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This blog post was originally published in September 2014; it has been updated with new information and republished.
One day, we came outside to find a note on our door from a neighbor down the road (about 150 yards away) who was complaining about our barking dogs. In the note, the person said that the little Blue Heeler (Zoey) is the worst and I can imagine because our dogs go bonkers when strangers step onto their property.
Before I tell you about the note, let me explain how our “neighborhood” looks.
About Our Neighborhood
We live in a rural town and we have 3 neighbors that are close by; one next door, one across the road, and one behind us, through the woods. Â Our home is on five acres and we have the small lot on our hill. The neighbor who complained lives about 150 yards away from us (that's more than a football field). Â But we live on a hill so I imagine that if our dogs get going, their bark echoes like crazy. Â I don't really know, because I'm usually at work during the day.
Why Dogs Bark
If you live with dogs, then you know that it doesn't take a lot to get many dogs going. It can be a statement (is someone here?), a sound (the cat meowing), or a leaf blowing by the window. One dog will alert and the other dogs will join in and it takes patience to get them to settle down again. Of course, there are breeds that don't bark or don't bark much; they don't live in our home.
Our dogs bark because…
- to protect their territory – whenever a stranger (human or animal) comes on our property, our dogs will bark.
- to say hello – when we come home, the dogs bark; when a friend stops by, the dogs bark. It's an all dog celebration.
- to alert to a problem – if something scary is happening (fireworks, construction, etc.), the dogs will bark.
- out of boredom or for attention – Rodrigo barks when he's bored or wants attention.
- out of excitement – when it's time for the dogs to go outside to play, to go for a walk, or for a ride – there's barking.
- due to anxiety – if a dog has separation anxiety, then s/he may bark when left alone. We experienced this with Apollo when he joined our family.
And some dogs bark excessively because they were rewarded for this behavior when they were cute puppies. Yeah, I'm pointing a finger directly at myself because I used to get a kick out of puppy barking. Grown dog barking isn't as adorable.
Why Our Dogs were Barking that Week
Besides the stranger who came on our property to leave a note threatening to prosecute us (she didn't know that my partner was a deputy – he's now retired) for having dogs who bark for more than 15 minutes, our dogs have a couple more triggers.
- That week, there was road work on our hill. It's not the influx of road vehicles that trigger our dogs, it's when they stop on the road outside our property or use our driveway to park or turn around.
- That week, there was a rabbit that would sit outside the dogs' yard that got them all riled up early in the morning. It was like the rabbit knew that the dogs couldn't get out so he (or she) would sit there watching them. What cracks me up is that this was one of the rabbits that I rescued from the dogs a month prior – talk about gratitude.
Brainstorming How to Stop the Barking
Despite the annoyance of the note, we recognized that if someone works
Move the Dog Yard
The dogs' yard used to be on the side of the house giving them an unobstructed view of the road in front of our home and our neighbor's property. We've always toyed around with the idea of moving the dog yard but it wasn't high on our list of outdoor projects until this year. Earlier this summer, we installed a 300 foot dog fencing system by PetPlaygrounds behind our house. There is a portion of their new yard that does give them a view of the front of the house, however, that will soon be blocked by growing shrubs.
Our next project is to increase the size of one of the pet doors, which will allow all of our dogs to enter and exit the house when needed; so far, only three of our dogs can do this and only one does it regularly.
Leave the Dogs in the House
There was a time when we thought about leaving the dogs in the house when there was roadwork and J would stop by once or twice to give them a potty break. The problem is that (1) he shouldn't be doing this when on duty and (2) there might be days when he can't make it. Then what? There was a time when we hired someone to help with the dogs, but they too weren't always able to make it and the cost added up quickly.
Use Citronella Bark Collars
We thought about using bark collars on our dogs, hoping that this would curb the barking. I wasn't sure about this option for three reasons.
- I'm not a fan of training collars because (1) I've never been trained to use them and (2) I feel hesitant to leave them on my dogs all day when I'm not around.
- I didn't know if citronella collars worked on dogs.
- I worried that this collar might make things worse, especially for Zoey, who is already a timid dog.
So I reached out to the dog lover community to find out if anyone had success with citronella collars and what I learned wasn't promising.
