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I tried to use as descriptive a title as possible for this thread. I also did a lot of Searching to see if this has been covered before. I found threads on excessive barking by neighbor's dog, and threads on feral animals, but not anything on both--- that is, the feral animal problem around town (CATS, squirrels, possums, skunks, raccoons) causing much of the excessive barking by domestic dogs. There is a connection, right?
My dog barks at feral cats after dark-- before I get home from work to keep him inside. (We have a doggy-door, so the dogs are inside most of the day where it's cool, only going out to do their business or ward off intruders.) Dogs are being dogs when they bark at wildlife on the other side of their fences. They're guarding their territory and telling them to "GO AWAY AND IF YOU DON'T, I'LL BARK UNTIL YOU DO."
simple solution. since they are used to staying inside, why not let them out during the day (when no ones sleeping) and take em in at night? problem solved!
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People complain about barking dogs keeping them awake or "disturbing the peace." They complain that the "dog is barking for no reason" or "the dog is barking just for the heck of it." Normal, healthy, socialized (interacts peacefully with other dogs and people) dogs bark for a reason. They are protective of their yard and their humans.
maybe you should train them to not bark at random animals... or better yet take them inside at night!
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I created a monster when I was raising my puppy and teasing him about the squirrels--- pointing to them and saying, "What's he doing in our yard? Go get him!" BAD MOVE!! I now have a squirrel-obsessed dog. But at least squirrels go to bed when it gets dark. The feral CATS, POSSUMS, etc. become more active.
True, we need to be responsible neighbors-- take responsibility for our animal's actions, be it barking or whatever. Bring it inside at night, for instance. But for-crying-out-loud!!!
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what do we do about the feral animals around our homes that are causing our dogs to raise the alarm or go into prey-drive???
train them yourself or pay to have them trained.
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What are WE doing to encourage the feral animal population in San Antonio? People throw food scraps over the back fence, put out those darn corn cobs to attract squirrels, etc., feed their dogs/cats outside and just leave the uneaten food out there, take their trash out to the curb at night and don't secure the lid. These things are often done without even realizing the problems it causes.
But the thing that is giving me such a hive is the person who feeds feral CATS. "Oh, the poor things... they just want to live; they're not bothering anyone..." They gather up as many as they can and take them to ACS or wherever for free spay/neutering and then bring them back to their neighborhoods and let them go. This is an actual city policy? a solution to a problem??? What about the problems that are CAUSED by such a policy???? If you want to save a stray kitty-cat's life by taking it in to live in your house, fine! Let it live with YOU; don't impose it on all your neighbors as well.
Why do people who live IN the city feed and provide for undomesticated animals???
bolded - because leaving them unaltered will solve the problem right? altering them ensures the cycle ends. im not sure why this is an issue with you..
as far as feeding homeless cats, whats wrong with that? i have some strays that i feed but all are fixed and wont be having any kitties. they dont keep anyone up at night. they dont bark all night. theyre actually good cats and keep the rodent/bug population in check.
the only down side is furry grey kitty loves to bring me dead animals as presents (ugh the squirrel...). i know he means well, but yuck!
Maybe you could get some kind of anti-barking device and only have it working at night when you let him out. We tried a noise bark collar with my dog when we first got him, and it kinda worked. He was new to the neighborhood at that point and now he only barks if he sees someone coming up to our front door. Not sure if the bark collar we got had helped at all, but it was one of those high-pitched noise ones.
My parents' dog barks incessantly, day/night and at everything, they ended up getting a shock bark collar as a last resort. They tried everything - training, commands, spray & noise bark collars, and nothing worked. The shock collar isn't what they wanted, but they don't put it on her all the time. They only have to show her the collar (even through the window!) and she shuts up. I was just over to see them this weekend and she hardly barked anymore. She barks at the mailman and that was about it.
The shock collar we did consider for my dog if he kept it up. He barks sometimes at squirrels during the day, but it's just a "ruff ruff...eh...ruff." Like he doesn't feel like doing it anymore. We keep him inside most of the night, until his last outing before bed. He will go out, do his business, and only bark once to be let in. He sees feral animals sometimes and knows they're not going to harm him or anyone else.
And as long as people are taking the feral cats to get fixed, that's all they really can do. Feral cats aren't usually adopted out very quickly, and once they are fixed, they can't breed anymore and spread the population. I don't feed any stray cats but there are maybe 2 wandering around our neighborhood. They rarely approach people, let alone dogs. They keep to themselves mostly and hide.
"People complain about barking dogs keeping them awake or "disturbing the peace."
Wild animals are not the problem. Neither is your dog the problem. Who is left?
"They complain that the "dog is barking for no reason" or "the dog is barking just for the heck of it."
Their dogs are outside barking out at everything 24/7/365. They say my say my dogs bark like crazy but then they go and leave their dogs out all the time and their dogs bark 24/7 what do they think we are, nuts?
I can tell you that the people complaining about your dog barking are absolutely in the right 100% and you're in the right 0%. Dog barking is noise pollution, plain and simple. It gets on people's nerves. Heck I don't even like my own dog barking and on an occasion or two I even rehomed a dog of our own because it was too noisy.
