Justine Lee

As a pet owner, you carry certain societal responsibilities: poop scooping, keeping your dog under strict control, preventing pet overpopulation, and keeping noise pollution down to a minimum. As a vet, I fully admit to having a lower tolerance for persistently barking dogs (after all, I have to deal with it at the clinic all day!), so I can really empathize with those who have to put up with a neighbor’s constantly barking dog.

Know that there are several contributing factors when it comes to that constant barking: breed, inappropriate training, and bluntly, an un-neighborly neighbor. Certain breeds like Rottweilers, German shepherds, Scottish terriers, West Highland white terriers, and miniature schnauzers are infamous for being “top watchdog barkers.” Likewise, Shetland sheepdogs and beagles are often noisy neighbors too. Beagles have a particularly abnormal bark called a “bay” which even beagle owners learn to hate. Secondly, inappropriate training – where positive and negative feedback is misused – is another no-no. One of the biggest mistakes I see is when pet owners try to “shut their dog up” by giving them a bone to chew on instead. This is inappropriate positive feedback – you are rewarding the dog with a nice tasty bone treat for its last action: barking! What’s better: rewarding the dog with a bone when he’s lying there quietly, as you reward him for being quiet. Lastly, the neighbor. Having open lines of communication on how to best work this problem out together is a must. Asking your neighbor to keep their dog indoors more frequently, or at least when you’re in the yard, is also important. In desperate measures, an anti-bark collar can be used. Citronella-based collars are a very effective, more humane option instead of using anti-bark shock collars; instead, they spray out a citronella burst that dogs dislike. Unfortunately, this only works well on short-haired dogs (in long haired breeds, the citronella gets stuck in the fur!) and certain breeds.