A Quiet Kennel ???

[BAR BAR 2]

Does anyone know of a good tool to keep the kennel quiet? I have used the Garmin shock/bark collar, but I don't like it. I had one short out and got the dog's neck raw.
With all of the chickens and other livestock running around here, the dogs have plenty to be on guard against and they take their job seriously.

I was wondering if anyone uses one of those boxes that emits a high pitched tone that makes them quiet down.
What works?



Tex

[pegleg]

The sound sensor out of one of those boxes hooked into a automatic sprinkler system is the most effective thing I've ever used. The box itself is useless. Just make sure you have enough water coverage. No sore necks or shellshocked dogs.

[floridacathunter]

My experience with the hi pitch sound emitter was not good. IMO, a total failure. I believe, The water treatment would work a lot better. I get along good with the garmin/tritronics bark collar. If you can rig the sound sensor to activate the sprinkler,I believe you will solve the problem. When I was young, and had plenty of energy, territory and game, they were to tired to bark in the kennel. The " good ole days" , how we miss them.

[BAR BAR 2]

Thanks for the suggestion guys, but I can't leave a water hose hooked up and turned on up here. It will work in the summer, but I can't do it now.



Tex

[david]

There is a HUGE difference in dogs in this regard. If you have any tree hound blood in the dogs, in my experience, they will be much closer to impossible then pure fox hounds I have known. And a tree blooded hound that is shy as a pup can learn to be quiet, while an outgoing littermate might be Impossible. And of course, each line of tree hound could have a different rating in this regard.

There are hounds that catch lots of game and also can learn to keep quiet.

The best coon dog I ever hunted with, NEVER barked on his chain. the best cat dog I ever owned barked very very little in the kennel or on a chain. In both cases, they were very aware of everything, and just paid attention and studied everything quietly. ...until time to hunt.

If you make this a priority in traits that make a hound acceptable to you, you can develop a quiet kennel over the years.

Having said that, there are handlers that ALWAYS treat kennel barking with the same intensity as they treat a trash race with a dog who knows better and is being intentionally defiant. And, they have a quiet kennel.

Success requires a zero tolerance policy and complete and utter consistency in enforcement (like any obedience related behavior)

[Beebout-it]

My dogs wear bark collars almost every day and I take them off while I am home. This keeps the chafing on their necks under control well. But you probably only need them on while your home Tex I don't remember seeing any neighbors to bother lol.

[Redwood Coonhounds]

Dogs know when its hunting time or not. A dog does not need to be "on guard" and bark at every chicken, cat, deer or squirrel that comes into the yard. This is where people get lazy in the training aspect of things. My dogs live with both cats and chickens that eat out of their food pans with them. The deer stand less than 3 ft from the kennel. They do not bark. Because they know they are not allowed to. I would just use a regular shock collar an enforce, not only just "be quiet" but that certain things are "off limits"

[david]

[david]

I would not have said this fifteen years ago, and it was very humbling to have to admit, but there ARE dogs that can not be quieted. I had a pair of them given to me for that reason and I thought "no problem, we can take care of this". Well I couldn't take care of it and had to get rid of them.

I think if intelligence is #1 breeding priority, it will lead toward a quieter kennel. That is just an opinion. But my limited experience with dogs says it is true.

[pegleg]

Or you have a intelligent dog that knows its not wearing a collar or your not home then you have a real problem barker. One of the only great bobcat dogs I have owned wherever she was dropped was like this. There was no way in hell I was getting rid of her and I tried everything I had heard of or could think of. Which led to automatic sprinklers. I've described this before but will give a brief overview. I had a 2" line with pop up style sprinklers set in the ground and if the dogs barked enough to set it off it triggered a valve and it drenched everything. Most dogs go quiet real fast. A few take a bIt longer to learn. I also wired a floodlight to it but it was not very effective because the valve actuated on low voltage so I need more wiring and another switch which was more difficult then the water portion. The thing about the female was she was very high energy and anyday she didn't hunt she paced and chewed and climbed around in the trees in her pen. I tried making a house dog out of her and she was fine if I was there but if not it was a different story. She tormented my nephew and anyone else she could. The only other dogs I've had in her range have been cow dogs a Irish setter and Fox terrier but she made them all seem lethargic.

[justahunter]

I only allow my dogs to bark when I feed or hunting . persistence, heavy hand, shock collars and bark collars gets them tuned in . after a short time of that they get the point. if they do pipe off I pipe off . they shut right up . this works for me . oh and throwing rocks to lol .

[FullCryHounds]

20 years ago, I changed how I kept my dogs. It changed all kinds of things for the better.
I now keep only male dogs, no females around, all together in a 2 acre enclosure. They have one 8' long insulated dog box that they all sleep in or on top of.
The main reason dogs bark too much is because they are bored sitting in a tiny kennel for days/weeks on end.
All of my barking problems went away because now the dogs have a huge area to run, chase and play with each other. They are not sitting around with nothing to do.
The dogs are healthier overall and stay in shape much better.
I've written about this extensively for years because it has proven to be such a much better way to keep hounds.

[al baldwin]

Dean, I fenced an area this summer giving my dogs a nice place to run & play. I have more problems with barking when the dogs are in that enclosure than when they are in kennels. Glad it works well for your dogs, just wanted to share my experience. I use the bark limiters from garmin when wife wants complete silence. For me they work well, so light & compact, no problems with sore necks. Hunting buddy has the sprinkler system at his kennel, says it works great. Good hunting Al Must say dogs sure get exercise in the enclosure & the fenced area has been well worth the expense & hard work I invested!

[FullCryHounds]

Al, curious, do you keep both male and females at your place?

[dwalton]

A lot of good advice here, but it comes down to two things breeding and training. Some dogs can never be quite and some seldom bark. You can train them to do what you want or they will do what they want from lack of training. My dogs bark when it is time to feed, when I come home or they know that we are getting ready to go hunting. They are pretty wound up this early from neglect from working to much this summer. In a few weeks of hunting things will look different around here. I feel that the pup one chooses can give you an idea from the start if it will be a barker or not. I think a lot of people choose the wrong pup for what they do. As stated boredom is a real key also with that is a ADS pups will probably always bark. Dewey