My problem: Our yappy little dogs

Love the Open Range, The "Egg" is a sonic device I got at Petsmart that responds to their bark with a high pitched whistle. Stops them almost immediately to find out where the sound comes from. It responds every time they bark, soon they stop barking because they don't like the noise. The camera is worth the investment to keep my wife happy. If we go out she can monitor what's going on, and if there is a problem we go straight home. It will alert you if there is a noise, so you know to check.

3 dog nights wrote:
We have three elderly Chihuahuas. Also yappy. At home we started with the "Egg".
Seemed to train them not to bark. Always been crate trained so not a problem. For the last year we have used a security camera that runs off wifi. Wife can punch it up on her phone and see & hear what they are doing while we are out. It also can "speak" back to them and tell them to hush up! It works!

Is the egg that thing you but peanut butter in to keep them occupied? I would love to have one of those wifi cameras.

I noticed you have an Open Range. We looked at them a couple of weeks and really liked them. But we do not have a tow vehicle. Do you like it?

We have three elderly Chihuahuas. Also yappy. At home we started with the "Egg".
Seemed to train them not to bark. Always been crate trained so not a problem. For the last year we have used a security camera that runs off wifi. Wife can punch it up on her phone and see & hear what they are doing while we are out. It also can "speak" back to them and tell them to hush up! It works!

I think crate training is usually a good idea, but do keep in mind that it's more common than not for dogs with SA to NOT like crating, and in fact it often worsens their anxiety, sometimes tremendously.


Here is a good article on separation anxiety from the Housing SPCA. Their comment on crating:

For some dogs with minor cases of C.S.A. the crate may cause a calming effect. For the majority of dogs with separation anxiety, a crate only intensifies the dog’s stress and panic. These dogs may injure themselves in an attempt to escape from the crate. As a general rule it is not a good idea to crate a dog with C.S.A.

Differences like this are why I said earlier that dealing with SA is a whole different matter than just dealing with a barky dog.

We crate our dogs, close the curtains, leave the tv on and they are good when we are gone. As said before, if they are not crate trained, get them used to a crate now.

We recently got an 11 yr old boy, who had separation issues. He was great out of the crate, but when we would come home from errands,he was all beside himself. I started putting about a teaspoon of peanut butter in a kong and freeze it. He is happy to go in his crate to get his kong, and his anxiety level is probably 95% reduced when we return home. You can also use cheese or kibble in the kong to keep them busy.

I have used the citronella collar on a dog in the past, but was leery of the citronella so close to the eyes. A friend got the citronella collar, and he got plain canned air to refill the chamber with (bought it on amazon) That burst of air (no citronella) works on their dog. Might be something to try.

TexasShadow wrote:
we use the bark collar. he's only been shocked once. Now all we have to do is show it to him and say "no bark". if we think he's going to bark when we leave, we just put it on him with no battery in it. he's a smart little dog and has a long memory.

There's also a no-bark collar that has several options: the one I used on our Cattle Dog (who possibly could bark in protest to being left behind): the first time the dog barked, it just vibrated to remind him not to bark. Each successive bark ramped up the correction. In other words, it let your dog alert you to a problem; but shut down yappers pretty quick.

Not being a dog owner I have no advice. I only want to thank you for being conscious of a potential problem. We've found most dogs in CGs are great and never a problem. That's a credit to their owners and the training they receive. Hope you get this worked out. It would be a shame to not camp!

we use the bark collar. he's only been shocked once. Now all we have to do is show it to him and say "no bark". if we think he's going to bark when we leave, we just put it on him with no battery in it. he's a smart little dog and has a long memory.

Also - tired dogs tend to be good dogs! If you are planning to leave for an hour or so - walk their wheels off! A good hard walk, plus blocking their sight and hearing of things to bark at, should help?

littlebee55 wrote:
I never did like the bark collars. I think too many people abuse them, but since I know we will not, I might get them one as a last resort.(I know. Sadly, that makes me a hypocrite). We might try that silent thing that only they can hear before that. But first, we will try the closing the windows and running the tv.

My husband works nights and told me that when I leave the house, they won't shut up, but noises outside will do it, too.until he brings them to bed. I think a lot of it is separation anxiety. I really, really want this to work. So, thank you for all of your help.

Separation anxiety is a whole different ball game than "just" barking. If you really believe the underlying cause of their barking is SA then IMO you need to be looking at ways to address that. Otherwise it's kind of like having a really bad case of pneumonia and trying to fix it just by taking cough medicine. It's usually going to take a lot more treatment to cure it than just medicating one symptom. (Okay, so maybe that's not a great analogy. But it's the best I can do right now. ;))

Also, keep in mind that the suggestions to make a shake can (or lunchbox or whatever) may work to teach the dogs to not bark when you or your DH are there to shake it. That's not anywhere near the same thing as teaching them not to bark when no one is home to shake it. Some dogs aren't bright enough to realize the noise won't be made when no human is around, but most figure that out very easily.