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asked:
Dear Warren,
We have 3 short haired miniature Weiner dogs which we love to death. They're the smartest animals we've ever had and we can teach them just about anything. But the one thing we haven't been able to break them of is the crazy barking. They'll sit on the back of the couch and if so much as a bird lands on the bush they begin insanely barking as a pack of dogs. We cannot stop them. We've separated them, we've tried a lot of things and we still cannot get them to stop.
Mark in Laguna Hills |
Hi Mark,
Let me explain something about Dachshunds to you. Dachshunds are like owning a Great Dane in a little dog's suit. They have a bit of a Napoleon complex and pound for pound are one of the toughest dogs out there. Actually they were used as badger hunters. One of the things I'm going to recommend you try with them is, an airhorn. I would actually like you or a friend of yours to hide underneath the window where they would normally hop up and bark. That is the person that has the airhorn. The minute they start to bark I want one or two blasts of the airhorn and that's it. If that shuts them up, hey then I'm a genius. I want them to think that this noise is coming from God. Let the correction come from outside. I don't want the person to pop up, I just want the airhorn out there. If they know the person is out there that's going to make them bark. Do that a couple of times and I think your problem will be over and done with.
I hope that helps,
Warren |
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asked:
Dear Warren,
I have a 3yr old Chihuahua and she's fed like clockwork. 8 o'clock in the morning, 5 o'clock at night. I feel like she spends her whole life looking for food. Why is that? She can hear a cheerio drop if she's in the other room. We only feed her dog food. Why is she always looking for something else?
Ron in Santa Monica |
Hi Ron,
You know if there's a plate of spinach in front of me and a yodel on the other side - yodelayehoo, I'm eating that chocolate covered cake. Dog's don't eat with their mouths they eat with their nose. Human foods smell so much better from the dog's perspective. Plus, it's something new and something to explore. So if you don't want to give her the occasional cheerio I would just ignore it. Their life is, they're in the house and they're always looking for new things.
I hope that helps,
Warren |
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