When the neighborhood is voting on the most hated creature on the block and the only entries are your noisy dog and you, it's time to seek help.
Barking dogs have long been a nuisance in cities and high on the list of complaints to police. They're becoming an increasing problem because in so many households, no one is home during the day to train dogs or give them the attention they need.What can owners do to cut down on nuisance barking?
Dog experts offer varied solutions: doggie day care; therapy from a pet psychologist; vocal-cord surgery; an aggressive program of pouring water on the beast when it barks; more loving attention; a pet cat for the dog so it won't be lonely; a shock collar that jolts the dog each time it barks inappropriately; squirting lemon juice down the dog's throat; a fence so the dog can't see out; a window in the fence so the dog can see out.
Unfortunately, one expert's advice often is at the top of the next expert's "never" list.
About the only thing readily agreed upon is the need for good, basic dog training courses, preferably for puppies. Obedience training will eliminate most problems.
Dogs bark for good reasons, their human trainers point out. One reason is loneliness or boredom. They bark to hear themselves. Some territorial breeds - shelties, terriers, German shepherds - are especially prone to bark.
Gerry Takumi, supervisor of Minneapolis Animal Control, estimated that 50 percent of its complaint calls are about barking dogs.
"Dogs get lonely," shift supervisor Nancy Przymus said. "I don't know about the wisdom of having a dog if you don't have time for it. It's kind of like having children. You should care enough to want to be there."
Nuisance-dog ordinances are hard to enforce, she said, because inspectors have to catch the dog barking while unprovoked. It can't be barking at someone walking down the alley or a squirrel overhead or a lurking inspector. "It has to be out there barking at a piece of dirt," Przymus said.
So it may take a dozen trips to get enough evidence to issue a $33 fine. A fine is the third step in the process, following a letter from the city to the dog owner saying that neighbors are complaining of being disturbed and a written report that an inspector has heard barking.
Doggie day care already has caught on in California and is moving to other areas.
Joan Tauer of the Animal Inn in Lake Elmo, Minn., said most of her business is boarding dogs whose owners are gone for at least a few days. But more and more, dogs are being dropped off in the morning and picked up after work. Animal Inn charges $7 a day for the service. Dogs are given treats, beds, exercise, play and pats during the day.
Some owners resort to shock collars to control barking. Blythe Johnston, a sales manager, said one model is the $299 Radartron DT-300 kit; the owner pushes a remote-control button that gives the dog a shock. The deluxe collar comes with several antennae and is waterproof so the dog can swim in it. Another model is the $116 "Bark Buster," which is battery-powered and activates after several barks.
Johnston said the shocks do no permanent damage, but still, she admitted, "it makes me edgy to rent or sell a collar to someone who hasn't had obedience training." She has refused to rent to several people; one wanted to use the collar to housebreak a puppy. "No way," she said.
The University of Minnesota's Center to Study Human-Animal Relationships advises against using the shock collars. So does Maggie Walsh, who has taken in sick, homeless and mistreated animals for more than 30 years. She said shock collars are immoral. "Dogs bark for a reason. It's not to hear the sound of their voice. They're hungry or lonesome or full of worms or cold. They'll bark at the sky if they're bored. Usually you can blame the owner."
Walsh has about 60 cats and a "secret number of dogs" in her pet community. One is Sam the Samoyed, a sled dog who used to bark at trucks and everything else that moved. At his previous home, he had been chained to a hunk of concrete. "Barking was the only way he got attention," Walsh said. "He'd bark enough and finally someone would come to pet him or feed and water him."
A last resort for some dog owners is surgery to remove folds in the vocal cords. This is major surgery done under general anesthesia.
Jerry Ohlund, a veterinarian, said a dog is left with a hoarser, softer bark, but the vocal cords may mend and the original bark may return. As with shock collars, the surgery may not be the most humane way to temper barking, "but in some cases, it may be better than having to put the dog to sleep," he said. "Obedience training is preferable."
Rena Wagoner is a trainer with lots of ideas about barking. She recommends starting with a 10-week-old puppy by pushing its muzzle down into its chest and saying, "No bark" each time it does. Accompany that with reinforcing positive behavior: Distract the dog when the mail carrier goes by and then praise it for not barking, she said. Training takes time. "If you don't have time to housebreak a puppy, go to the Humane Society and get an older dog."
Wagoner also stressed that dogs left alone during the day should be kept inside, in a crate or kennel only big enough for the dog to enter and turn around in and lie down. Food and water could result in spills or messing and should not be left inside. Over a longer period, someone should check in frequently, to feed the dog and let it outside and talk to it. Dogs sleep 16 to 20 hours a day and are quite content to be inside when alone, she said.
Some trainers recommend providing sound from a radio or TV. Others advise taking advantage of new technology and using an answering machine to speak to the dog several times a day. Dissenters, however, said that may serve only to wake the dog and unfairly raise expectations.
Mark Berman, another trainer, said a family whose members are gone from home all day still can have a dog - if it's "a well-adjusted dog that's comfortable with its surroundings and gets attention when the owners are home and has chew toys and other things to occupy the time."