Barking LGDs

[Guest guest]

Barking

may not a problem for people with large pastures, but many LGDs are

kept in neighborhoods where excessive barking isn't tolerated.    We've

had four LGDs over the last 11 years and worked out a system of

training that works for us.   We have a one-acre pasture in front of

the house and a two-acre pasture behind the house, each with a dog,

some Nigerian dwarf goats, and various loose critters like laying hens,

a tame bunny & quail.  

When a dog barks, we wake up & listen.   If one dog is just

answering other dogs along the ridgetop we step out on the porch,

quietly tell the dog to "shussh" and shine our million watt light in

his eyes.   The light startles him and he quickly learns that when we

say "shussh" it's time to be quiet.   That's usually the end of it.  

We only use the light if we need to, and many nights are not awakened

at all.  

If something is really out there the second dog will join in and the

dogs will be focused on a target outside their fences.   We shine the

light in that direction.   If whatever it is doesn't go away, we let

the Corgi out, and she runs off the possum or fox.   If the Corgi stops

at the edge of the yard, hopping up & down with hair fuzzed out,

shrieking in alarm, we pull on our jeans, grab our light and

noisemakers, and head out to get the bear to move along.    He always

does; bears like easy food.

The only time this doesn't work is when the predator is mama fox with

her four kits circling around the farm, driving the dogs completely

batty.   When that happens we let one of the big dogs loose to run them

off.   In about a half hour the big dog returns, totally bushed.   We

give her a treat and put her back in her pasture.   That and vet visits

are the only time they get out.   We do not want them enlarging their

territories beyond our borders.

The key is paying attention and figuring out why the dog is barking.  

Ease his fears and he'll lay off.   Yell at him and he'll become

alarmed and bark more.   One of my friends had a Pyr who would bark

hysterically at the neighbors as they walked past windows inside their

house at night.   I would have introduced the dog to the neighbors and

maybe encouraged them to give her treats and make friends so she

wouldn't be scared, but my friend simply got rid of this otherwise

stellar guardian dog.   You have to see things through the dog's eyes.

Anyway, it works for us.

Terri Brown

Wooly Dog Down Nigerians

Warrenton, VA

...

She barks all night long, as if to say, " go away all evil

in the night." Does anyone have any ideas about convincing her to be a

quiet

guardian?