daughter knew about that. The dog barks constantly when she is left alone. Constantly. It never gives up. For hours. Kathy has told me the dog has pooped on occasion when left alone. The daughter suggested putting her in a crate while mom is gone. Dog poops in the crate. So now they have her blocked in the sun room which happens to be on the side my house is on (houses are very close together here). She has had relatives visiting for the holidays which means they go out to dinner or go to other relatives’ house.

A couple of times I have gone out on the porch and yelled at the dog “stop it” and it stops for about 10-15 minutes. Kathy thought the dog stopped barking after a short while. I’ve told her it doesn’t.

I am not sure Kathy would be amenable to have the dog professionally worked with. Is there medication that the dog could be given when she leaves the house? She actually doesn’t leave that much. It’s worse now with the holidays. But that barking is really getting on my nerves and it upsets my pets also.

Right now: bark, bark, bark…

[mountainhorse]

Do you live in a neighborhood with HOA? I would of course speak with the owner first about addressing the barking (bark control collar may be the best bet for an 86 yr old and a dog with an obsessive barking problem) and if it doesn’t change, then go to HOA…it is disruptive enough to affect you and your own dogs…geez.

[ReRustica]

Sounds like you have an established relationship with neighbor, which helps. I would suggest to them that they try one of the sonic anti-bark devices. They make indoor and outdoor ones, and we had decent luck with these with our neighbor barking problem (4am chorus…). The neighbors still let the dogs out in the middle of the night, but the device seems to discourage continued baking. If that doesn’t work they can try a collar. Also, I think the burden is on them to create the dog in a room away from your house. You should not have to suffer because of this.

One other thing that helped in my case was telling them I was recording the dogs from inside our house. I played this for our landlord and the neighbor and they couldn’t really deny how loud it was.

[Joanne]

Yes, there is an HOA. I most likely will not go to them because I do have sympathy for Kathy. However, there is a house in back of her and a house on the other side and they might.

How does a bark collar work?

[Joanne]

How do sonic anti-bark devices work? I could put it out on the back screened-in porch which is next to her sun room. There is a neighbor in back of Kathy who also has a small dog and I wouldn’t want to irritate that dog or irritate my cat. The barking is even upsetting my 11-year-old cat.

[RPM]

I sympathize. My parents had neighbors – on both sides – whose dogs barked constantly when put outside. I don’t mean they had continual bouts of barking. It started the minute they went out into their yards and continued without pause the whole time.

I would have called the pound and reported the dogs.

But with an elderly, lonely neighbor? I don’t know. The barking would still drive me up the wall. I say call the daughter, play a tape of the dog, and let her take it from there. If she doesn’t, then suggest a collar, meds, the HOA …

[Incantation]

Talk to your neighbor about talking to her vet. There are meds that can help with separation anxiety. My mom has shi tzu that has gotten attached to my sister (mom lives with sister). He barks (usually 1 bark every 15 sec or so, for hours and hours), and paces when sister leaves. He has failed on Prozac, Trazadone and alprazolam. He was recently started on amitriptyline. My sister left yesterday for a couple of days. Dog is pretty much relaxed and quiet.

[jetsmom]

Bird house bark deterrant

[Joanne]

Just looked at Petsmart and Amazon. I am going to try one of those ultrasonic devices. If that fails, then I am going to suggest the medication route.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

[turner4554]

Shih Tzus are fairly social dogs, but unfortunately are not often treated as such. This one is probably just bored and lonely. Mine pitches a barking for if he’s contained to one room, but is perfectly happy to sit and look out the window if he’s had a nice walk. Maybe instead of medication you could suggest hiring a dog walker once a day?

[Joanne]

The barking has been going on for 5 hours now. Just out of curiosity, I just timed the barks in one minute. A few seconds between each set of “bark, bark, bark,” and it was 9 sets that dog barked.

