When I am at school, my GSD barks all day when in a crate. What can I do?

I love your web site! But I have a question for you about one of your products.



I have a new GSD, approximately fifteen months old. He's from working lines, and has never lived in a house before. Everything is going very well, except for one thing. He barks! I'm crating him while I go to school, and this is when the problem arises. He likes his crate very much and enjoys being in it when I'm with him. But as soon as I close that door and leave, he barks all day long. According to my dad, he barked for over five hours the other day. This is clearly unacceptable. Our life together is great in every other way but this. Once I get home from school we hike five to six miles together, run errands together, and spend all evening and afternoon together, so I don't think he's barking out of boredom. He's certainly not lacking for love and attention. Actually, I think he's barking because he's demanding to be let out.



I tried all the conventional obedience methods of calming him when I leave. You know, the whole "leave for a minute, then come back and praise, then leave for two minutes, then three..." routine. This works for a while, then we're back to square one. Today I tried a citronella collar. BIG waste of money! He immediately figured out that the collar only had fifteen blasts in it, after which he can bark at liberty. Besides, the spray really didn't bother him that much to begin with.



So I'm strongly considering using an electric collar on him, in particular, the one you recommend. But I've never had to do this before, and it makes me kind of sick to think of it. He is "soft" for a GSD, and I don't want to break his gentle spirit, but he simply cannot sit there and bark all day. I'd like to solve the problem before summer, so we can actually open the windows! What do you think? Am I being premature in wanting to use an e-collar? Or is it a good option?



I hope my question doesn't inconvenience you. I just want to do what's right for my dog, and you're so knowledgeable about dogs that you're one of the only people I trust to give me a good, candid answer.



Amy