# dog barks at all animals at all hours of the night



## Texas.girl (Dec 20, 2011)

Sweet Pea has been with us about 5 weeks now (approx. 2 yr old dumped by a country store). She is basically a good dog, high energy who absolutely loves to chase the animals. No signs of ever hurting anything, just loves the chase. She really loves to play. She is confined outside at night but every time one of our 2 cats, or a raccoon, or who knows what comes by, she starts barking incessantly and if she could she would chase that animal away. A few times she managed to escape from the kennel and that is exactly what she did. Of course, every time she starts barking she wakes everyone up. I am in the middle of nowhere and wild animals are plentiful and we have 2 cats. I am also in the path of folks crossing the Mexican border and walking north. I want her to bark at humans but not the animals. I have visited several dog training web sites but no one addresses this specific scenario. The only idea I have been able to come up with is getting one of those electronic collars and zapping her when I know she is barking at one of the cats. I am open to any other ideas.









p.s. often when she wakes me up I have trouble falling back to sleep and occasionally I get a migraine headache, which is the case right now. So I am really desperate for a solution.


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## mjs500doo (Nov 24, 2012)

Shock collar with remote control. You can also get sensitive ones with levels of allowance. You can't just throw it on and expect her to listen though either. You'll need to show her NO BARK. Teach her those words.


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## ILuvGoats123 (May 2, 2013)

I have the same problem with Pearl, a Great Pyrenees.  I'm with you on this, Texas.girl!


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## OutdoorDreamer (Mar 29, 2012)

We have a similar problem with our 2 year old coonhound. He was not raised here with the animals, but given to us due to his previous owner living in the city, and they could not tolerate his barking. When he is outside on his runner he does nothing but bark at the goats and chickens and it is Very annoying! I'm going to watch this thread for ideas.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I know 2 people who have just put their Great Pyrenees in the barn at night. They were having the same problems with their GP's barking all night and neighbors complaining. So they just had to lock them up in the barn and they created a stall for them to stay in at night.


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## gmos719 (Apr 19, 2013)

Personally, I think the shock collars are cruel. Try other methods that wont harm the dog.
Petsmart has a wide variety of bark control products that don't harm your dog.
http://www.petsmart.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=3845408

IF those don't work I would consider a closed kennel that way he wont be able to see anything to bark at.


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## animalfamily (Nov 23, 2012)

I know it is time consuming and a pain in the butt but you are simply going to have to teach her what to bark and what not to bark at. Like mjs500doo said, you have to teach her the "No Bark", and when she barks at something you want her to bark at tell her "Good Girl".
I know this because we have taught all our dogs this and when they bark we know it is for a good reason.
Look at it this way, she is waking you up anyway, so take that time, see what she's barking at and let her know if her behavior is acceptable.
It may take a while but will pay off in the long run. Dogs are very smart and can learn at any age.

P.S. Sweet Pea is very pretty by the way !!


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

While I would like to agree with the posts so far, I cant.
What Sweet Pea is doing is purely natural and to use a E Collar on her would be extremely harsh. And I mean harsh .
We use the E collars in many instances and I support humane use of them.
But for a dog to understand its not to use its senses at night is just not a normal thought process for them. They are what they are.
Texas , you need to either bring the dog in or make a dog house that will not allow Sweet Pea to see the outside at all. I have a feeling she may welcome not being able to see the outside for a while , she will be able to relax and not feel she has to be "on guard". I know you said she wants and loves the chase , but its still a "job" for her. While providing the house for her or bringing her in , it tells her she is "off duty" and its time to relax with her family.
It may take some time for her to transition , maybe not , but allow her time to accept the change. Yes , dogs are extremely smart but they are what they are too , you cant take what's purely instinct out of them.
This is most likely why she was left at the store  You dont know what her previous owners environment was like and how she was treated .
It may take some time to help her through this. 
I totally understand you dealing with migraines , I have them as well.
Good luck with Sweet Pea , she is adorable  Definitely worth the work


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## animalfamily (Nov 23, 2012)

