how to stop barking? Collars?

I'm convinced that shock collars don't work. I think it might have actually created an even worse association for Shanti - whatever is making the noise = shock/pain. If her problem is sound related, you could try to desensitize her to weird noises (on top of the coin can thing). There are CDs (and I think you could probably download a few of the sounds of the internet) of common everyday noises (dogs barking, babies crying, planes, cars, lawnmowers, sneezes! etc) which you can play at home (preferably while you're around and then you can fake going out and test her at a later stage) at a very low volume then increase it as she gets comfortable with the noises.

I think the high pitched clanging of metal really gets to them! It's very loud and sharp to their doggy ears I'm sure and gives them a little shock (like if a metal pot clattered to the floor in the middle of the night for us!) Don't forget to treat when she shuts up tho! While she may associate barking = scary clanging thing, you would also want her to associate quiet = yummy treats!

I'm glad you're making progress! Neighbours can be such a pain. A stupid screaming crying child is ok, but a barking dog is not?? PPPFFFTTT. What nonsense.
 
Need Advice About Whining

Sadie does bark but it doesn't really bother us. She usually only barks a few times and responds well to "Sadie Hush!"

What Sadie does that drives us crazy is whines. Since the cold weather arrived she's gotten much worse. Despite having things to do or having come in from a good long walk and run, she would just walk around and whine. She would whine whenever she wanted something, when she wanted out, wanted food, wanted a walk, wanted to play, wanted me to move faster so we could go for a walk, when she didn't know what she wanted, etc.

Starting at the beginning of the week I filled a can with odd nuts and screws and started shaking it whenever she whined. Boy has it ever made a difference! She caught on VERY quickly, we would have these battles where she'd whine, I'd shake then stop, she'd whine some more, some times jump around and carry on, I'd shake some more, she'd carry on more but she eventually give up, sat down and was silent. VICTORY FOR ME!!

We are all a whole lot happier now, even Sadie. Since she's not allowed to whine anymore she's found new ways of getting our attention, like lying down and being silent (we love to touch her when she's being good) or asking to come on the couch with us. She's now realizing that if she doesn't demand attention that we want to give it to her and will even voluntarily play with her and take her for walks without her demanding.

This leads up to a question I have. She still whines some times and I wonder if I should let it go or discourage it all of the time? I'd think I should always discourage it but maybe whining is a normal way for dogs to communicate? Should I treat it in the same way barking is treated?

She whines mainly when she's excited and whines in the morning when I'm getting ready. I get EXTREMELY frustrated and irritated with her morning whining and have found that the best solution is to make her lie down in another room and shut the door so I can't hear her, that way we're both calmer. This is her whining because she wants me to move faster so that we can go for our walk. When we get to the door and she whines I've been stopping and shaking the can until she's quiet. She also whines when we're getting her food ready and I'm still shaking the can.

She's just about stopped whining when she wants to go outside, which is ok since she's just supposed to go to the door. I'm going to go get a bell for her to ring so that she can give us a better indication of when she wants out.
 
I just wanted to share with everyone something I learnt while watching It's Me or the Dog.

Trainer Victoria Stillwell also uses sound distraction (in one episode, she clanged the covers of pots), but she said to make sure that you don't make any eye contact or the dog will associate the loud noise (and maybe fear if it feels that) with whoevr is making the noise (prob you the owner).

Shaking a can of coins seems much the same. I think we should be careful not to look at our dogs when we shake that thang!
 
I tried the can of coins, the "magic hand", and many other techniques mentioned in dog training books. But it wasn't until my mother sent me a Bark Alert that she ordered from a catalog in the mid 90s that I was successful in training my dogs. The Bark Alert just emits an annoying tone when they bark and after 2 or 3 barks, they stopped. I wouldn't plug it in all the time, so they never knew when they would get the tone and just stopped spaz barking at the window on their own. I primarily needed it just when I had the screen door or windows open. I had a lot of problems with my home owners association because I live across from a cat lady who despises dogs (I call her the Britch--for British B!tch--LOL!) and the tone was the only way to get them to stop barking at every bicycle or person running past. After a month with this device, she actually asked where one of my dogs was (she thought her complaints had caused me to get rid of her, but no such luck!)
 
MelnCollie said:
I tried the can of coins, the "magic hand", and many other techniques mentioned in dog training books. But it wasn't until my mother sent me a Bark Alert that she ordered from a catalog in the mid 90s that I was successful in training my dogs. The Bark Alert just emits an annoying tone when they bark and after 2 or 3 barks, they stopped. I wouldn't plug it in all the time, so they never knew when they would get the tone and just stopped spaz barking at the window on their own. I primarily needed it just when I had the screen door or windows open. I had a lot of problems with my home owners association because I live across from a cat lady who despises dogs (I call her the Britch--for British B!tch--LOL!) and the tone was the only way to get them to stop barking at every bicycle or person running past. After a month with this device, she actually asked where one of my dogs was (she thought her complaints had caused me to get rid of her, but no such luck!)
Click to expand...

My parent's sheltie barks excessively at anything that goes by the house. We bought one of those Bark Alert units but it only worked for a week or two. He got used to the sound and didn't care about it anymore
 
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