In my previous posts, you heard all about my dog annoying one of my neighbors with his barking [forums.macresource.com]

and my plans for fixing the situation [forums.macresource.com]

Now for a quick followup...

So after putting the ultrasonic dog collar on my dog while I was away and recording the results, I was very pleasantly surprised to find that my dog barked maybe a total of 2 times in a day. I could hear him gearing up for a torrent of barks (he huffs and puffs a lot beforehand), but after the first bark and the resulting ultrasonic beep, he stopped. After a few days of this, I was also happy to see that he wasn't testing the system. Maybe there'd be one bark in the morning, but none after that. I consider this to be a success and can now start positive training so I can get that collar off my dog.

But there was one thing that still needed to be resolved, my neighbor from across the creek. My wife and I walked over to talk to them in person, but they weren't there. Luckily I had typed up a quick note (for just such a situation) explaining that we were sorry for our dog barking and that we were taking steps to fix the situation. We left the note on the door and hoped that we made a positive impression.

The next day while I was away from the house, my wife calls me and tells me we had a visitor... from across the creek. 'Oh crap, I hope everything went ok' I thought. She tells me that this guy shows up with a bottle of wine and explains that they weren't the ones who complained. He says that he hears our dog, but it doesn't bother him at all. He then goes on to theorize who might have written the notes. In the end he thought it was probably some renters across the street from him who have complained about all sorts of things and have even called the cops on some kids riding their dirt bikes down the street. My wife thanked him and was relieved, but we still have a mystery on our hands.

Since we have control of the situation, I'm not going to do anything more about finding the person who complained. With luck we won't be getting any more anonymous notes. Thanks again for everyone's advise and support. I'm feeling a lot better about things than I was last week.

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earache

PERFECT!

Our names have been put on letters to our neighbors for their fence/dogs, in much the same way. We never wrote any letters, and it had to be someone that knows our names, but not US personally, because they did not refer to us as we refer to ourselves (nicknames type things).

That's a load of crap to go through. I know.

But, I think you did the right thing all the way around.

hey, at least you are on "record" with an impartial 3rd party neighbor that you acknowledged the problem and are taking steps to solve the problem.

And I am sure that if the situation warranted it, you dog would be barking up a storm to protest an incursion into your territory, or to protect his family.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2006 06:34PM by Racer X.

I'd rather listen to your dog bark occaisionally than smell the crap someone down the street is burning.
Every night around seven o'clock.
Cops were there and it stopped for a couple weeks.
Started up again.

Smells like wet cardboard fish boxes.
Really disgusting.

earache,
Congrats!
We have taken some of the suggestions from your posts to train our dog minus the electronic collar. He's been responding well after two days but he is gaining weight with all the treats we reward him for his obedience

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SoCal for now.

kap, I don't know the figures for dogs, but for a cat, the calories from "treats" shouldn't be more than 10% of their daily intake. For most cats that is about 12-15 of the little cat treats.

maybe try a different brand or flavor of dry dog food, and use that as the "treat" The variety will set it apart as a treat.

Or cut back on his regular food while he's in training.

Racer X,
Funny that you mentioned about using a different brand of dry dog food as a treat. During a visit to my family last weekend I forgot to bring a bag of doggie's regular food so I gave him another brand. He briefly glanced at it then gave me one of those "What the hell ...!" looks. My 6 year old cousin decided to toss the kibbles to him. He gobbled them up in no time.

AlphaDog,
Good idea!

Thanks all!

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SoCal for now.

Quote
AlphaDog
Or cut back on his regular food while he's in training.

We are teaching our cats a few tricks. They are really motivated about 2 hours before their dinner. They want those treats bad.

They sit before they get fed, and they will do "high 5" and will jump up and down from furniture and the bed when told to.

You can train cats, but dogs are far easier from what I have been told.

earache, I just wanted to commend you on being willing to work with your dog to reduce the barking problem. It shows a willingness to be a good neighbor that is very unusual!

Dave

My next door neighbor just loaned me the "People Training for Dogs by Cesar Millan". My doggie and I will have a fun, busy and perhaps exhausting weekend!

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SoCal for now.