Apparently the neighbor thinks she has one hell of a bark. He stopped by last night a little upset with her barking. He actually signed a complaint against me for her barking this time last year. Now if I could just trade that barking from in general to training and on command.....sheesh...I'll be doing great! I have been teasing her with her toy to see if I can get the bark to slip out in frustration. I have gone on for over 10 minutes without throwing the kong, just waving it around up and down, side to side, etc. and she just watches and jumps at it ( not half-assed though). I end up being more frustrated than her, and throw the kong. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> :rolleyes:

For prey, keep the frustration on her and not yourself. Don't reward her with it until she barks for it. If you are rewarding her for something she doesn't do, she learns she doesn't have to. She's probably thinking, "I don't have to bark because in a few minutes this guy is going to get frustrated as usual and just let me have it." Believe me, my pup was the same way and I had a hell of a time figuring out what would work. It's the frustration that I wasn't doing enough of, and I would always reward him for nothing. So I switched things around. Here's an idea of what I did to get him to bark in prey:

1st session: didn't bark, no reward.

2nd session: showed a lot more interest but didn't bark, no reward.

3rd session: gave a slight yip, and he got his reward.

The key was to build him up to his peak, and if nothing came out he got put up right away. That only builds him up for the next session, as he remembers he could've had his prize. Now he's the one who's frustrated, and not me.

I don't know what you could tell your neighbor, other than to get some ear plugs <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Dogs will be dogs.

I will try the sessions rather than just one longer one. As far as the neighbor goes....I just don't get it, there are two dogs right next door to me (3 houses down from him) and one sounds just like my dog. They were brought up on a farm and this is the first time they are being kept in a back yard in the city, and they bark at everything. With them, even I want earplugs. I personally think he is hearing those dogs barking more than mine. He commented that my dog is keeping him awake at night with her barking. I wonder how in the hell he can hear her because she is in my garage at night. The other dogs next door are left out. He also has dogs behind him, to the other side of him, and across the street. He is expecting that he should be entitled to peace and quiet all hours of the day. Sounds good to me as long as I can have the right to own a dog........and dogs bark, perhaps he forgot.

I stumbled upon a way to get her to bark, and learn the command at the same time. This morning while in her kennel, the dog began to bark. I heard this from inside and immediately went out to praise her. Each bark after that....lots of praise with the command. She started waiting for me to give the command and then would joyfully bark. I think it is something I will run with. I don't want her to think that it is okay for her to bark whenever, but if I can take that and mix the command in with it.....then we're good to go.

Sounds great, she's in the right groove now.