BARKING!

[SuzySunshine]

Oh and in the vet behavior world, the Dog Whisperer is a quack. From my limited exposure, he turns most all things into a dominance issue which is usually NOT the case. Most animals AREN'T trying to dominate their owners. His method of fear/intimidation and forcing issues is counterproductive to the emotional well being of the dog. The vet behaviorists have tried to get him off the air for years. I haven't seen all of his stuff...but I've had the unfortunate experience to be in a room of boarded vet behaviorists when his name was mentioned. :!

I TOTALLY agree - that guy is never allowed anywhere near my dog!

Wow. So odd to hear Bruce referred to as smart! The boys have figured out that the best way to get Bruce to come is to yell "Kitty, kitty, kitty tsk tsk tsk". I kept doing it to call Phoebe, and Bruce came each time. Then one time when I was trying to call Bruce (and he was ignoring me), the boys said "Do the kitty thing!".

It works nearly every time - unless he's consumed w/barking at the wind.

[Sheherezade]

Well...it's good to hear the Dog Whisperer is a quack. He always makes me feel bad about loving my dog. ("Those crazy Americans!" ) I also think the images of him with the dogs walking behind him on a leash are just....strange. Heel, maybe -- but behind? I don't see it happening.

It is a lot harder to walk the dog with the kids. We only try that on the weekends. It's much slower - and our dog gets more wound up from all the playtime. Somehow, that is *too much* exercise. Good luck with him, though. Sounds like a handful! They always turn out to be the best dogs, though. I bet he is very smart.

I caught this thread a bit late so i hope my experience helps. We have a major barker called Daisy. Her bark is really ear piercing and nearly drove me insane. It was adding so much stress and anxiety to me to try to keep her quiet because the neighbors were complaining. After we moved into an apartment her barking got significantly worse because of the street noise.
We tried the collar that emits a sound to disrupt her barking -didn't phase her one bit. We hired a trainer to help with the barking and the pulling/psychotic barking during her walks. The trainer was/is excellent and gave us the right tools (reward based-methods and clicker training) to keep Daisy in our family. She had many, many issues we needed to sort out. However, she's a terrier and her instinct to bark is so strong that the methods were not practicle.
The first one was: when Daisy would start barking, I would say "hush!" to distract her and when(if) she stopped, reward her with a treat and something like"good quiet". This worked only partially if I was right next to her. But when I was in the back of the apartment and she was going crazy at the window, I was insane with anger and annoyance by the time I made it to her. When I would leave the apartment - nonstop barking. And I spent most of my day trying to keep her quiet. NOT FUN.
I got her the citronella bark collar and it works like a charm!! Whew-hew cuz I was on the verge!!!
My vet made a very important point about incessant barking. He said "being exposed to incessant noise (barking) is the only way you can injure someone without touching them" "It can cause anxiety, tension, anger and often times drives people to poison dogs to get rid of the barking."
Daisy is not perfect but now that we (well, mostly me) have spent so much time utilizing all the tools the trainer gave us, she is a much better dog. She gets 30 min walks 2 times a day as well. She was the star of her basic obiedience class and now gets many comments from passers by. They call her a movie star dog!

Oh- I wanted to add something about the dog whisperer. I've read his book and seen his show. I know that some of his methods are not good - pinch collars, correction training etc and these are not methods I've used. I've spent the last 6 months working with 2 highly educated trainers. We have 2 dogs with very serious issues. My dog Charlie was seriously abused and trained (not in a good way) as a guard dog. He is extremely dangerous and aggressive towards all strangers. But that story is a whole nother thread - a very sad and stressful one for me.
However, his book makes many great points about exercising dogs and treating them like dogs - not humans which I believe we do way too much of in America. Our pets spend way too much time indoors and many of them are as fat as most Americans themselves. For example, I find his concept of walking your dog as a similation of migrating for food to be very helpful with my pets. We walk fast for at least 30 minutes each time and both of them almost become hypnotic durign our walks. They just go and go! They love it and are so calm afterwards!
His book is a lot about imitating what occurs naturally in a pack and understanding our pets' instintcual behaviors. Although I do not use any of his training methods, his ideas on basic dog pyschology are worthwhile and have helped me quite a bit with my 2 pets.
ETA: I am not necessarily defending him. many of the things he discusses in his book are common ideas with other animal behaviorists. I just think his popularity and his book has given people an interest in animal behavior that has been way overdue. I'm in the camp that dogs are brilliant creatures that don't get enough credit or platforms for what they are capable of doing.