Cathy: My neighbors keep her dogs out at night and they bark the entire time. They keep me up and drive me nuts. I can’t ask my neighbors to get rid of their dogs. I need a saint, humane, effective solution.

Host: That was Cathy from Austin, Texas. And, yes, your dogs keep me awake at night, ranks it number 2 on the list of 10 things I hate about you. So, what in the world’s a neighbor to do? Well, veterinarian Bernadine Cruz has some tips for Cathy and for you.

Cruz: Obnoxious dog barking is one of the most common reasons why dogs are relinquished to a shelter. Now, there is no quick fix for this. You might even think that a surgical debark is going to be 100% effective but it’s not always 100% effective.

You might hear some of my friends in the backyard. I’d like to introduce them to you. So, the question is: How do you stop this barking? I like to party with the best of them but sometimes these party animals will continue to party when you’re no longer home. So, what can you do that softens a great, humane thing that you can try is a citronella collar. It releases a blast of a strong scent after a click and their little noses go, “This isn’t any fun!” and stop. You got a barking dog and you can’t get it to stop? Try a little smile-on-stop. It worked.

Another way to keep your dog from barking at night is to have some strange bed fellows. This is a crate that you can keep in the bedroom with you. If you think about it, dogs actually did come from wolves which are cave-dwelling animals. They don’t feel uncomfortable being in a crate. She’s in the bedroom with you so just in case there’s that boogie person outside, she can bark and let you know. Good night!

See, dogs can be good?

Host: Aww, that’s great. (Voice Overlapping) I actually used a lot of those in my dogs because they were barkers.

Cruz: You’ve used them? (Voice Overlapping)

Host: Oh, that was a big help. Yeah. That’s a tough one with a neighbor’s dog and …

Cruz: Well, actually, we had that problem because our dog, we had a dog that used to howl at 2 AM and you’re not going to get up at 2 AM and shake his hand at him so (Voice Overlapping)

Host: Maybe something like might help… the citronella collar? I’m going to try this. Let me see if it works.
Cruz: Yeah, that might help. We moved it. We just moved the dog into (Voice Overlapping)

Host: Get ready. Let me try it out. (Barking)

Cruz: Who’s (Inaudible)?

Host: Okay. I learned my lesson.

Cruz: There you go. No barking! That’s (Voice Overlapping) Wow! That’ll get a dog to stop barking.

Host: I’m not barking! I will say the most awkward part of that is how to deal with your neighbor’s dog so if you can’t approach your neighbor, you can actually just give them a copy of our show and politely, “Put them in the mail box!”, like, “…for your viewing pleasure.”