He leaves for long periods of time, lots of times so she is excited to see him.
I try never to respond with my voice when the dogs bark but instead try to distract them with food or toys or even a command. Rhiannon continues to do a quiet oof kind of sound while she is waiting for the visitor to come through the door. If she won't stop I ask her for a down stay - it's hard to make the noise from that position. Tinsel is damaged so instead of barking he makes a strange wheezing noise and spins like a top. If he needs to go pee when this occurs he has, on occasion, let some urine out in a spray pattern. It takes him a lot of effort to make a noise so his bladder is getting pressure as well. Fortunately it is not every time and I keep a bottle of vinegar solution on the ready for the clean up. When he becomes more proficient at a down stay then I might use this on him as well.
My daughter's dogs, both shelties, are as different as night and day. The male only really barks during play. The bitch loves the sound of her own voice and "talks" frequently. She has been taught a "quiet bark" signal which makes it less bothersome. Neither barks when there is someone at the door or normal activity around but both bark at one neighbour - probably because my daughter can't stand this neighbour and they sense it. Both of them come from performance dogs and are high energy but she wears them out with a bush walk, off lead, daily and a lot of varied training. I think they would be hard to live with if she didn't consistantly work with them.
I try never to respond with my voice when the dogs bark but instead try to distract them with food or toys or even a command. Rhiannon continues to do a quiet oof kind of sound while she is waiting for the visitor to come through the door. If she won't stop I ask her for a down stay - it's hard to make the noise from that position. Tinsel is damaged so instead of barking he makes a strange wheezing noise and spins like a top. If he needs to go pee when this occurs he has, on occasion, let some urine out in a spray pattern. It takes him a lot of effort to make a noise so his bladder is getting pressure as well. Fortunately it is not every time and I keep a bottle of vinegar solution on the ready for the clean up. When he becomes more proficient at a down stay then I might use this on him as well.
My daughter's dogs, both shelties, are as different as night and day. The male only really barks during play. The bitch loves the sound of her own voice and "talks" frequently. She has been taught a "quiet bark" signal which makes it less bothersome. Neither barks when there is someone at the door or normal activity around but both bark at one neighbour - probably because my daughter can't stand this neighbour and they sense it. Both of them come from performance dogs and are high energy but she wears them out with a bush walk, off lead, daily and a lot of varied training. I think they would be hard to live with if she didn't consistantly work with them.
