Buckshot, George P, Maineiac, Tobey, Gatoman, Catman or others...

[Bear Creek Adventures]

I don't get to work my dogs much during the summer months and when they are not worked they sure do alot of barking at night. My kennels are right behind my house and they have been driving me crazy lately, barking most of the night. I have tried the no-bark collar and it works good on the dog that is wearing it, but can't afford one for each dog. What if anything do you guys do to keep your dogs quiet at night? Any ideas?

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 21 July 2001 14:39: Message edited by: Bear Creek Adventures ]</font>

 

[George P]

BCA, good to se you are still around !! Keeping dogs quiet around the house is the one thing that I bet I have more experience with than most any one else !! I absoulutey cannot stand a dog barking around the house.I live right in the city and I mean Right in the city.There is a hospital 150yds from my house.My neighbors house is less than 10yds from my kennels. I have NEVER had a complaint from anyone about my dogs barking and we have lived here for 2 years.( When my stepson graduates from high school next May we are moving back to another one of my houses that is on a lake out in the country more,boy i can hardly wait.Those ambulances are driving me nuts !!!)
The trick to quiet dogs ?It is what I call my zero tolerance policy.I know I probably sound like a fanatic about it but it works great for me.I never let a dog get away with a bark around the house without being corrected.I make sure with a new dog that I get him when i wont be working for a couple days and will almost always be home.I Have NEVER beat a dog for it.I use a garden hose to spray them,a no bark collar, and a shock collar if needed. One bark and I am out the door saying Quiet !! and spraying the hose.It dont take many times till they catch on.Then,if I hear a bark, my wife or I yell quiet out the window and they normally run into their houses.The trick is do it everytime they bark.No giving them 1 or 2 barks and not say anything.Another thing that is a huge help is having a fenced in yard where the dogs cant see out.I can let any of my dogs out of the pen to run around the yard,1 at a time or several,and the ones in the kennel dont make a peep.Also when i feed them ,not a bark,even when they are the last to be fed. I am real serious about this.I had a litle trouble this spring with a new young dog when the squirrels were running the fence right by the dogs.Zero problem now,and remember,I have never hit a dog in the kennel. Just be real diligent about it.If the dogs have gotten away with it for a while I dont know how it will work.
I load my dogs in the truck right before i go to bed when i am running in the morning.I put NO Bark collars on whomever is staying behind,just in case.
Hope this helps you BCA.

 

[CATMAN]

BCA,
I agree with George....although mine aren't quite as good as his but the trick is to not let them get away with barking. Mine bark when I feed em and when I start loading dogs to go hunting, but I allow them to...where as I can see if a feller lived in the city you'd have to be more strict. But I know the hose does work Good Luck

 

[whitedeer]

Bear.....Great to "see" you...Now, if you bring all them dogs in the house and let them sleep with you, I'll guarantee that they will not bark all night.....works wonders, and cuts down on the fuel required in the winter monyhs.....One thing I learned when I captured a baby wild pig while living in Florida (in a condo) where pigs were not allowed and the squeling would give me away....was the use of a cattle prod.....everytime that pig would squeal, myself, or one of the kids would zap it with the cattle prod and go "woof"....wasn't long before that pig was woofin' with the best of them and the kids could even take it for a walk on a lease.....betcha it would work real quick on training dogs not to bark, or rotate a shock collar between them all and zap them when barking and then command "Quiet!".....shock collar worked good on the kids, but the wife kicked by ass good when I put it on her one night when she was asleep.....Good Luck!

 

[Redboneguy]

I really don't have too much of a problem with barking around the house, i live in the country and i have a shock collar for my one dog so she's generally quiet when i tell her to be quiet. But i had seen an item in cabela's (i think) i'm not positive. In some magazine though, it was a high pitched ringing type thing i think that would go off when barking occured. But not able to be heard by humans. I think this was what it did, something that stopped the dogs from barking supposedly, and didn't bother humans, supposed to be safe for the dog too. Goodluck with your dogs. It can be frustrating.

RedboneGuy

 

[Bear Creek Adventures]

Thanks for the responses guys! Great information. George, I think you got this figured out! I will try a little of all the ideas see what works. Thanks again! BTW, has anyone tried this gizmo that Redbone is talking about? Sounds interesting.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 22 July 2001 22:09: Message edited by: Bear Creek Adventures ]</font>

 

[Mountain Boomer]

Hey BCA, Its good to see ya! I am like George and do not tolerate any barking in my pen. I don't live in the city I just can't stand it. I spray mine with the water hose just like George. One Bark = Wet Dog.... Works great.

 

[Buckshot]

Howdy BCA,

I don't have much to add but didn't want you to think I was ignorin' ya! I've tried most of the things suggested, and I agree with George that diligence and the "zero tolerance" policy are the main things, but I've got the hardest-headed dog in the world right now and nothing will make him stop but the bark collar. And the first cheap collar I bought didn't work, I had to upgrade. I'd tried absolutely everything on that dog and nothing else would work for more than about 10 minutes. Not only that but he's a boredom barker, not barking at anything, just barking for the hell of it. I used to live right in Bozeman, Montana, across the street from the humane society and about 50 times a day people would walk strange dogs past my kennel. What a miserable couple of years that was! It's nothing short of a miracle that my neighbor and I didn't have a knock-down drag-out before I left, although he did invite the cops over a couple times! Anyway, what I used there was a bb gun. It's one of them pump ones and I'd just give it a couple pumps instead of the standard 8 or 10. It was quick, easy, effective and I could do it from my bedroom window at 3 in the morning. The problem arose when I discovered several bb's under the hide of ol' Stubborn. A little investigation uncovered the fact that my wife thought that if 2 pumps were good, 5 or 6 must be better! But it worked if you can just keep the women-folk away from the weapon.

Good luck!

 

[Tobey]

I have been lucky and have had a place out away from houses to keep my hounds dering the summer months and hunting season.But I have lost it and have them back in the yard behind my house.I have a cheap Daisey BB gun just a one pump lever model.after one or two stings from a BB all I haff to do is rattle the gun and there all heading for there houses.I owned a Motel for 5 yrs and lived there with 10 hounds in the back yard.As long as they diden't see anyone they where allright.and when they wheren't The daisey would come out.I never had one complaint

 

[GatoMan]

If you have a couple hrs take them out and road them couple times a week, if you got space get a hot-walker (horse walker) and use that instead of roading them, I built a walker out of a rear end car axle, adapted a 2 horse electric motor and I have it geared about at 4 miles per hr as far as I can calculate, just a nice trot, you can also spread some 3/4 minus gravel around it and it will help toughin pads. That way when your elk and deer seasons are over with your dogs will be in shape and ready to go for the winter. Dogs that are being used generally don't tend to bark as much, if they still kennel bark when there tired, then I would resort to Georges zero tolerance policy

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 23 July 2001 22:25: Message edited by: GatoMan ]</font>

 

[Bear Creek Adventures]

Thank you very much gentlemen! Very good ideas! Gato, I have thought about the horse walker idea before, but have never tried it. I think I will see about getting or building one, great idea.

My kennels are about 50 yards from my house, so I am thinking I might see about rigging up a sprinker with a remote control that I can turn on from the house, then when the dogs bark I, or my wife can hit the switch. I'll let you guys know if I find a good way of putting it together.

Buckshot, great to see you back!

It is sure nice to be able to have a sensable conversation here!

 

[engman99]

I had an old hound one time that figured out barking=wet dog.The problem was in the summer when it got hot he would bark so I would come out and spray him down.He would just stand there and soak it up.I would usually have to spray him down about 4 times a day in the summer.