barking,how do I minimize this prob?

[Leo]

Spray collars wouldn't hurt a dog at all ... I have never heard of a spray collar hurting them or any studies saying that. I would use a spray collar, but I think it would be cheaper to try the vinegar and water in a spray bottle and just as effective.

If your dog is barking at everything for no legitimate reason it might be his way of saying he is bored... Have you tried giving him frozen stuffed Kong's? These have almost completely stopped my guys from doing the barking for no reason (the pennies in the can thing just made my guys bark even more too). Remember a Tired dog is a good dog.... because Ein is a Corgi (a herding breed) he needs to be continually stimulated or given a job, to avoid becoming bored and doing the unnecessary barking or other destructive behaviors. My guys have herding in them too and the Kong's have made a HUGE difference in keeping my house quieter. I have had Kong's for years and they would play with them filled or not, but I didn't always fill them... This year I noticed that on days they were filled they were quieter than on the days I didn't, so now they are filled daily...I will usually fill them the night before and throw them in the freezer so they are ready for the next day. This has dramatically reduced the barking in my home .

I use the vinegar and water on Leo who doesn't have a huge barking problem. I've only had to use it a few times on him... it didn't hurt him at all ... it gets his attention more than plain water does and now if he sees me grab the spray bottle to squirt him he stops barking right away (I use a misting spray bottle not one that streams... so it is more like a mist than a spray).

[corgimom]

I've thought about getting a kong for Tucker, but Ein doesn't normally like to chew on plastic toys, only rawhide. To him, the only toys worth playing with are ones he can destroy. He ignores all of the plastic toys we have unless Colleen or Tucker is asking him to play. If it was filled, he'd probably like it, though, since he is a piggy boy.

[Vanilla_Rat]

We use a squirt bottle at the office/kennel for when dogs do bad things...like barking at nothing (which they sometimes do) or starting a fight or whatever and it works.Most times now you pick up the spray bottle and they behave,as they don't wanna be squirted.We use plain water.

[littlebluejay]

Hahaha, Corgi. That's hilarious.

Yes, I hadn't thought of that... Roxie did bark at the tincan a few times when we first started using it, but then she got annoyed by all the noises droning her out (it was kind of a fight! ) and stopped barking, since she noticed that when she stopped so did the noise.

The spray collars I speak of are the citronella spray collars. I found an article about it somewhere online, but sometimes it sprays into the dogs eyes and can hurt them. My friend's beagle yiped every time it sprayed, making it spray even more! However, I can't tell you that it was hurting the beagle, it could've just freaked it out.