Barking Mad - help please!

[busyhouseof8]

I am sitting here weeping into my computer - please help with some advice before my stress levels really go through the roof.

My lovely, batty Springer just wont stop barking at the slightest noise/movement outside. I have put a curtain across my front door glass which helped a bit with the movement, but he is still getting up to bark every few minutes at sounds.

I work from home. I need to be on the phone all the time to clients. It is impossible to maintain any semblance of professionalism. They can still hear him down the phone line even if I've shut him in the kitchen and have my study door shut.

I just can't bear it any more. He has me in tears of frustration. I end up screaming at him and all he does is look at me with his big brown eyes without a clue what's wrong. What do I do? How do I train him not to bark at everything or at least to stop once he's started?

Soundproofing your study will be very expensive but probably less stressful in the long run

You have my sympathy. Dottie Labrador is the same...I will cross my fingers for both of us that someone can help!

Maybe there's a gap in the market for an all-enveloping soundproof dog suit we could just zip them in. Then I could make a fortune, give up the day job and not have to talk to clients at all!

Soundproof tents to work in! Way easier to manufacture, and would cut out noisy builders, etc too!

Is he bored?

How much exercise is he getting each day? How much mental stimulation?

How old is he?

I will wait and add Dottie Lab's issues later if I may OP? Or should I start another thread?

Feel free to add them in here Ullena. I suspect Busydog shares many issues.

The answer is that he is a bit bored. I have to work in the day so busydog sits under my desk, choosing to cram himself in with Busydog2 rather than use the huge basket next to her.

I pulled my back dogwalking a couple of weeks ago (now there's a whole other thread), so dog walks have been a bit limited while I'm in recovery. More runs round the garden than out and about as walking any distance is a no no for me at the moment so they are reliant upon DH who is crap tired....

Pay a dogwalker to take him out for long walks for next week or two to give you some peace?

Dottie Lab wakes us at 4am. Every day. Although it used to be 3am, so improving...

She gets walked twice a day: an hour on the lead in the morning, around 10am, and then a proper romp about for two hours in the afternoon - in the woods and swimming etc. She also has free access to a large garden, canine and feline company all day, and at least one human there to try to interact with her. (We are never both out of the house for any longer than four hours or else we use a dogsitter.)

The thing is, she won't interact. She prefers to stand at a distance of about ten feet and wag her tail, barking randomly, until all attention is on her. Then she goes to sleep.

She is silent in the car, and chuffs happily along on walks, but at home it is a constant cycle of barking and snoring. She is now six and a half years old. We got her at six months old, and suspect that she wasn't properly socialised. She doesn't play. At the most, she will grab an object and run around with it, whimpering and wagging her tail.

It's equal parts annoying and sad, to be honest...

Victoria Stillwell has covered this topic in a couple of her programmes so it might be worthwhile going on her Positively website to see if anyone their could help you .

The Positively trainers do not cover our area, but thank you.

You could still use her methods yourself . I've trained my dog based on her methods myself with good results

We have been training her...for six years! Only ever positive reinforcement. Attend local obedience group weekly. She is now at silver lever on the canine citizen scheme. And we enlisted a private trainer, whose opinion was that Dottie Lab is lovely but as good as she is ever likely to get...

Six years...oh well, she walks beautifully on the lead and never jumps up. Just won't/can't interact at home. We still love her.