A "De-Barked" Dog??? - Page 3

As often I do¿nt have much time to write an answer.I will write what I can at themoment an I askfor patiece by those whomImay forget to answer. Hexe-In lack of better words to describe it;THAT SUCKS! :( Does it not eaven help if you put up video-survailance to prove that ones dogs are¿nt a nusiance? I¿m just wondering,did you ever confront and/or call the neighbour up? If you did ;what did he/she say and did you record it? If so,did you recorded him/her saying anything incriminating about the subject,and if soDid not eaven that help? I¿ll give you an example on a very simmilar problem that took place in the south of Sweden a few years ago. A man complained and pressed charges because he was of the oppinion that his next-doorneighbours three dogs that were cept out in the yard during the day made so much noice rond the clock that he hadeto call the healthdepartment(among many others).the case was taken to court,he wun but the dog-owning family appealed.As proof the neighbour precented a diary of all the alledged noise and the numerous complaints that he had filed. The family descided to put servaliance 24/7 in their yard for a period of two months.There one could clearely see that the dogs only barked occationally and that the neighbour was intentionally provocing them so that they would make more noise.The family involved the other neighbours that hade been inclined to side withe the man.One week the man went on a hollyday and they(family,videocameras and neighbours)notised a remarkable decline in the noiselevel.This was enough to free the family of any suspission of wrong-doing and the neighbour was convicted of providing the courts with false evidence and acusations.He was fined and after starting to herras another family in the city he was put through a mental-evaluation.He was,not very surprisingly)declared desturbed. Is there any group of people that work(lobbying)for increased civil rights in the area that includes the one in wich you live? If so,could¿nt they help you? also I would like to get in tough with them so that I can see if they would like some help or contributions. Finally Hexe the problem that you describe has got nothing to do with you,it¿s a sociological problem and,because of this it would serve no purpose to criticize you for less than good management of your dogs. I feel very sorry for you that you saw no other way out

Melody-There is no excuse to do this to your dog.Naturally everyone that does this will claim that they have no other alternative. BullShit ,pardon my french. The use of this torture,I do¿nt meen to hurt your feelings but there is no other word that can describe this type of "methods" in the training of dogs,its obviously only going to make things worse.Taking away the most notisable of the symptoms of a sevear problem does not solve the problem by a long shot.The only thing that it does is that it enables the human to stick their head into th sand,so to speak. The use of the types of "training-methods" that were used on your dog have to do with lack of knollige,wich is a mayor part of ignorance,or that the human is not fully interested in solving the real problem,wich is lazyness weither the human was aware of it or not.These are the conclusions that one get nomatter how one twist and turn the facts and arguments. The last resort to solving the problem,if one does not want to rehome the animal,is to move.And as the caretaker it is ones responsablity to do so if nesseary. If the dog is traind to a high lewel in schh has got nothing to do with barking or aggression.This training does¿nt in any way change the dogs behaviour or predisposition for this type of problem.If the dog is trained with violence and agression it will ,as if that so called training is used in any other area, respond by becoming anxcios and fearfull.This will effect its behaviour but has got nothing to do with Schhtraining. Louise M.Penery¿ -To blame the problem on rank in the pack-hirearcy is pointless.Once the placement is set it is rear for it to change and when it does it is caused by if massive changes are made such as the loss of a high-ranking animal.The order to festor order one as the alpha have to let the struggle play out and help stabilize things.this is done with a combination of different minor acts and ew habits.If the dogs are at real risk of seriously harming one another it may be a good idea to neuter them.This does not change the neutered dogs behaviour but it will alter the way others of the same sex will tolerate its agression.If you want to use them in breeding you could consider placing them in kennels (alternating wich ones get to be in the house but never keeping themthere at the same time)or deviding your house into sections where those that get along are put together and sepereateed from the rest. If neither of these solutions are possible one should do the resposible thing and rehome the ones that would thereby take away most of the tension. As the person responsible for other lives one does not have the right to be selfish.