Citronella collars work great until they get wet. Â If you have a dog who has access to a pond, then it's a waste of money. ~ Susan Hanley
The collar may be triggered by the barks of other dogs. ~ Kathleen Puls Andrade
Smart dogs figure out a way around the collar. Â My mini-Aussie rolled around on the grass to move the sensor away from her throat and would bark away. ~ Lisa Gillette-Martin
Do Citronella Bark Collars Work?
After reading the feedback from others, I was left wondering if citronella bark collars were worth the expense and time training our dogs to get used to this contraption since our dogs don't currently wear collars.
After more research, the answer to my question was “maybe.”
- If you have an older dog who has been allowed to bark incessantly, then a citronella collar may not work.
- If you have a pack of dogs, a citronella collar may be counterproductive, because 1 dog is being penalized for the actions of the other dogs.
- And if you haven't discovered what's triggering the barking, then a citronella collar may work at first, but it won't work long term.
How Do We Stop Excessive Barking?
If citronella collars don't work, how do we stop excessive barking? I read several articles and the advice ranged from giving your dog a strong stare down to ignoring your dog. I found a nice balance in between these two responses. Zoey, for example, barks all the time and will keep going if left unchecked. Her primary triggers are being let in the house (she barks as I approach the gate) and going outside to play (she barks the second someone walks towards the side door). This is what works to stop her barking…
STOP REWARDING THE BARKING, KIMBERLY!!!
I used to try and get her in the house or out of the house as fast as possible to stop her barking. Now, I won't respond to barking. If I'm walking towards the gate to let the dogs in, if she starts barking, I freeze and I wait. I don't open the gate until she's silent. It took patience and consistency, but she figured it out. She still barks here and there, but it's usually one or two barks instead of the steady stream of barking that makes your head explode.
I do the same when I'm allowing the dogs outside. Everyone must be quiet with all four paws on the floor before I open the door. Again, it take patience and consistency, but all of the dogs figured it out.
Other Tips to Stop Excessive Barking
- distract the dogs – if the dogs are barking, I'll grab a bag of dog treats and wait for everyone to come to me and sit. I wait a beat until they're all settled and then I hand out treats. This does a great job interrupting their focus from the leaf blowing past the window.
- don't bark with them – a mistake I've made in the past is to start yelling at the dogs to “SETTLE DOWN!!!!” but they only bark more because, YAYYYY, MOMMY'S BARKING TOO! Today, I calmly say, “Thanks, Scout, now quiet down.” It's crazy, but it works, especially when only one or two dogs is barking.
- lots of exercise – regardless if it's physical or mental, exercise is a blessing. Our dogs don't bark excessively when they're tired.
- hire a dog trainer/behaviorist – the best way to learn why your dog is barking and what to do about it is to work with a professional. A behaviorist I follow on Facebook, Jessica L. Fisher, wrote a book that gave me loads of ideas on how to better communicate with my dogs: 7 Miracle Steps to Get Your Dog to Obey Commands Even if They've Failed Before. She stress patience and positivity, which work for all of our dogs.
Making Nice When You Have Barking Dogs
In the end, we didn't get a citronella bark collar for Zoey or any of the dogs, because it wouldn't work for them. Instead, we removed the rabbit's home (a pile of bricks on pallets we have stored for an upcoming project). And we patiently waited for the end of the road construction (a few days later) which reduced the number of strangers outside our property.
Although everyone worked out, the note stayed with me. I didn't want a neighbor to be annoyed with our dogs. So I baked some pies and and delivered them to our closest neighbors, to apologize for the noise. It turns out that no one was bothered by our dogs. Two neighbors never noticed the barking and our closest neighbor has a dog too and worried that their dog was getting our dogs started.
I couldn't take a pie to the complaining neighbor because the note was anonymous, but I gather that they noticed a difference because we didn't receive a follow-up
While I respect what you’re saying, I still can’t get my head around leaving a shock collar on my dog all day without supervision. I respect that some use these collars for training, but to use it as their regular collar and cause pain to avoid inconveniencing your neighbor seems cruel. I would rather work with a trainer on crate training for when I’m away and positive, pain-free training when I’m home and the dog comes into contact with the neighbor.
A man once threatened to kick my dog and I pretty much scared the hell out of him and he quickly realized that he made a mistake. After our encounter, I notified the police because animal cruelty is a felony that comes with a 5 year prison sentence where I live.
