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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to re-home my dog?

66 replies

Aw12345 · 02/10/2019 13:37

Please be nice because I'm very upset.

We have a 4 year old schnauzer, lovely dog, very very good with out toddler (14 months) but we have 1 massive issue... Barking.

It's come to a head today because DH is away with work and DS slept badly so has been shattered today poor little guy. Having a breakdown about everything because he's so tired. Anyway he fell asleep at about 11 and was woken up not long later by barking from the dog Sad

I've driven for ages to try to get him back to sleep but he's too hungry to sleep, too tired to eat. Poor little guy.

This has happened loads of times before too, also we've only tried to go out once since having baby but babysitters arrival triggered barking, which woke baby Sad

We have paid a behaviourist but her advice hasn't stopped the barking, dog gets 2 walks a day and goes to doggy daycare regularly so he's got loads of stimulation and doggy time.

I don't know what else I can do, we cant go on like this Sad

OP posts:
Costacoffeeplease · 02/10/2019 15:37

What will happen when your baby becomes too noisy?

FFS, I despair of people sometimes. Animals are not something to be disposed of once they’re no longer ‘cute’ or something more interesting comes along.

You don’t deserve a dog, if you do re home it, shame on you, but also NEVER get another living, breathing, intelligent, sentient animal again, they need responsible owners and I’m afraid you failed at the first hurdle

Phimma · 02/10/2019 15:38

Quote: I feel like defending the OP here.

Butterfly have you not seen all the posts about how this particular breed is practically untrainable when it comes to barking cessation?

This is why people should research a breed first, to see its suitability.

Veterinari · 02/10/2019 15:39

@NewElthamMum13
All antibark collars work through punishing the dog and citronella can be more effective than electricity because it is more punishing.
Dogs perceive the world differently to us and citronella is not innocuous

adaline · 02/10/2019 15:48

anti-bark collars in the UK usually use a puff of compressed air when the dog barks, or some people use citronella spray (but that's not as good as the smell lingers after the barking has stopped) . Some use water spray. Some vibrate to catch the dog's attention

It doesn't matter. They're still aversive in their own ways. They're designed to stop barking by causing pain/discomfort to the dog. Just because they're not as painful as electric shock collars, doesn't mean they're still not unpleasant and cruel.

Dogs learn best through positive reinforcement, not punishment.

GPatz · 02/10/2019 15:57

'Will you rehome your toddler too? Thought not'.

Ridiculously dramatic.

WiddlinDiddlin · 02/10/2019 16:19

@WhatTiggersDoBest

Yep, the 'be a dog trainer' industry is now HUGE and dog training/behaviour still wholly unregulated now as it was the day the late great John Fisher wrote 'how to be a dog behaviourist, hang a sign on your door saying 'dog behaviourist' and hey presto, you are one (well I paraphrase but words to that effect).

Some of us have spent some considerable time and money learning our trade and some people have erm.. not.

On the 'Schnauzesr will always be incessant barkers' front -this isn't true, whilst they will always enjoy a woof, they don't have to do it so much they are impossible to live with!

I live with a Tibetan terrier and as far as he is concerned, EVERYTHING is a resaon to bark.. so we have worked hard and we continue to do it, to pair all manner of sounds and events with treats and his barking is not too irritating and manageable.

If we did not constantly work on it though, that wouldn't be the case - it isn't particularly HARD work (remember to have treats in pocket, remember to fling treats instead of shouting 'shut the fuck up you hairy arseface') but it does need doing and thinking about.

Branleuse · 02/10/2019 16:29

your child will probably stop napping over the next 6mths to a year anyway. I get that its annoying now, but might be better to maybe put your child in a room with door closed and radio on to sleep, which would provide some background noise to disguise the barking, or put him to nap in pushchair outside?

ItsalwaysLTB · 02/10/2019 16:31

@WiddlinDiddlin to be fair i can stop my Schnauzer's barking while outside the house quite easily and people that she knows can enter the house without too much yapping. But strangers coming inside is a different matter, whether that is workmen, friends of the dc or the window cleaners (her favourites, she isn't too fussed by the post) She is worse when the dc are at home and I wonder if OP's ds is making the situation worse - ddog is barking to desperately warn them to protect their young.

OP was ddog like this prior to ds?

Monkeyplanet · 02/10/2019 16:47

Re-home, baby's needs come first

SherbetSaucer · 02/10/2019 16:50

Re-home, baby's needs come first

Re-home the baby! The dog will give you less grief in the long-run!

Decadoma · 02/10/2019 17:02

Most insurance covers a behaviourist with a vet referal. I'd get one recommended by your vet (speaking from experience).
We have a very difficult rescue dog and have done this. And i will admit there are times i am at the end of my tether with him and wish we didn't have him but we took him on and it's our duty to try everythingwe can.
You are tired and stressed so it seems like the solution but it would probably break your heart in the long run. Think hard about it.

Gin96 · 02/10/2019 17:05

I have a dog that barks a lot but not at night. I lock him in the kitchen with his bed, all blinds down, so he can’t see or hear much, he knows when he goes to bed he’s not to bark until the morning, not before 6.30 am

AllStarBySmashMouth · 02/10/2019 17:07

@SherbetSaucer GrinGrin

Electrocute1980 · 02/10/2019 17:08

We have an 11 mini schnauzer - best dog ever but used to bark at everything- the door bell, favourite people arriving, a leaf blowing past the window! It drove us mad and we tried everything (except anti bark collars as I don't like them). When we had DS we bought a white noise machine for his room and with that on low, nothing wakes him. Could you try that maybe?

AloeVeraLynn · 02/10/2019 18:12

I'm also in the dog is for life camp. My lab does some pretty annoying shit but we asked her to live with us, not the other way around so we manage it and persevere with training. Having said that I have never known anything like a bloody schnauzer. My friend has two and it is relentless. We go for walks together and they bark when we arrive, bark if you look at them, they bark at each other, bit more barking at birds, back to barking at my me. Jesus christ. My girl isn't the sharpest tool in the box but even she looks at me as if to say 'the fucks wrong with these bitches?'

Pollywollydolly · 02/10/2019 18:18

You can get an air spray. Just spray it whenever he barks. Not at him, preferably out of his sight so he doesn't know where it is.

It worked on our newfie in a few days and isn't at all harmful.

It's worth a go.

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