Right before I was about to go completely over the edge because of 4 years of living next door to a yapping nuisance, I joined a yahoo group called Barking Dogs. While perusing all the posts I've seen a lot of suggestion involving making videos with sound, filing lawsuits, hiring an attorney to write a letter to the dog's humans... some of that can be really expensive and then, along with the continued barking you have the added stress of the cost and being in the middle of a litigation war. Shock collars have also been suggested, but upon researching them I think they are a bad idea: someone has to change the batteries, someone has to make sure the dog isn't suffering from shock abuse, and to use a shock collar responsibly someone has to work in conjunction with the device to train the dog, or it is just plain old animal cruelty. Why would I care about that when the little F-er has practically ruined my whole life? Because it's not his fault: he could have been a good pet and a cute doggie neighbor if his humans had a clue and had been responsible dog owners in the first place. The humans have to actually have one of those evolved brains that supposedly come with the opposing thumb.
But enough of disparaging the pea-brain humans. I'll tell you what seems to be working for me, although I think I'm pretty lucky because I know this hasn't worked for a lot of people. After deciding to take things into my own hands (after going completely batty but before I totally went over the edge into the deep end), I've had pretty good success with a sharp "quiet" command, the garden hose, and a handheld ultrasonic device, and then when the little nuisance stands there at the fence watching me without barking I go pet his stinky head to reward him. It only took 3-4 sprays over a 2 day period with really cold water from the hose on a very cold day, now I just use the ultrasonic and the command. We're still working on when he sees the cat, but he's doing pretty good. One of these days I might even give the annoying fellow a freeze dried turkey heart in lieu of or in addition to the pet on the head.
In fact, he's doing so well I'm wondering if one of my neighbors has been working with the yapper (since my 2 hysterical calls in the middle of the night and one call to animal control), although I find that hard to believe since they seemed so clueless for 4 years. I don't know for sure what they are doing (if anything) because my neighbors no longer talk to me after my late night calls and call to AC, which is ironic because I used to still talk to them even though they were letting their damn dog drive everybody crazy. If I'd known it was going to be this easy I'd have alienated them a long time ago.
But this also means I've had to attempt to train someone else's dog which is also sort of ironic because the reason I don't have a dog is because I don't want to have to take the time to train it, walk it, scoop crap, and all the other things that come with being a responsible dog owner...and good neighbor...
What didn't work, although he didn't like it, was spraying him with vinegar water, which was suggested to me by a dog rescue person of all things (no wonder many of them are batty).*
Nor did diplomacy and offering to pay for training the dog work, which was my husband's method and idea...
* The same dog rescue person who suggested the useless vinegar & water method, later suggested the ultrasonic birdhouse thingie, which led me to the handheld ultrasonic device because it was cheaper and I wanted to see if it would have any effect before I sprang for the more costly birdhouse device. I mean, I'm still paying out the ass for chiropractic treatments and massage to relieve the pain in my neck that finally became unbearable this last summer (and especially so when the dog goes into a barking tirade), and for the doctor visits to get the xanax prescription to ease the anxiety attacks I still experience when I think about going outside.
