Barking

Chuckchuck

Hi guys,
Have a westie who if he gets out at night just barks non stop...hence I`m awake yet again. Have tried bark collars, bribes etc but its a game to him. Small kids in the house and impossible at times to keep doors closed. Any ideas apart from removing his voice box........

Lemlin

Chuckchuck wrote: »

Hi guys,
Have a westie who if he gets out at night just barks non stop...hence I`m awake yet again. Have tried bark collars, bribes etc but its a game to him. Small kids in the house and impossible at times to keep doors closed. Any ideas apart from removing his voice box........

Where is he getting out from and to? Is he getting outside the house or what?

I'd suggest moving him to a shed and leaving him there at night. He may bark for a few nights but he'll get used to it then and quieten down.

Otherwise, you could just buy a large cage to place him in at night if you want to keep him in the house.

Chuckchuck

He sleeps in the house but we try our best after 7pm to keep him in but sometimes kids open doors and he runs for it. he goes up to hills behind us and just barks and barks. happens about once a week and we can hear his voice going hoarse. Refuse to let him in the next day as all he wants to do is crawl into his bed and sleeeeeeeeeeep. wish i could do the same

Toulouse

I'm sure your neighbours love him. Is your property not fenced? If this is happening once a week then you really need to sort out a secure fence so that he can't get out.

Chuckchuck

Too expensive i`m afraid live in the country and would be a lot of fence to put up. Think I`ll have his voice box removed....haha

hidden

Have you tried the bark collars that give a small shock?

Lexie_Karas

Chuckchuck wrote: »

Too expensive i`m afraid live in the country and would be a lot of fence to put up. Think I`ll have his voice box removed....haha

How about just fencing off a small section around the house... kind of create a small garden that he can safely have the run of, rather than fencing your whole property.

Toulouse

Exactly Lexie.

Fremen

Get a sign that says "No parking", and change the P to a B.

boodlesdoodles

Chuckchuck wrote: »

Too expensive i`m afraid live in the country and would be a lot of fence to put up. Think I`ll have his voice box removed....haha

You serious?

andreac

Buy a dog run and put him in there. They arent that dear and much safer for everyone.

Chuckchuck

No was only joking about his voice box. Will try a run for him and see how we get on. Hubby a bit of a hoarder so plenty of timber we could use. Thanks to all

Lexie_Karas

Good luck! If you can manage to contain him when he's outside it'll be much easier to train him to stop barking.

Lemlin

Lexie_Karas wrote: »

How about just fencing off a small section around the house... kind of create a small garden that he can safely have the run of, rather than fencing your whole property.

I'm looking at doing a similar thing in our garden at the moment.

Would you not just go up to the hills and catch him and bring him back?

Have you tried maybe tying him outside for the evening and bringing him in at night then? You could use a long chain or something so he can still move around the garden.

irish_bob

someone over the road from where i live has an alsatian that barks every night from 12 till dawn non stop , the same dog is tied all day long from 7.30 untill 6 pm , if a dog is tied up they tend to bark at night , if your dog isnt tied up during the day , maybe hes just dumb , some dogs just are

Iago

In my experience westies are just barkers for the most part. They are very curious and nosy dogs and if they can hear noises but not see what's causing them they bark, if they can hear noises and see what's causing them they bark, and if they can hear no noises or see nothing going on...they bark

Our westie used to bark incessently at night but after a couple of months calmed down. Now he still barks if he's out in the back and there's anything going on in the backs around him, especially next door. Mostly his tail is going full pelt at the same time and he just wants to be able to join in with whatever is going on.

The only thing I'd say is that he's far less likely to bark if he's with us or when he's in the back if he can see us in the window or door. So if you got a run and he was close to the house when he did get out that might sort it for you.

dogbert27

Would it not be easier to train the kids to stop opening the door than to go through all the hassle of getting the dog to stop barking?

Lemlin

irish_bob wrote: »

someone over the road from where i live has an alsatian that barks every night from 12 till dawn non stop , the same dog is tied all day long from 7.30 untill 6 pm , if a dog is tied up they tend to bark at night , if your dog isnt tied up during the day , maybe hes just dumb , some dogs just are

The problem here though is the dog getting out and going and barking.

What I'm saying is that the OP could let the dog out during the day, tie him up and leave him out around the time he gets out to go running and then bring him in when the kids are gone to bed and aren't opening doors.

babystrawberry

hidden wrote: »

Have you tried the bark collars that give a small shock?

I've never used these as i dont see how they ca be any way humane to a dog at all? Dogs bark naturally so im sure there would be plenty of confusion when they get a shock they dont know what from when they give a bark??

Personally i dont think i would advocate the use of them

Inexile

What about giving him something to chew on in the evenings/night before you go to bed - it might distract him for what ever he imagines he is barking at.

Re the bark collars I dont like them. However, I think there is one that instead of giving a shock emits a squirt of citrus anddogs arent supposed to like the smell. Its the same idea as the electric collars, but gentler. They bark, they get a squirt of citrus and eventually associate the barking with the citrus and stop. I would only use the citrus collar as a last resort though - try fencing him in and giving him a chewy bone first.