[ReRustica]

If the dog is inside you will probably need to convince the neighbor to put a sonic device inside the sun room with the dog. I think they need a clear line of sight to work - they broadcast a noise that is irritating to the dog in response to barking, so the sound waves need to reach them. I think also if it is in their house it is less likely to punish the other dog or cat by accident. Maybe try this in combination with meds and asking that they move it away from your house? Are they leaving toys or puzzles with the dog to keep it occupied in the crate?

I so sympathize. That piercing noise is so maddening. We were so desperate and sleep deprived from meritorious dogs earlier this year that we were considering moving the months into a lease (goodbye security deposit).

[Joanne]

Next door neighbor and her visiting relatives just came home and I called over.

Got the grandson who was a bit dismissive, saying he has been working with the dog for 48 hours and is making a little bit of progress as evidenced by my saying that the dog takes bark breaks of about 5 to 10 minutes. Said he did not want the dog impacting my life. I am wondering how much they really think she barks since she only does it when they are not there.

The sonic anti-bark device is supposed to be here by Tuesday from Amazon, so hopefully that will help.

[Joanne]

I was posting just as ReRustica posted.

The dog is no longer crated. She just closes the sunroom door so the dog is free to roam in that small room. Probably easier to clean up any poops that way, too. When she was crated, she got poop all over her and they had to give her a bath. I know she has a lot of toys.

I see the point about the clear line of vision for the sonic device. I will still give it a try. It is very easy to go out my back porch and go right to the sun room window. Kathy won’t know anyway as the situation arises only when she is gone.

[jetsmom]

Maybe pick up a toddler gate, and have her put that in the doorway instead of closing door. That can make a huge difference to many dogs…just being able to see into another room and not feeling closed in. Have her leave a tv or radio on, and a light on.

[saje]

I would record a good hour or so (or more if you can) of that and show them just exactly what the dog is doing, then suggest they see their vet and/or a behaviorist about it.

[mountainhorse]

I agree with recording, and I would go to the owner (or owner’s family) to get anti-bark devices before you go out and spend $$ to get something that may not be effective from your property to hers…give them a timeline to get it fixed, or other measures will need to be taken. It’s a simple fix, really, but if they/she isn’t ‘motivated’, it doesn’t affect them like it affects you and they are not going to do anything about it…

[Renn_aissance]

I wish you luck with this, OP. Our neighbors also have two constant barkers- one of them is a Shih Tzu as well, and that one burrows under the fence and runs wild. In our case the neighbors just shouldn’t have dogs. In your case, your neighbor’s age, the family situation, and the dog’s psychology might be complicating matters… In any case I sympathize on being driven slowly insane by the constant sound of yapping.

Poor dog. Sounds lonely.

[LauraKY]

[QUOTE=Joanne;8992305]
Just looked at Petsmart and Amazon. I am going to try one of those ultrasonic devices. If that fails, then I am going to suggest the medication route.

Thanks for all the suggestions![/QUOTE]

Be careful with those. Any loud sound sets them off. We tried one and only a few weeks in it malfunctioned and was constantly going off. The dogs were hiding in the furthest upstairs room and were frantic.

Talk to the owner.

[Joanne]

Cathy, the owner, just came over with her walker and her little dog. She apologized profusely and brought a big bag of Temptations for my cat. She was very upset that I was bothered for so long last night.

She is going to give an ultrasonic device a try. I emailed her the link to the birdhouse ultrasonic one just now. It says it can also be used inside and has some good reviews.

Cathy can be all gloom and doom (she has a bit of dementia in addition) and is talking about having to give up her dog because of the barking. I told her not to think about that at all, that there are things to try, and even medication from the vet could be something she could try. Someone (I think her son) told her that there are operations to stop dogs from barking—I told her NO! NEVER consider that. He said it i just like when people declaw their cats. I don’t think she will even consider that because I told her that she would want her dog to bark if someone were trying to break it.

Even during my sleep this morning, I could “hear” that dog barking even though she wasn’t.