Well if I don't want to hear even my own dog barking, imagine how little I want to hear someone else's dog barking. Yes, you guessed it--darn near ZERO. Keep letting that thing go on and on like it's been a doing and someone's going to leave antifreeze out if you catch my drift--not that I've done any such thing or condone it, but someone is apt to.
As a would-be neighbor, I DON'T CARE one bit WHY your dog is barking. What I care about and ALL I care about is that it IS barking. Period. Make it stop, by whatever means is necessary, even if it means getting rid of it, I don't care. Just make it stop. If you have to keep it inside, rehome it, have it surgically debarked, get an anti-bark collar, pay a trainer, whatever I don't care, just fix it. That's what you do, period.
I tried to use as descriptive a title as possible for this thread. I also did a lot of Searching to see if this has been covered before. I found threads on excessive barking by neighbor's dog, and threads on feral animals, but not anything on both--- that is, the feral animal problem around town (CATS, squirrels, possums, skunks, raccoons) causing much of the excessive barking by domestic dogs. There is a connection, right?
My dog barks at feral cats after dark-- before I get home from work to keep him inside. (We have a doggy-door, so the dogs are inside most of the day where it's cool, only going out to do their business or ward off intruders.) Dogs are being dogs when they bark at wildlife on the other side of their fences. They're guarding their territory and telling them to "GO AWAY AND IF YOU DON'T, I'LL BARK UNTIL YOU DO."
People complain about barking dogs keeping them awake or "disturbing the peace." They complain that the "dog is barking for no reason" or "the dog is barking just for the heck of it." Normal, healthy, socialized (interacts peacefully with other dogs and people) dogs bark for a reason. They are protective of their yard and their humans.
I created a monster when I was raising my puppy and teasing him about the squirrels--- pointing to them and saying, "What's he doing in our yard? Go get him!" BAD MOVE!! I now have a squirrel-obsessed dog. But at least squirrels go to bed when it gets dark. The feral CATS, POSSUMS, etc. become more active.
True, we need to be responsible neighbors-- take responsibility for our animal's actions, be it barking or whatever. Bring it inside at night, for instance. But for-crying-out-loud!!! what do we do about the feral animals around our homes that are causing our dogs to raise the alarm or go into prey-drive???
What are WE doing to encourage the feral animal population in San Antonio? People throw food scraps over the back fence, put out those darn corn cobs to attract squirrels, etc., feed their dogs/cats outside and just leave the uneaten food out there, take their trash out to the curb at night and don't secure the lid. These things are often done without even realizing the problems it causes.
But the thing that is giving me such a hive is the person who feeds feral CATS. "Oh, the poor things... they just want to live; they're not bothering anyone..." They gather up as many as they can and take them to ACS or wherever for free spay/neutering and then bring them back to their neighborhoods and let them go. This is an actual city policy? a solution to a problem??? What about the problems that are CAUSED by such a policy???? If you want to save a stray kitty-cat's life by taking it in to live in your house, fine! Let it live with YOU; don't impose it on all your neighbors as well.
Why do people who live IN the city feed and provide for undomesticated animals???
I wonder if all those anal retentive neighbors would rather have the municipality overrun by varmints every night?
IMHO there's a huge difference between wildlife roaming a neighborhood (coyotes, raccoons, opossums, squirrels, etc) and feral animals that exist because of human laziness and stupidity (stray cats and dogs). Wild creatures are going to roam your neighborhood whether you like it or not. They don't need permission and take care of themselves. Keeping properties clear of garbage and not feeding them can take care of that. Strays can be controlled or removed if residents decide not to tolerate them. I feel cats in particular should be controlled or eradicated. The capture/spay/release seems like a good approach. They can be responsible for over 3 million unnecessary songbird deaths each year in the US alone. You can look that up.
I wonder if all those anal retentive neighbors would rather have the municipality overrun by varmints every night? ........
Did I miss the part where OP's dog is killing a massive number of varmints every night, and thus ridding the neighborhood of wildlife? Believe me, the raccoons and possums and coyotes don't give a fig about OP's dog barking, nor or they afraid of OP's dog, nor are they staying away because OP's dog is barking.
OP, you simply can not allow your dog to stand around endlessly barking. You are actually putting your dog's life in danger. Either some irate neighbor will poison him, or there will be enough noise complaints about him and he will be taken away. Train him to not bark and get him an anti-barking collar to remind him to shut up when you are not home to tell him to be quiet.
He can learn to chase animals out of your yard without barking about it for hours.
If all that fails, take him to the vet and get him a bark reduction. The vet will scratch his vocal chords and that scar will lower the pitch and volume of your dog's bark. It makes no difference to the dog at all, except that his bark won't be as loud.
Your dog has a dog door. Buy a kennel so when he goes out the door, he is confined to a small area in the kennel. Close off his view by adding something solid to the walls of the kennel so the dog can't see out. Then he can run in the big yard when you are right there to tell him to be quiet.
Canine devocalization should only be performed by qualified, licensed veterinarians as a final alternative to euthanasia after behavioral modification to correct excessive vocalization has failed and after discussion of potential complications from the procedure with the owner.
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