As pet owners its our responsibility to take care of our pets and make sure that our neighbors are happy as well. Not everyone will understand what we been through as fur moms/dads, lets just accept that society sometimes are so cruel and harsh. I remember one incident in our place that they almost hit my dog because of too much barking and they think that my dog will hit them. So that time i decided to buy a bark collar from Ourk9 and it really help my dog tame down.
Now she is so well behave and i can see that my neighbors are now liking her.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I truly appreciate it. It’s so hard to get a straight answer from the stores or brands. It’s nice to hear real life experiences.
We live in a condo. My female is a barker; my male is not – he’s always surprised when she barks at noises outside! I only had to use the citronella collar on her a few days the first time. She learnt pretty quick. Now when she relapses, once every few months and when we moved, I put it on her turned off a couple of times. I do activate it before I put it on her so that she can hear the activating release spray but I turn it off quickly (silent) before I put it on her. She thinks it’s on and acts like it’s on. I only use it when she goes into her repetitive barking, not when she does her one warning bark. The only con was that the collar is sensitive and did spray when she got overly excited when we got home from work ie the ear flapping and bounding/sliding on wood floors made too much noise for the collar not to spray. Every dog is different and I don’t think the collar would work the same way for every dog.
I wonder if a citronella collar will work for Pierson. His barking doesn’t bother neighbors because he is indoors most of the time. But his barking has been known to wake us up in the wee hours of the morning. We live in a suburb so we are surrounded by neighbors and every little noise will set Pierson off. I could be a car door closing, a louder than usual car driving by, a leaf falling (JK about the last part).
That’s how I feel too and YAYYYYY the rabbit and the construction are gone gone gone. We haven’t had a problem in weeks 🙂
I honestly don’t know, because I’ve never tried them before. I think the best course of action is to work with a dog trainer first; shock collars are dangerous and painful for a dog and I believe that they only make the situation worse, but I know that others disagree. We go to our trainer first or try to find the reason why the dog is barking and remove the instigation.
Thanks for this review we were looking into bark collars for our pitbull and I was curious about these citronella method as well. We live in an apt and we wanted to keep her barking down to a minimum. Do you think the citronella will work with our dog? she is 2.
Sounds like the problem is solved! Hopefully there won’t be any more construction in your area and the rabbits stay away. Given the distance between your property and the neighbor, it is hard to believe that the noise level was that bad.
What sucks is that Sydney used to be our quiet dog, but now they’re all barking – it’s a fun game for them. Thankfully they don’t bark for long.
That makes sense. We have 4 very smart dogs, I can totally see them figuring this out. Rodrigo and Sydney used to pull each other’s dog collars off – after a few weeks, they started chewing up the buckle so that we couldn’t refasten them.
FOOTNOTE ON BARK COLLARS:
I asked some of the K-9 officers at work their opinions about shock collars. They were totally against them.
They also said many dogs learn real quick when they’re wearing the collar and when they’re not. Meaning…they know they will get a shock when wearing the collar…but also know they won’t get a shock when they’re not wearing the collar. They will continue to bark since there’s not “zap” coming their way. They said this also holds true for underground fencing and those shock collars. (I would assume this would go for any type of bark collar…citronella, shock, etc.)
My dogs don’t wear collars unless we’re training or taking a walk…I had a near-death experience when two of them were playing and one got their jaw stuck in the other dog’s collar.
I remember this story and it’s horrifying. I hate to think of my dog off somewhere in pain. I’m so sorry you experienced that.
Our dogs don’t howl, but they get crazy excited and we have to spend 10 minutes settling everyone down. Once the novelty of company wears off, they relax. Now I’m thankful 🙂
If she decides to try it, please let me know. We wouldn’t use it on our dogs, because we have more than one, but I’m still very curious about it.
I thought of you when this happened. It took a lot of deep breaths to keep calm. We were both so annoyed.
Not only that, but they specifically singled out one of our dogs. You can’t see our dogs very well from the road (no shoulders, no sidewalks) and she’s a football field plus down the hill from us (across the way and back from the road). She knew, because she came on our property. LOL
I have that thought too. I think some people just like to be mad and after a few things we heard about her, we think she falls into this camp.
