Gun Dog Forum

Hi All,

Kinda a strange discussion question...

how do you all feel about your dogs barking? Does it bug you or do you not care? My pup is just starting to find his voice. He was a very quite dog for the first 6 months of his life and has slowly started to bark more and more. I discouraged him from barking from day one for a couple reasons. I have roommates and they would prefer not to have a dog barking all the time and my GF lives in an apartment and, similarly, I didn't want her getting complaints whenever I'm over there with the pup, which is fairly often. Currently, he only barks when he hears someone coming up the front steps to my door or my gf's apartment building door and usually it's not super loud but it is noticeably getting louder. Because of my situation I've been punishing him every time he barks and have started using the ecollar on him to stop it as well but I can help but feel kinda bad about it. I mean, I wouldn't want to spend my life mute and unable to communicate verbally. If I lived by myself a bark here and there wouldn't bother me at all. I'm also a little concerned that his confidence my suffer from constantly being corrected for doing something as natural as barking. Just curious to hear others opinions on barking.

Tim

Put the auto correct collar on and quit worrying about it.

+1 TT bark collar....

Then again when mine is on the string she is the loudest thing I have heard... It's her "war scream" lol. On event grounds they don't allow them or else she would have one on.

ultracarry wrote:+1 TT bark collar....

Then again when mine is on the string she is the loudest thing I have heard... It's her "war scream" lol. On event grounds they don't allow them or else she would have one on.

Thanks for letting me borrow the bark collar btw. Works great.
Kimber only barks when you are there. When you're not, quiet as a church mouse.

I despise dogs that bark just to bark! It is a waste of energy and shows a problem in their temperament. Alarm barking is one thing, but they should be able and willing to turn it off when told to knock it off.

At a trial, I see dogs that bark non stop on stake outs and their owners never make them stop. Maybe they just can't make them stop? It's annoying to me.

If it were my dog, he would learn that knock it off, means knock it off now!
Fuzz

Yeah barking for no reason bugs me a lot. I don't mind alarm barking and kinda wish I was in a situation where I could let him do that. He definitely knows that barking is a no no. He'll bark and immediately his tail goes between his legs and comes to me with his head on the ground.

I fight it. I only have one dog that I have not been able to cure, but I can control it. The anti bark collars work on some dogs and some they only work when you have them on, which is the case with one of mine. But all I have to do is yell or just point my finger at him and he shuts up. It is to the point where it is really not much of a problem. Pesonally, I won't put up with a dog that likes to bark, seemingly just to hear himself. As far as hurting his confidence or being afraid to make an alarm bark, not at all from my experience. Keep that dog quiet when there is no reason to bark.JMO.

Charlie

Timely topic.. My 7 month old learned what the shock collar was last night for JUST THAT! barking at 2am, at his mother coming and going to relieve herself after having gotten into the puppy food and eating WAY too much.

NO need to bark for a dog he sees all the time... He does that on stake out too, barks at every person/dog walking by.. if you hook him to a leash, he's fine, no bark. So we may be bringing the collar with us to fix that too.

Bark collars are usually figured out by a smart dog, and like others here say, the dogs are quiet when they wear them, NOT so much when not. HOWEVER, you can throw ANY collar with prongs on them once they "get" it, and they'll quiet.

Just saying. Oldest dog ate the last one off him after wearing it for 48 hours straight. I'll be putting that back together because he's collar smart, but quiet as a church mouse while wearing it

I had a barker. He barked a lot when I took the other dog out of the truck. He
did not want to stay in the truck. I understand, but it was an opportunity to let
him know again who is in charge.

I don't use an e-collar. So I let him out for awhile, then put him up and get the other
dog out. He barked of course. So I hunted the other dog. I then came back. He knew
from past history that it was now his turn. So I watered the other dog and then rested
for awhile. I then went to get the other one out, and he started up. I told him to be quite
but he kept it up. I took the other dog hunting again.

I did this three different times on different hunts. He got the idea. When I told him to be
quite he was quite because he knew the barking got him more time off.

Another hint I might give you. Always use the same command. I use "be quite" doesn't really
matter what the words are. Say it once, firmly. If you don't get the desired result, then do
whatever you are going to do to correct the behavior.

Mike