Hi Tricky, It's good to see you , it's been a while.. While I do agree shock collars are harsh and at least for myself, not the preferred method of teaching. I have never and don't intend to ever use a shock collar on my animals. That's just me though, I am not here to decide whether they are right for someone else. Just not my cup of tea .
I will however have to respectfully disagree with the statement that: "dogs are extremely smart but they are what they are too , you cant take what's purely instinct out of them."
I believe you can not necessarily 'remove' but 'modify' what is instinct to them, and if you knew our dog Payne, you would totally get that.
Payne has the luxury of being an indoor/outdoor dog.
She seldom barks, but when she does we know to go 'look'. Example: Our new neighbor has dogs who act much like Texas.girl says Sweet Pea does. They bark at everything, and I mean EVERYTHING..all night long...on a regular basis. They have already killed one of our chickens. Payne will watch those dogs for extended periods of time. They can run that property line all day [we have no fence to separate the two properties], but if they cross it, she goes into 'bark/chase mode'. She will run them back across onto their property and she will stop ON the property line. She will not cross it. 
She also spends a lot of time outside at night. She won't bark [or chase] at the goats, chickens, squirrels, cats, rabbits, anything we DO NOT see as a threat. She will however chase [and sometimes kill], groundhogs, skunks, [okay, I hate it when she gets into it with a skunk, but whatever??] armadillos,etc. Things we DO see as a threat. 
Sometimes she does not even bark at these critters but just takes off and handles the situation.
If a car comes in the yard that she recognizes, she gets all excited and runs to greet them. If she does not recognize the car, she sounds the alarm.
She knows how to differentiate between a threat and a non-threat. So when she barks we know to pay attention! When a dog barks incessantly, you tend to either just be annoyed and yell without regard to what they are barking at, or you just learn to ignore it [like our neighbors do]. Personally, I don't know how anyone can just 'ignore' a barking dog for hours on end, sheesh!!
The problem is if Texas just brings Sweet Pea in at night, what happens if a situation arises where her 'guard dog' instincts are needed? She is not outside to protect the property OR her people. Texas has already said she lives in the path of folks crossing the Mexican border. What if one of them decided to take a detour onto her property??
If Sweet Pea is just put into a situation where use of her senses are denied, like closing off her dog house or bringing her inside, it is not solving the problem. Why have a guard dog is she can't be allowed to 'guard'?
Unfortunatley a guard dogs' job is 24/7. Texas says she lives in the middle of nowhere with wild animals aplenty. I'm sure she would like Sweet Pea to guard against these wild animals, and we all know most of their activity is at night. 
Trust me Payne gets plenty of leisure time. She spends her free time sleeping in my daughters' bed. We do tease her about being spoiled rotten . Daytime is relatively event free. Nightime rolls around and she is in and out more. I am not exaggerating here. She can be sound asleep in this house and if she hears so much as a peep out of the chickens or goats she is up and out the door. Sometimes she even hears things we don't. Of course we all know that dogs have an incredibly keen sense of hearing.
Okay I'm getting a little long-winded here and that was not my intention. I just wanted to interject that dogs aren't necessarily 'what they are' and will bark and chase every darn thing that comes down the pike and we have to just accept it. Just sayin ........


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

Well , I see this differently. Animalfamily , is your dogs choice to bark or not to bark at something or someone their own ? Most likely yes. Some dogs dont have the prey drive or "want" to bark at something , simple as that. I had Great Dane that let our house be robbed once. They basically stepped right over him while he and the family slept. But try that with the dog we had years later , a totally different scenario , lol.

Sweat Pea was described as a dog that barks at everything. Im not sure Texas wants her to be a watch dog or not , it was just stated that she barks and where she lives so there is alot going on. If the dog is very reactive to all that walks , breathes , and runs by , there may not be much you can do as to curb this. Like I also mentioned , you dont know how this dog lived before it was acquired , so if the dog was trained to run after rabbits or fox or whatever , putting a shock collar on it is not only going to confuse it but can cause redirected aggression towards its owner or whatever is in its line of sight at the time of the "shock". Even if your standing in the house and the dog is outside and you give it a correction with the E collar , it may may things 
worse. Some dogs cannot be changed. With age , Sweet Pea may calm down and not put so much effort into barking. 
Texas , have you tried exercising the kibble out of her everyday ? Go for a hike and let her chase and run to her hearts content ? Does she have good recall that she will leave the object and come straight back to you or does she blow you off until she is done doing what she wants ?

If you can work on recall and reward it immensely , you can try to call her when she starts barking and tell her enough or what I use "that'll do" 
Then she could come around and learn it pays off to listen to you.
But if you want to go that route , PM me and I can help you with how to start her off and how to reach your goal.

Thanks , this is a wonderful conversation with good people 
I respect everyones insights on this subject too !


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

And I didnt mention that all dogs are individuals


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## animalfamily (Nov 23, 2012)

Thanks Tricky, I'm totally with you on the shock collar issue. Sometimes I wonder how folks can say telling your dog "NO" or "bad dog" is negative reinforcement and yet a shock collar is somehow a more acceptable form of correcting behavior???

As you said in your previous post maybe her behaviors can be corrected using the treat/reward system. I think Texas needs to know it WILL take time, dedication, and perseverance. You have to be consistent in these matters and correct Sweet Pea EVERY time she does someting she shouldn't. It's a lot like raising your kids! 

Also tricky, you are absolutely right that all dogs are individuals. Some are more willing to learn than others, but I don't want to trivialize how Payne got to where she is today. We worked very hard to teach her what she needed to know. This included nights without much sleep, and days when not much else got done except watching her to make sure she didn't stray off the property, bark at everything that crossed her path, or chase the goats and chickens. It may have consumed a couple months of our time, but 6 years later. We sleep well at night knowing she is watching out for us, and I never have to wonder where she is or if she has taken off running with the neighborhood 'roamers'.
Like some parents who get all 'gushy' about their kids......I gotta say my Payne is pretty freakin' awesome !! My daughter is pretty freakin' awesome as well as she had a LOT to do with how Payne is today.
At any rate it's worth a shot to try and teach Sweet Pea a few things. What have you got to lose except a little sleep and you're already doing that. I am sorry though about the migraines, I also know how unbearably painful they can be!


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## animalfamily (Nov 23, 2012)

Ooooh, oooh, one more super cool thing I wanted to tell you about that Payne does. We have a LOT of snakes on our property. Every kind you can think of including copperheads. She will find, stop and smell, all the various kinds of snakes, and then generally move on. However, when she finds a copperhead, she goes ballistic . Barking and raising all kinds of ruckus. I have to call her back as she wants to kill them, but I don't want her to get bitten obviously!!! I really never worry much about having an encounter with a copperhead as she is always by our side and will find them first. Did I mention she is freakin' awesome :wahoo:??


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