Thank heavens we have 2 neighbors who will watch our property and we watch theirs so if she showed up, she would have trouble. It also helps that J is a deputy. But one of our worries was that she could decide to harm our dogs.
That’s a tough one! I’m glad it is mostly sorted out – hopefully long term…I can only imagine how noisy Lola would be in that situation. She is definitely our little warning signal. As a pup, she never barked – and now, all the time. She’s rather paranoid whereas Rio could care less.
We had an American Eskimo, they are known for their barking, he would only bark if there was another dog on the other side of the fence (we lived in a community where everyone was close) or someone came to the house. We tried the citronella color…I like the citronella smell,guess he liked it too. He would get so excited and was going to bark no matter what. He would empty the thing in one session. I think it will work in some situations with some dogs but not all. Sorry you have rude neighbors. Oh, by the way, how did they know it was your dogs and not your other neighbors, hmmmmm??
Like Rebekah, this also strikes a nerve with me. We have a “troublesome” neighbor as well whom we do not trust — for good reason — so our dogs are NEVER outside unsupervised.
I don’t know why, but this struck a nerve with me. Our living situations are very similar, and I would be pissed if someone left a note like that for me. My dogs also have a dog door, and I know that they bark at things sometimes. Dogs bark. Unless it is after 10 pm or before 6 am, I honestly don’t think anyone can do anything about it. Sorry, just irritated for you.
I’m glad that the barking isn’t a huge problem anymore. My dog is not a barker but my sister’s dog who I babysit 5 days a week is. I’m very curious if the citronella would work??
CommentWe live in the country so thankfully no complaints from neighbors yet, as they have dogs that bark too. Our problem is our gang (3 English Shepherds age 19 months old) go nuts barking when someone comes inside the house. They are all 3 house dogs. We put them in their crates when company comes in, but they bark so that you’d think they were a hungry pack of wild wolves (yes Eli can howl). We’re trying some different things with them, like giving them a treat when someone comes in, but so far they’re still barking. Just something we’ll have to work on. Glad your problem seems to have worked out okay.
I think your neighbor is crazy for expecting dogs not to bark. It’s not like you share a wall with them…
I could go on and on. Silly “neighbor.” Find something else to worry about.
Ugh…neighbors…I’m guessing they don’t have a dog of their own or they’d know a dog who barks once in a while is NOT a nuisance. (PS have J hand them his copy of the statute book and highlight it for them.)
As for shock collars…we took Miko to a 3 week stay-over training camp. We weren’t allowed to visit for those 3 weeks. (I know, big mistake…but we trusted this guy.) When we picked her up, she came running to us and and had 2 perfectly round burn marks on the side of her neck! What?!
Miko was a hard/stubborn dog to train (walking on a leash, stay, etc), this is why we sought an expert’s help. He knew she was stubborn. Well, long story short….he said he’d keep Miko in the house for the 3 weeks, but he changed his mind along the way and kept Miko, who slept inside and was a 100% house dog, in a kennel outside. She was scared and confused and instead of doing what he said or calling us to pick her up, he decided to put a shock bark collar on her.
I told you Miko was stubborn. She would bark and take the hit…again and again…until it burned holes in her neck.
She recovered from that…but I never did. I have such guilt for trusting this expert. The lesson I learned…be careful who you trust and don’t put your faith in shock collars for anything.
I used citronella collars for my previous dogs after a neighbor’s complaints were threatening to have us evicted. It was a much harder time for me and my options were limited. My mom even had to help me buy the collars. They did work, and in short order. I very quickly did not even need to leave them switched on. At the time, it was the best I could do. I now know that they are considered mildly aversive (if it wasn’t unpleasant to the dog they would not stop the behavior), so I probably would not use them again, but I think they can work in the right situation and are certainly better than a shock collar.
I don’t think people that live in a rural area can expect total silence during the day. I’m glad you were able to find a solution to keep everyone happy!
I’m sorry about the trouble from neighbors. I’ll be interested to hear what kind of solution you guys devise! Our girls are inside during the work week (we’re able to come home in the middle of the day to let them out), but they can be very bark-y when they’re outside, and I’m sure it annoys the neighbors (especially when it’s at 6:40 in the morning). We’re always trying to keep them quiet, but aside from going out with them every single time, I’m not sure what can be done (as I’m with you on NOT using shock collars, and citronella collars don’t sound effective, as you note).