-I have also heard allot about these collars.(sinse it does not cause physical pain and does not appera tocause any mental pain either as long as it is not used an intire day it is lgal here.) As I was curious I tried one,several years ago,on my self.Since it did not seem to be able to cause any problems if used for a short period of time I also tried it on one of my dogs.This was just as an experiment and not to correct any problems.It was set on the highest tollerance but when used it sprayed him when he was just sighing or laying down. I discontinued the test.I later cecked with the maufacteror and they informed me that they hade sevear problems with their product.It was fixed(or rather so they said)and was reintroduced onto the market.A remote-controlled version was also released.I have not tested the new and improved product since I did¿nt want to mess with the dog. They¿re probably better now though. Reprecentatives of the company told me that there hade also been sevear problems that had led to mental pain for dogs befor the reintroduction. For instance one man hade left his dog with the collar on when he left the dog alone(that was what it was created for).When the man returned home he found the dog laying ,solking whet,exhausted and stressed out of her mind.The intire apartmentbuilding smelled of citrus.Apparently the collar had shortsuirketed. I do not know exactelly what long-time effects this method may have but in any case it is less traumatic and painful than the use of E-collars. If anyone decides to try it,for the love of God,do¿nt use it to stop your dog from barking alltogether,only use it to take awayt he worst.

Zoe... The nice thing about this place is everyone has a right to their opinion. I don't have the option to just move Girl...My dog is doing just fine and no longer has sores on her neck from the horrible bark collar either. The dog is trained fine she just couldn't control her barking and neither could I. What annoys me Zoe, if you choose to offer your opinions to someone else, why don't you first type your notes in a word processor, so you can edit your horrible spelling errors. Just goes to show that no one is perfect but my dog is happy but you obviously can't spell for $hit!!!! Melody

Considering that Zoe is Swedish, I think Zoe's rather well versed in the English Language, better so than most Americans I Know! Melody, You ought to take your own advice ...

>>Someone just sent me a private email about the bark collars that squirt citronella rather than provide an electrical stimulus to deter barking. Anyone have any experience with the citronella collars?? I doubt that they would even phase my boys. << Just like any particular training technique, it depends on the dog. I suspect that a pressurized water collar, if one were available, would be just about as effective as citronella. It's the surprise factor that works to break the bahaviour pattern. Ours decided that, once the surprise value of the spray wore off, she liked the smell. When the pressurized can of citronella ran out, we lost the collar. The dog smelled nice in the meantine, though.

I know someone who has a dog that is very allergic to the citronella, and broke out with a SEVERE rash within hours. The other dogs around it wore them, and it controlled their barking, and having the spray in close proximity to the allergic dog didn't bother it.

VKH- I agree with Melody, Zoe's spelling is horrific and if she can't speak the language she shouldn't make the comments (downright painful to read.) I don't care what Melody does either but you know VKH, you'll have to point out any spelling errors that Melody made as I don't see them. So where are they...???? Show my blind eyes! Mike As for the citronella collars...DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!

Apparently Cambridge did¿nt think so. It¿s not uncommon for people to critizise something,that has got nothing to do with the subject, that a person presents when they have no answer to justify there oppinions.Especially when one touches a nerve. It¿s a good idea to read the entire entery of a person before reakting to it. Instead of trashing something that is a part of unrelated issues ,try to analize a situation and do your best to form an oppinion from that and present it.This is after all a well-respected site and I for one wish that it cwould continue to be that.

I think we have digressed far enough from the original subject........ For a start, this is an open forum, and no one is forcing anyone to read anything that one does not feel comfortable reading. Having said that, for those who cannot write or spell as well as native English speakers, myself included. I believe that it is your genuine intention to share your experience/opinion for the betterment of the breed, I feel that it is important that your message is readable, it is no good to other readers if others cannot understand your message, or worse still, misinterpret your advice and harm their dogs in the process. It is about acting and behaving responsibly towards the GSD community. I would suggest using the spell check in the word processor software, and perhaps leaving line break between paragraphs? Regards Laris