[Dailydrool] Update on our anti barking campaign

[Val lbrewerzwick]

We have made some progress on barking control.  As I posted before, the birdhouse that beeps when it detects barking curbed Mila and Ipo’s barking quite effectively, but was basically Ignored by Mariah.  With Mariah,  every time she starts to bark, we have been calling her name and making her come inside, shutting the door (basically a time out), and keeping her inside for an hour or so.  Mariah wants to be outside.  Now If Mariah barks, she stops immediately when we call her name, or if we are slow to do this, she stops after three to five barks (a minute or two) instead of continuing to bark.

  Our only remaining issue is Ipo’s reluctance to go outside except to quickly do her business and return directly back inside.  I don’t know if this is exactly a problem or not, but I do recall she used to like sunbathing outside and now she is usually curled up on my bed instead.  So we’ve been taking Ipo on more car rides, which she loves, and I’ve been sitting outside with her for short periods of time.  with the other two barking less, we hope to be able to retire the birdhouse and hope that with time Ipo will feel more comfortable in the yard again.  We will see.