Barking

Well...I kind of feared this day would come. We got a complaint from our downstairs neighbor who works nights and is home during the day about Roger's barking. Roger barks when we leave for the day, and according to my neighbor, "it lasts 1-2 hours non stop." This is also the neighbor who asked me to not let roger pee on the rocks because "I walk on those and then walk into my home." When I said that I was like...do you tell this to every dog owner in the complex? Hes a dog, their supposed to pee in grass and dirt... That's why they made sidewalks for humans. I can understand where he's coming from with the barking, but it's just one of those things were I feel this guy isn't really suited to community living. He needs a house. I'm kind of frustrated having my only interactions with the guy being negative like this. Regarding the barking though...

It's my fault really, we haven't worked with him enough regarding the separation anxiety. We need to do more to train him, because it's not his fault. Brendan and I actually got in a fight about what the best way to go about this is. He decided that taking the dog to the vet was the best course of action because "when you have a child with a problem, you take them to a doctor. This is no different." I disagree with him though. The dog doesn't have a problem - we do. The vet is going to give US tips on how to work with Roger (which we could just get online by googling, but this is his idea, so I'll let him take care of it).

I'm doing squirt bottle training right now. We have a long list of things to try (including putting a radio in his room while were gone and such) to help his anxiety. If that doesn't improve his behavior, then (if Brendan feels ok with it, which would only be if the vet says so) I'm considering a citronella collar, but that's a last resort. Roger does have some small training issues (he's not social around other people or dogs, he's shy, and he has separation anxiety barking), and I feel that most of these could be fixed if we took him to obedience class. Brendan disagrees with this, and says its silly to pay for classes, when "we can go to the dog park for free." Problem is, going to the dog park doesn't happen with as much regularity as a class would be, and it's not as controlled of an environment for Roger.