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Controlling Your Dog's Whining & Barking

There are three ways to deal with your noisy dog. First, you can do nothing. In this case, the dog will keep barking whenever he feels like it and you may end up enemies with your neighbors, evicted or a victim of chronic headaches. Second, you can correct your dog whenever he goes on his noise-making marathons. You can even pretend to leave and sneak back to the house. Then, when the concert begins, you can break in on him, yelling “No, No, No, No”, while shaking him by the collar.

The third possibility is that you can teach the dog to do what he is doing on command, therefore gaining control of the activity. This is because when you issue a command, the dog focuses on you, and you will readily be able to stop what you have started. Thus the dog who speaks on command shuts up on command as well. The command “Speak” is what turns him on while the command “Enough” will turn him off.

Once your dog looks at you and whines with you, you can add a word to your madness, the word “Speak.” Now, after your dog will “Speak” on command, with and without you, begin to intrude on this activity, whether you have started it or not, with the magic word “Enough.” If your dog continues to sing, grasp the collar, command “Enough” once more and then gently shake him, adding harsh eye contact to your correction.

Of course, you may have unintentionally trained your dog to whine, cry and bark by reinforcing this annoying behavior. To find out, make a checklist of what makes your dog whine and bark and how you respond when he does:

1. Your dog barks. You give him a treat to quiet him.

2. Your dog barks when you're on the phone. You lean over and pet him to quiet him.

3. Your dog whines while you're in bed reading a book. You let him up on the bed to quiet him.

Follow the methods above, teaching your dog to bark on command and then stopping him with “Enough,” a harsh eye contact and a shake. Never give your dog anything, including the time of day, when he's barking, whining or crying for it. Use the long down once a day, tighten up your training and make sure the dog is quiet before you feed him, walk him, and pet him. If the dog bothers you while you are watching TV, reading, or dining, squirt him in the mouth with water or lemon juice and go on about your business.

Noise making may seem a lesser crime than biting or destructiveness, but it can have serious consequences. In fact, it may be a sign of escalation. To stop that, as well as for its pure annoyance, it should be put under control as soon as possible.

Blind and Deaf Dogs

Dogs for the blind, deaf and handicapped come in many different shapes, sizes, and breeds. All of these dogs are trained to aid their master with any type of handicap they may from hearing to blindness.

Dogs that are considered to be service dogs are normally German Shepherds, Labrador retrievers and Golden retrievers, but several types of dogs can be trained to help people that cannot hear, see or have other handicaps.

A hearing dog for example does not have to be a large dog to let his owner know if the smoke alarm or fire alarm is going off. This type of dog is called a hearing dog. They are trained to alert their masters and respond to smoke alarms, fire bells, doorbells, a knock at the door, a telephone ringing, a fax ringing, an alarm clock, baby monitor, and even a cooking timer. These dogs gently paw their masters and then lead them to the sound any time of the day or night, 24 hours a day.

Many times, dogs that are trained for the hearing impaired have been rescued from animal shelters. However, you can also choose your own dog and have it trained to aid you in hearing sounds that you can hear. The dog you choose must be friendly, intelligent and very responsive to sounds. This way you can choose just about any breed of dog for your hearing dog and for your best friend. Even a mixed breed dog can be a hearing dog.

Seeing eye dogs can also be different breeds, but normally are the larger ones such as listed above. Since they will in fact be leading their masters, a smaller dog may not be as good to aid a vision-impaired person across the street.

Seeing eye dogs begin training while they are puppies at around the age of eight weeks old. They are taught the normal obedience and socialization skills and given plenty of love. When the dog becomes around 8 months of age it begins a four-month course with an instructor. After this training, it is matched with a vision-impaired person. During this time, the blind person and seeing eye dog must train together with the aid of a seeing instructor. This session will normally last around 20 days.

Just because you have a seeing eye dog, this does not mean that he can tell you when to cross the street by reading traffic lights. He can however, after you give him the command to move forward use his intelligence to not move until it is safe to cross the street. Seeing eye dogs or guide dogs as some call them aid blind or visually impaired person to navigate through their neighborhood, along the busy streets and cross busy intersection, public transportation and even in crowded department or grocery stores.

Service dogs are another way in which people with physical disabilities can get the help they need and a companion that they will love. A service dog can pull wheelchairs, open doors, retrieve dropped items or provide stability for someone who does not have good balance. These dogs can be trained to aid just like hearing dogs and seeing eye dogs to aid their masters with the help they need.

A DOG SITS WAITING

by Kathy Flood

A dog sits waiting in the cold autumn sun. Too faithful to leave, too frightened to run.

He's been here for days now with nothing to do. But sit by the road, waiting for you.

He can't understand why you left him that day. He thought you and he were stopping to play.

He's sure you'll come back, and that's why he stays. How long will he suffer? How many more days?

His legs have grown weak, his throat's parched and dry. He's sick now from hunger and falls, with a sigh.

He lays down his head and closes his eyes. I wish you could see how a waiting dog dies.

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