Our yellow lab, Amber, will be 2 years old in March. She weighs 94 pounds, and we’re still deciding who is training whom.
Lately, I’ve been trying to stop her from incessant barking when she goes outside.
- I’ve tried to have a serious discussion with her – explaining carefully that it’s rude to stand out there and bark. I’ve told her that it might bother neighbors, and that it drives ME crazy. I’ve explained to her that I won’t let her stay outside if she’s going to bark all the time. This is falling on deaf ears. She looks at me, looking as if she’s earnestly listening and absorbing my words. Then she goes out and the barking starts again.
- I’ve tried bringing her right back in – cutting her time out down to the bone. (She comes and asks to go out. I let her out. She starts barking. I make her come back in.) We do this over and over, but she doesn’t seem to ‘get’ the cause and effect and it’s wearing me out!
- Today we put the shock collar on her and THEN let her out. My husband is in the living room, reading, and he says he’ll shock her when he hears her barking. So far – it’s working! She seems to understand that we’re not just flapping our lips when the collar goes on.
I haven’t heard any barking yet, and she’s been out over 10 minutes now….
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