[Dailydrool] No-bark collars

[Elizabeth]

We have new neighbors with two dogs, a gorgeous border collie and some sort of pitbull mix. We have a six-foot wood privacy fence between our backyards so the dogs can’t really see each other, though they’ve touched noses a couple of times through the chainlink fence in the front yards. 

When I let young Charlie Basset and the long-term foster Molly, a chihuahua-terrier mix, outside to take care of things, if the neighbors’ dogs are in their own yard, Charlie barks at them a couple of times and then focuses on the real business at hand. But Molly is off like a rocket to run the fence line with the pitbull mix, back and forth, barking, barking, barking. She does not have a deep, chesty, melodious bark like a basset. Her bark is shrill, raucous, and rather like nails on a chalkboard. And it doesn’t stop. She runs and barks and runs and barks in an obsessive-compulsive terrier way. I think the only way she’d ever stop on her own would be when she blows out her vocal cords or drops dead of exhaustion. 

This is becoming a problem. The neighbors hear her and immediately call their dogs in, which I feel badly about. After all, their dogs should be able to enjoy their own yard. But even with the neighbors’ dogs back inside, Molly won’t stop. I have to go out into the yard to catch her and then carry her, still barking, into the house with her true mission still unaccomplished. Being carried in by a justifiably peeved human means she’s too twitchy for another outside trip five minutes later. Taking her out in the front yard on a leash hasn’t worked either and only upsets Charlie, who believes he’s being deprived of a walk.

So I’m hoping there are people on the Drool who can recommend a no-bark collar for a determined-to-bark seven-pound dog. What I’m really looking for is one that isn’t so sensitive that it sprays at the slightest noise. Since this little dog is compelled to make some sort of noise when she hears something with her oversized ears, I’ve been encouraging her to make little woofs at an acceptably de sotto voce level. Many times I’ve had success with this in the house. I wouldn’t want her to be sprayed for that. But when she shouts and shouts and shouts and gets stuck in that loop, it’d be nice for her to get some negative reinforcement that makes her think twice about doing it again. Clearly the negative reinforcement of a deeply annoyed human isn’t enough to make her want to give up the joy of barking her fool head off at the neighbors’ dogs while tearing up and down the fence line.

And now I think I’ll go check to see if the neighbors’ dogs are inside so I can give Molly another try at taking care of something other than highly aerobic and excessively loud physical activity. All I really want out of her right now is a poop and a pee so we can all go to bed. You’d think that wouldn’t be asking for much, but all too often it is.

Elizabeth
linktolindsey at gmail.com