Barks all day while I am not home. . .

Needless to say me neighbors are not happy.

I have a great little english cocker spaniel that is about 18 months old. I adpoted him 5 weeks ago. I can understand all of his faults with lack of training because I am his 4th owner in his short little life. He has been passed around alot. I am trying to correct them as best as I can. One thing that I need to correct quickly is his barking. I have put baby gates up in my kitchen and that is where I keep him during the day when I am at work. His bed and toys are in there with him. He barks all day long and pees and poops and walks in it by the time I get home. He and my kitchen are a mess I am constantly cleaning and bathing. I work a typical work day and feed and walk him in the morning and evening. Although he goes potty in the morning during his walk, he still goes again during the day. He barks from the time I leave in the morning until I walk in the door in the evening.

How can I make this situation better???

What are you feeding him? If he relieves himself in the morning, then he shouldn't need to go again before you get home. The first ingredient of the dog food should be meat. If you are feeding a grain based diet then you are feeding him a lot of filler, so of course he has more to process and poop out.

How much of a walk does he get in the morning? He needs to get tired out. If possible, get a long lead, like twenty or thirty feet and run him in the park. Play fetch, hide things for him to find. He needs to work his mind and his body. By the time you get home he should be ready to lie down and nap. As the saying goes: a tired dog is a good dog.

He is probably not getting enough exercise or mental stimulation. He needs more than two regular walks a day, at least 3 times a week he should have the opportunity to run, chase a ball, swim, or something of that sort.

Try teaching him some tricks, too. If he doesn't know his basic commands yet, work on those, otherwise teach him things like roll over, to pick up and bring you an object, sit up, etc., anything you can think of.

Try getting some "interactive" toys, like puzzle toys or a kong filled with peanut butter.

As far as him going to the bathroom, he may be doing this because he's anxious and upset you're gone. It sounds like he has some separation anxiety. If he's more tired out and has some fun things to do while you're gone, that will help. A dog probably isn't going to play with regular toys if you're not there, he needs something to work at.

Good luck, keep us updated.

I agree w/Maura. I had my last dog since he was a pup, so I never encountered the adjustments *I* had to make when I adopted my adult dog several months ago. One of the first things I did was to rethink my morning schedule which, yes, included waking up EARLIER in order to feed, sufficiently walk (1/2 hr @ least) and just be around a bit longer in the a.m. - rather than the typical morning rush & out the door, which a new pup gets wind of right from the get-go and sets him up for anxiety.

Have you tried occupying him with a kong or treat ball? My dog doesn't take to kongs, but I have one of those Ai Qiou thingies that I plant little treats and smears of peanut butter (takes a while to lick out)



It's the very last thing I do before walking out the door. In my case, since the dog has the run of the house, I take it upstairs, make him sit & stay for a bit, then release and - voila - sneak out of the house.

I realize this is not specifically addressing the barking issue, but in addition to patience as you two get used to the routine, some of these other suggestions might help ease the SA.

Good luck!

You might also want to leave a tv or radio on while you're gone.

You might also want to get someone to stop in mid-day for a walk?

Why not try a dog repeller or dog repellent to train your dog to shush? Maybe you can turn it on while he barks and see if you can train him to get him to stop barking. (e.g. whenever he barks, the repeller goes on).

This is a very common suggestion for this particular problem, but it should be an ABSOLUTE LAST RESORT. The problem is that it sounds like your dog may have separation anxiety; he's under SO much extreme stress while you're gone that he's screaming in pain the whole time. To put a bark collar on a dog in this amount of stress will only cause more stress, which is extremely unhealthy and won't solve the barking problem anyway.

Follow the other good advice given in this thread, and if that doesn't work then hire a private trainer (which would cost you about the same as a bark collar anyway) to evaluate your dog and figure out a plan of action to solve the problem. Good luck!

Please don't do this to your dog. He's already stressed out or bored. Punishing him for something that is NOT his fault will increase his stress and make him bark more. His needs are not being met and those issues need to be addressed in order to reduce this stress/boredom barking or separation anxiety, if that's what he has. Compiling more distress and/or fear has no place in dog training.

I was watching a video of an ultrasonic repeller being used, and it didn't seem like the dogs were stressed. Does anyone have experience with these devices?

1.) Yes, I do think those animals were stressed.

2.) How would a person use this device to teach her dog to stop barking while she's out of the house?

3.) If this device teaches dogs to go away, how is that fair to use in the dog's house?